Read No Sleep till Wonderland for Free Online Page B

lose. People come and go, and Ekat and her partner serve the drinks. Nothing new, and even the randomness of who orders what and who gets served first seems regimented and predetermined if you watch for too long.
    All around me there are pockets of conversations, some animated, some quiet and subdued, whispers in a crowd, but all the participants are engaged, effortlessly so. They know what to do and how to act. It has all been done and said before.
    As the evening moves on past eleven, my companion fatigue returns, coming back like it’s mad at me for ditching it. I hurt its feelings, and it will not be ignored. It’s been four hours since I took the first amphetamine. I can’t fall asleep here. Taking the other pill isn’t even a choice now. This one, I swallow with ginger ale. I’m sure the carbonation will make it behave.
    Ekat waves at me from the bar. She wants me to come over. Did she see me take the greenie? She’s wearing an I-gotcha smile.
    She says, “Aren’t you the private detective from Southie?”
    “I’m Peter Parker, but I’m all out of special powers.”
    “Come on…”
    “Okay. Don’t know if I’m the ”—and I pronounce the as thee because I’m so fancy—“PI of Southie, but I do work there.”
    “I knew it. You’ve only had the one beer since coming in. I’ve been watching you. You’re on a case, aren’t you?” She points a finger at me.
    Her act tastes a little hammy. I still don’t know whether Gus told her I was coming or not. Maybe now that the night’s getting later, the threat of Eddie showing up seems more real and she wants her presumed protection closer. Or maybe she’s just fucking with me.
    I sit at the bar. There’s room. I say, “You’re my case.”
    “If that’s a pick-up line, it’s terrible and not funny.” Ekat wipes the bar with a rag, angry at the spill that I can’t see.
    “All my pick-up lines are terrible and not funny, but that wasn’t a pick-up line. Our mutual friend Gus…”
    She throws her bar rag, and it bounces off my chest. I didn’t deserve that. “Gus? Gus sent you here?” She swears and talks under her breath, and I’m too polite to eavesdrop.
    “He didn’t tell me there would be flying bar rags.” I think I’m speaking louder than normal, my normal anyway. The second amphetamine has kicked in. Its charge and voltage hum through my system. I’m itching in my stool, toe tapping, both eyes dancing in their sockets. This will work as long as my blood doesn’t explode from my veins.
    She says, “I can take care of myself,” and points at herself with that finger. I’m much more comfortable with that thing pointing away from me.
    I try to sound relaxed, even if I’ve been deported from the island nation of Relaxed. “Gus said the same thing. He also said he thought you could use a little help tonight, that’s all.”
    “I don’t need any help.” Ekat stalks to the other end of the bar, but there’s no one to serve. Any customer would be scared of her anyway.
    I hold up my empty glass, and she comes back with her arms folded over her chest. It’ll be hard to pour drinks that way. I order another ginger ale, no ice this time. I’m so sophisticated. She puts it down in front of me, and I ask her, “How are you taking care of it?”
    “Excuse me?”
    “The Eddie problem. You said you could take care of yourself, and I want to know what your plan is for tonight.”
    Ekat pours herself a glass of water from the soda gun. It’s a good way to spend a pause. “I’m leaving early tonight, before closing, soon if they’ll let me.”
    “Good idea. Mind if I follow you home? You could help me out, make sure I don’t fall asleep on the way back.” Oh hell, that sounds like a line when it isn’t. I shrug and hold up my empty palms as I really don’t know what I’m doing or saying.
    “How am I supposed to do that?”
    “I don’t know. But if you figure it out, please tell me.”
    Ekat finishes her water and throws a