Powersat

Astro Motel

April had never seen Kinsky look so cheerful. He must be more than half drunk, she thought as the public relations director steered her to an empty corner of the bar and actually began to dance with her to the strains of “The Tennessee Waltz.” In a minute or two several other couples joined them on the impromptu dance floor.

“I didn’t know you’re such a good dancer,” she said to Kinsky, surprised at how graceful the gangling scarecrow could be.

Kinsky smiled lazily at her. “There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me.”

April expected a routine come-on line. She’d heard quite a few. Kinsky was divorced, so he couldn’t pull the “my wife doesn’t understand me” story. No, she decided, he’s going to go for the “man of mystery” approach.

The song ended and he walked her, with his arm still around her waist, over to one of the rain-spattered windows. Someone had plastered packing tape across all the windows in big X shapes.

“What are you drinking?” Kinsky asked.

April suppressed an urge to giggle. “Lemonade.”

His ginger-red brows shot up. “Lemonade? With vodka?”

“No. Just lemonade.”

He shrugged. “Okay. Wait right here. I’ll be right back.”

As he walked to the crowded bar, April turned and looked out the window. Rain was pelting down so thickly now she could hardly make out her car parked only a few yards away. The wind was blowing the rain almost horizontally. April had never been through a hurricane before; it frightened her a little bit.

Her cell phone buzzed. She fished it out of her purse.

“Hi, it’s me, Kelly.”

“Did you reach Dan?” April asked.

“Yeah, but it didn’t do any good. He told me to stay on the mainland.”

Nodding, April said, “Might’s well. I’m in the motel. Everything’s tolerable here.”

“Guess I’ll drive back home, then.”

“Okay. I’ll get there when the ferry starts running again.”

“Stay warm and dry,” said Eamons.

“Sure.”

Kinsky came back, an evil-looking concoction full of fruit in one hand and a tall frosted glass in the other. He placed both drinks on the windowsill, ceremoniously removed the paper parasol from his glass and perched it on the lip of April’s.

“Thank you,” she said. She picked up the lemonade carefully, but the parasol tumbled to the floor anyway. “Oh, too bad.”

Shrugging, Kinsky said, “The story of my life. I try to do beautiful things but it never turns out the way I hoped.”

“We all go through that.”

“Not like me,” Kinsky said fervently. “I go and get Dan a meeting with the governor of Texas and an important U.S. senator and he screws it up. Gets on his high horse and tells ’em they can’t help him.”

April felt shocked. “Mr. Randolph did that?”

“Not in so many words, but that’s what he did, baby. That’s what he did.”

“I can’t believe it.”

“Believe it.” Kinsky took a long swig of his drink, then stared out at the storm. Trees were bending and lightning flashing in the dark, roiling sky. “We never get crap like this in New York,” he muttered.

April tried to lighten his mood. “Are you going to set your hair on fire?”

He almost smiled. “Naw. Not today. Nobody would notice.”

“Or you might set off the sprinklers.”

He grunted. “Burn the place down. That’d be doing Dan a favor. At least he could collect the insurance.”

“I don’t think that would help much,” April admitted.

“Yeah. The company’s going to go belly-up and we’re all going to be thrown out on our asses.”

“Dan’s trying to avoid that.”

“Maybe. But it’s not going to do him any good. We’re going to be out on our rear ends, honey. You and me and all of us. Might as well go outside and let the damned storm drown us.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“Isn’t it?”

“Dan’s working to keep the company going.”

“He’s rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, babe. In a few weeks we’ll all be on the unemployment line.”

“No.”

Kinsky took another sip of his drink. “Yes. The ship’s sinking. It’s every man for himself.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Feather your own canoe, babe. Take care of numero uno because nobody else is going to. Not Dan, not anybody. Nobody gives a damn about the little guys.”

April thought that whatever he was drinking, it was making him more morose by the sip.

Abruptly, Kinsky blurted, “April, how’d you like to come to New York with me?”

“New York?”

“Yeah! We could fly up on a Friday and come back Monday. Take a long weekend. We deserve a break from all this.”

She blinked at him. Suddenly he was enthusiastic. She said, “I don’t think I could afford it on my budget. New York’s awfully expensive, isn’t it?”

“I’ll spring for it. You won’t have to put out a penny.” Seeing the doubtful expression on her face, Kinsky added, “Or anything else. Separate rooms. Different floors. Different hotels, if you don’t trust me.”

She had to smile at that. “I’ve never been to New York.”

“Never been… ? You’ve gotta go. You’ve got to! It’s the most fabulous place in the world. The town so big they named it twice!”

“Named it twice?”

“New York, New York!”

“Oh!” She laughed.

“My intentions are completely honorable,” Kinsky said, then immediately amended, “Well, maybe not completely, but I won’t make a pain of myself, I promise you. It’s just… well…” His voice trailed off.

“What?” April asked gently, looking straight into his pale blue eyes.

“I’ve just got to get out of this dump for a few days. Get back to civilization. Find a good deli, have some real fun. And it’d be great to have you with me, April. I’d get a real kick out of showing you the town. We could go to Broadway shows, see the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, all kinds of things.”

“It sounds awfully expensive,” she repeated.

“So what?”

“Do you have that kind of money to throw around?”

“Hey, I don’t have to pay for it. I’ll just put it on my credit cards:”

April frowned disapprovingly.

“No, seriously,” Kinsky said, “I can afford it. I’ve got more going for me than the salary Dan pays me. A lot more.”

“I don’t think I can, Len.”

“Sure you can. First class all the way. I mean it. I—”

A tree limb torn off by the wind banged against the window. April jumped back, spilling her lemonade over Kinsky’s slacks.

“Oh! I’m so sorry, Len.”

He grinned sardonically at her. “Hey, if you don’t want to go with me just say so. You don’t have to douse me.”