Educational Experience

Chapter Eighteen

18.

Stepping out into the world all ablaze inside like that was trippy, I admit. We didn’t know what to do with our hands. Or our feet or our feelings—it was hilarious, really.

She kept laughing like a teenage girl. And I didn’t know how to stop watching her laugh. I wanted to keep laughing forever so I could watch.

But life has a way of settling these things by force sometimes. So we almost walked right into Yuri, Maddie’s “man,” on the way to the carnival. He was there leaning against a wall in the alley, almost like he was waiting for me. Well, he was definitely waiting for me. No coincidence, there.

He’s a piece of work, Yuri—looks like that comedian, the blond one with the snarky attitude. Denis Leary, I think is his name. That wiry, wise ass thing Leary has is what I see in Yuri. Well, he actually resembles him, too, so it’s more than just the vibe.

Lemme run this history right quick.

He used to own a couple of decent strip clubs. Pretty popular ones, for a while. That’s how he met Maddie. When JJ sent her into exile, she hit the titty bar circuit—and the pipe. Crack, crank, whatever she could get hold of. She’d been banished for using, so I guess she thought, “What the hell?” And hit it even harder.

Her looks held up for quite a while. And because her porn flick past made her such a big attraction, Yuri decided to manage her. So they hit the road and he started bossing her and everyone who hired her around like he was Hugh Hefner, Jr. or something.

But while he was gone, the people left in charge started doing all kinds of shady deals—that’s how Friendly first got involved with Yuri, too. He was the stereotypical crooked cop already, that guy. Took kickbacks for looking the other way or actually helping people do illegal things for a price.

Unfortunately, Yuri’s people were even dumber and more unjustifiably arrogant than he is. So they kept pissing off the wrong people. Especially the Russian mobsters who were just getting established in the area and made much better deals with the local PD and politicians than Yuri’s people could.

And pretty soon the patrons got skittish, profits dropped and Yuri couldn’t make good on the less than legal loans he got from the shady characters who were actually sort of hoping he’d default. So the bars closed, Yuri became a local laughing stock and he and Maddie comforted themselves with booze and other stuff—heroin, most recently. Because they weren’t fucked up enough, apparently…

So he looked all jaundiced that day. And his slicked back hair was greasy and stringy—the denim jacket and jeans he was wearing were all ripped up and falling apart, too. Could’ve been an extra in one of those walking dead movies--no makeup or wardrobe change necessary.

And he had the nerve to smile at me—that gave me the willies. Yellow skin, yellow eyes, yellow teeth …yeow…

“I know. Restraining order,” he said. His accent was classic movie actor Russian. I almost thought he was putting it on, sometimes. Like one day he’d forget and come out sounding like he came from Jersey or something. But it was probably the only thing “real” about him.

Big Man appeared out of nowhere—always on the case, Big. Thank God.

“Wha’chu doin’ over here, man?” he asked Yuri.

But it was Wyatt I wanted to spare. So I said, “Lemme deal with him—can you get her situated over there?”

“They’re waitin’ on you,” Big Man said. His way of saying something else without getting Yuri all pissed off.