Linwood Barclay - Lone Wolf

“I’m kind of surprised it can support one.”

Lawrence parked out front. It was a pretty dingy storefront, the paint peeling, the “Comics” sign slightly askew. There were bits of what looked like eggshell stuck to the window and the frame, dried yolk cemented on.

“Looks like someone doesn’t like this place,” said Lawrence, picking at the egg with his finger.

Behind the dirty window a few comics in plastic sleeves were displayed. A Flash comic that must have come out when I was a kid caught my eye.

“DC or Marvel?” Lawrence asked.

“When I was a kid, DC,” I said. “Superman, Batman, Justice League. Actually, that’s still my thing. You?”

“Marvel. When I was a kid. Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Hulk.”

“It’s amazing we can be friends,” I said.

Lawrence opened the door and I followed him inside. Two narrow aisles surrounded on all sides by boxes jammed with used comic books. The walls were covered with movie posters, collectible toys hanging from hooks, more comics.

From the back of the store, a voice: “Help you?”

He appeared from behind a display case filled with little statuettes of superheroes like Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and some newer SF characters, like Hellboy and the characters from the animated movie The Incredibles . I guessed he was in his late twenties, about six feet, and not much more than 140 pounds. Wispy. His black hair hung down to his shoulders, and he eyed us through a pair of glasses with thick black frames. This was the guy who’d stirred up so much trouble?

“Are you Stuart Lethbridge?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

We introduced ourselves.

“So what do you guys want?” Stuart asked.

“You’re the head of the Fifty Lakes Gay and Lesbian Coalition, right?” I asked.

“Yeah. So?”

“We just came from Mayor Holland’s place,” Lawrence said. “You know Alice Holland?”

“Sure. She’s okay. She’s letting us in the parade tomorrow. Unless she decides to cancel the whole thing at the last minute. Because we’re not pulling out.”

“Who’s we?” I asked. “How many you got in the parade?” I wondered just how many members of his group were at risk if something very bad should go down.

Lethbridge’s eyes rolled up into his head as he did some mental counting. “Okay, hang on,” he said. “Counting me, I guess there’s four.”

Lawrence eyes danced for a moment. “Four?”

Lethbridge was defensive. “Yeah. So? Okay, we’re not exactly San Francisco. What of it?”

“You’ve got four people?” Lawrence asked. “Is that even enough to hold a banner?”

“It’s only about fifteen feet wide. So yeah, four will hold it fine.”

Lawrence looked at me. “Four.” I shrugged. Lawrence continued, “So, if you’ve got four, what’s the breakdown? Gays to lesbians.”

Lethbridge cleared his throat. “There’s three gays, and one lesbian, but, well, my sister is representing the lesbian community, except she’s not, technically, a lesbian.”

Lawrence ran his hand over his face. “So, does this mean there are no lesbians in these here parts?”

“I’m sure there are, but it’s probably because of people like you, who are so contemptuous of the gay and lesbian community, that they don’t come forward.”

“Uh,” I said, not sure whether I was stepping out of line here, “it just so happens that Mr. Jones here is, well…”

Lawrence looked at me as if to say, “I can handle this, Zack, thank you very much.”

“You’re gay?” Stuart Lethbridge asked skeptically. “Are you going to be around tomorrow? Would you be interested in being part of the parade? I think we could find a spot for you.”

“I’ll have to pass.”

“Oh, I get it. When it comes to standing up for your rights, for supporting others in the community, you can’t be bothered.”

“Stuart,” Lawrence said, “it’s just possible you have an inflated sense of what will be accomplished by being in the Braynor fall fair parade. I mean, why do you even want to be in this parade? With school bands and cheerleaders and the 4-H Club? It’s very uncool. And for that matter, what are you doing running a comic book shop? I figured, at the very least, it would be a bed-and-breakfast place.”

“What’s wrong with a comics store?”

“Yeah,” I said. “What’s wrong with a comics store?”

“Whatever I do, I have a right to raise awareness about gay and lesbian issues,” Stuart said.

“Yeah, for all three of you,” Lawrence said, shaking his head. “Listen, Stuart, I’m sorry. Aside from me, is anyone else giving you a hard time about this? I notice someone’s been trying to redecorate the front of your store.”

“I’ve gotten egged so much, I’ve given up trying to get it off,” he said. “Plus there’s the petitions and the hate mail.”

“How about threatening phone calls? Death threats?”

“Well, I might be getting them, if the phone worked. I couldn’t pay the bill last month and they cut it off. The store hasn’t been doing that well, and I still got to get someone to run it tomorrow, when the parade’s on. Saturday’s the only busy day, when kids living out in the country come into town.”

Lawrence sighed and said, “Stuart, do you have any idea how much shit you’ve stirred up? And all to be in a parade no one with a dime’s worth of sense would want to see anyway?”

“There’s going to be racing lawn tractors,” I reminded him.

“Let’s go,” Lawrence said to me.

But before we left, there was something important I needed to know. “That Flash comic in the window. How much is that?”

While Stuart went to check, something under the tables that supported all the boxes of comics caught Lawrence’s attention. He bent over and dragged it out. “What is this?”

“Are you kidding?” Lethbridge said, like he couldn’t believe someone wouldn’t instantly know. “Those are Star Wars figures.”

“No shit? Like from all the different movies? Okay, you got a Lando Calrissian here? And a-Zack, what’s the other guy?”

I had to think for a moment. “Mace Windu.”

“Yeah, that guy.”

Lethbridge said, “They might be in there somewhere, but I don’t have the original boxes or anything. Some kid brought those in, traded them for some Alien figures.”

Lawrence started picking through the box, tossing aside several figures, including a weapon-wielding Boba Fett and a gold-colored C3PO. There were so many figures in the box, and they were all a mystery to Lawrence, who was quickly getting frustrated.

“I know I’m looking for a couple of brothers, but could I get some fucking help here?”

Lethbridge found him a used Lando, and a new Mace, still in the packaging, from the display case. “Twenty-five dollars,” he said.

Lawrence didn’t argue, handed over the cash.

“A gay nerd,” said Lawrence as we got back into the Jag. “Who’d of thunk it?”

Driving back to Braynor, Lawrence slipped a Miles Davis CD into the dash. He said, “When you fight for the right to do things that don’t matter, it diminishes your fight for the right to do things that do.”

“Okay,” I said.

“You think I shoulda bitch-slapped him?”

He’d tucked the plastic bag containing two Star Wars figures into the center console. I said, “A little something for Jeffrey.”

“I knew you were the guy to bring along. You figure out everything.”

“You haven’t said anything about him. Not even after what he said to you.”

“About inferior races,” Lawrence said, hunting for a track on the Davis CD.