Jay Fox - THE WALLS

“So you're done?” she asks. “You're just going to keep trying to get your article published.”

“More or less. I sent it out to, like, fifteen different magazines yesterday.”

“Any responses?” she asks as we take our seats at the bar.

“Just the automated responses, you know, ‘Thank you for submitting your work to us. We’ll respond if we’re interested.’ I’ll wait a few days before I follow up.”

“What are you going to do in the meantime?”

I look to her. “I can think of a few things.”

She smiles. “Well…when I’m at work.”

“Maybe I’ll finally go to see Andy Bates.”

“The mental patient?”

“Yeah.”

“You two ready?” the bartender asks. Vinati has yet to pull off her sunglasses.

“I think I need a minute,” she responds.

“I know what I want.”

“Is it a butt-fucking cowboy?”

“A what?” The bartender smiles because he thinks he heard something really odd, and, oddly enough, this is exactly what he has heard.

“It's an inside joke.”

“Literally,” the bartender responds with a Jim Halpert grin.

He lingers around as Vinati silently studies the taps. His presence seems unnecessary, but I guess it makes sense. We're the only people seated at the bar.

“Yeah, but I'm still kind of curious about him.”

“Who?” as she continues to squint at the forest of taps.

“Andy Bates. I mean, there's so many people who still think he's the real deal.”

“Sorry to interrupt, dude,” the bartender begins, “but are you talking about Coprolalia?”

Vinati laughs. “It's all he ever talks about.”

“Yeah, I've kind of been consumed by him for the past month.”

“Oh, man, then I'm sure you've heard.”

“Heard what?”

“Dude,” the bartender begins gingerly, “That he's dead.”

Ω

Jay Fox was born in Birmingham, Michigan in 1983. He graduated from Birmingham Seaholm High School in 2001 and from NYU in 2005. He is a frequent columnist for staythirsty.com. THE WALLS is his debut novel.