The Drip, a novel by Michael Gullo
“Mornin’, Cody. I’m impressed.”
“What you impressed with?”
“Tanner ain’t easy to beat.”
“Always was a kiss ass.”
“Think the snow slowed him down?”
“Prolly.”
“How was your Christmas?”
“It was good.”
“First Christmas with a baby that smiles, and it was good?”
“It was Christmas.”
“So tell me about this Rusty guy.”
“Rusty and me been friends a long time.”
“You’re twenty-two, Cody. I have lint in pants pockets older than you.”
“Not my fault yer old. Long time’s my line. Ain’t no need you narrate my story same way you always tell hold the drill straight.”
“You ain’t no carpenter. Got it. Rusty or Christmas. Those are the questions on the table.”
“So Rusty worked for a guy we know, and he get me a job thar. I’m just a kid. Like seventeen.”
“Seventeen, got it. Why is this the guy for our team?”
“Well, Rusty fix anything. It’s got wheels, Rusty fix it.”
“You see a mechanic’s shop in the mud field that I’m missing? Build a house. That’s the thing here.”
“Well, Bossman, lotta dirt work up here ’tween that dam and half mile a road you got planned. Get all these trees moved and logged and shipped out somewhere.”
“We’re just piling those.”
“Right. Pile’s purdy high though.”
“Cody, concentrate. Why is Rusty the man for this job? Before he gets here. Spit it out.”
“Well, I don’t have his job application. You ask I know a guy, and Rusty come to mind.”
“He come to mind, but why?”
“Who you interviewing here? Rusty be along soon, and you can put all that to him.”
“Here comes Tanner – thank god.”
“Tanner knows Rusty.”
“I’m not asking about Rusty. It’s why you choose Rusty I’m looking for.”
“I heard the question. I answered it too. He fix anything.”
“The machines are brand new, Cody.”
“That garden tractor ain’t.”
“That’s seen its days, but it’s only two years old.”
“That’s the point. Stuff get broke work a job like this.”
“So, we call a mechanic when we need one.”
“Rusty ain’t just no mechanic.”
“You don’t say.”
“I do say.”
“Does Rusty run machines as well as fix them?”
“Sure he does.”
“Mornin’.”
“Morning, Tanner.”
“Bro.”
“Um, now you beat me here too?”
“I get in on the action. Right up the street, I figure no way this guy get here at 7:10. Headed out the door, and there go the Hummer past the kitchen window.”
“Tanner, do you know this guy Rusty? Drippy lisp over here has me flying off with the four hooter hunting rats.”
“Hunting? Definitely can’t show up late – miss all the early crazy, and now you’re lost all day.”
“Rusty ain’t right. He know stuff, but he ain’t right. Could run a fifty thousand pound machine hanging off a hillside by tow straps and a crane, hammer rock upside down but tilted just right so the oil don’t fall out, send a text to his old lady, forgot to put the milk up, could she get it for him. Normal man puke just at the thought. Guy ain’t right. He can lay a fart, though. Gotta give him that.”
“Dude. Answer your phone.”
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
“I thought I was going to voicemail.”
“Sorry – Cody story.”
“Christmas?”
“Logistics – but your call is just in time.”
“Don’t start with me, boy.”
“Everybody imagines their own Michael today. Cody thinks he’s a suspect, and you’re sure it’s a complaint.”
“I know you. I’m on my way. I had to get Clover at the groomer, and get the tree boxes out and get the gifts all put up. I put the key on a chain so I won’t lose it.”
“Like a necklace?”
“Yeah. I used that one we bought in Milan when I needed…”
“So, the key is on a necklace – an important necklace. With memories and stuff?”
“Well yeah. You got all weepy eyed when you gave it to me.”
“So not in the misdemeanor’s book. I was sure the tire inflator got company.”
“It already had company. Literally forgot my birthday. That one was already there.”
“We had been dating two months, Stefanie. Two months.”
“Birthday, Michael.”
“April 27, 1982, Ma’am.”
“Christ! How about the Drip. What’s up there?”
“So glad you asked.”
“Oh, brother.”
“So, my little dodgeball team. You know Cody and Tanner…”
“Yeah, I know those.”
“Enter, Rusty. What a name. Guy pulls up, Crayola grass green pace car. Spray painted. No shit. You called as he was pulling in.”
“Like spray paint? The whole thing?”
“Oh, no. Not the whole thing. No. This spray paint is damn near color matched to the original color, and you can see where the old paint had gone primer like it peeled off with the speed, but the only way this thing goes more than sixty-five miles an hour is if you drop it out of a plane.”
“Is it the Taurus or the LeSabre?”
“LeSabre, baby. Buick luxury. No cracked windows, tires look good. All the reflectors look intact. But hand painted, clearly. I mean like a little girl did her own toe nails cuz mama wasn’t watching her close enough, all the door handles and emblems and trims – all there, I might add – all painted gold to match the rims, which clearly came with that accent on the spokes back in 1992 when this baby rolled off the lot.”
“Pace car, Fentanyl 500. Got it.”
“I’m not done.”
“I’ll be there in a little while. I’ll see for myself.”
“Love.”
“Love.”
“Hey. You’re Rusty. I’m Michael.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“Give it time. And you dip too, I see. You should be careful spitting it out the car window though; the drips down the door risk mess up the finish.”
“Yeah, right. Cody you called it right - insults first.”
“What, no bet, Cody? At least me and Tanner put money on the line.”
“Weren’t no bet to be had. Ever one know you ain’t start like no normal man.”
“Well, can you at least find someplace to spit it I ain’t gotta walk it all over in my shoe tread?”
“That coffee cup looks good.”
“Nice! I see he told you about the feelings.”
“Said yer a little sensitive.”
“I bet that’s how he said it too.”
“Little differnt.”
“How long you know Cody?”
“Long time.”
“Ever know him be forthcoming and honest?”
“Cody’s too honest sometimes.”
“When you say that again, add so long’s it ain’t him the truth’s told about.”
“Funny fucker, though.”
“That smart mouth that makes him a problem at the end of the drive is the whole job up here.”
“He’ll fit right in.”
“Did he tell you about the pay structure?”
“Yup, twenty an hour, paycheck with a W2, day cash the first week. And I like that corporation idea.”
“He told you about that too?”
“I see what you did there. You know the ten ninety-nine’s a trap, so it’s a W2, but you don’t want the paperwork, so you put it on Tanner, now it’s his problem.”
“You see that, do you? Gets better than that. Right now Tanner is the boss, gotta keep all you up and run the onboard bullshit too. Plan is you all get a piece of the thing, and next thing you know you got enough sense to close the window on that hooptie so the weed smell don’t get out with a cop on her way here to hang out for the day.”
“Gahhllee, Bro, yer toast.”
“Not toast. What you are is an asshole come to a new job, fresh high, wafting off you like a cloud of fart…”
“Cloud of fart – this guy got you pegged, Rus.”
“Hey, Cody Cousell, take it easy over there. At least he ain’t scratching the infection on his ass cheek sat down on the back-pocket-crack-pipe.”
“Ouch.”
“Ahh, Tanner? You lining up for a kick too?”
“Nope, just that you’re over here running your mouth – meanwhile no way Stef’s car gets up that ice road highway if Cody don’t get in the skid and skim a plow over the snow.”
“Good point.”
“Let’s get it together before it’s packed down by traffic. We got gravel coming. And the solar ain’t installing itself.”
“Gahhllee…”
“Don’t do it, Scratchy --- I see you’re all business, Tanner. Maybe you’re a little pissy about I’m adding people to your little fiefdom?”
“---”
“We talked about this. Take it or leave it. This job comes with partners, Partners. Next thing you know, you all got enough sense to get the landowner on task and get the day moving.”
“Mine, he says.”
“Yeah, Tanner. I said it’s yours. And it is. Every one of you got to pick a man. I picked you. You picked Cody. Cody picked Rusty. The team is up. Cody get in the skid and thin out that snow --- Do you know how to float the bucket?”
“He best. I taught him.”
“I see what you did there, Rusty. Teacher claims a review in the seat. You ain’t getting in that machine smell like a cartel barn. We need you up at the dam for the frames.”
“Frames?”
“Top of the dam. We’re putting in a few solar panels today, get some power for the shed. Tanner, we have enough two by fours, right?”
“There’s eighteen.”
“I’ll meet you up there in a minute --- Rusty, get that ghetto sled up into the little Y heads to the forest there.”
“Will do.”
“I ain’t saying you come up here high with weed in your car is okay…”
“I’m not high. I got three little girls, and I smoke in the car. Oldest nine, and she would --- know.”
“Look, I never had kids, but my mom owned a daycare center. I spent a lot of time with the after-school crowd. Anyway. I don’t have kids. I got no say.”
“Yeah.”
“Stef is a great lady. She’s been around. But you have to understand that the job comes with obligations…”
“Oh, I do.”
“Don’t. You’d better off spit in the coffee than interrupt me right now. I let anyone in. I don’t filter for stupid. But I keep the good stuff upstairs. You bring stupid upstairs, and you got problems. You’re upstairs now. Stef is upstairs. I ask questions later upstairs…”
“Oh, I know. I listened to the recording.”
“What recording?”
“Cody’s got a recording of you guys at breakfast the other day.”
“Like a voice recording on the phone?”
“Yup.”
“Nice! I didn’t think he had it in him. Now all I gotta do is get my hands on it and loop it into the headset of voices in his brain all day long, and he might grow the fuck up.”
“Good luck with that.”
“Anyway, every human in her life is her known associates. You’re in her life now.”
“I understand.”
“And that bear’s in her life too. Look at her.”
“Why you call it a her?”
“Just a sense I had – She’s not big boned, but she’s fat like she’s pregnant.”
“That’s a lot to – guess.”
“Interpolating. Move the car into the little slip, close the windows, and meet us up the hill.”
“I just gotta say, drippy lisp, that was stone cold.”
“Go move the car.”
“Hey Tanner, how was your Christmas?”
“It was awesome! We got engaged!”
“What?”
“So, we’ve been engaged for a while, but I got her a ring.”
“Like a ring, ring? Where?”
“Zales. It’s not huge, but we had the extra for the deposit, and…”
“So, listen, we don’t have this ground smoothed out yet.”
“Yeah, you can get Rusty to bring up the ex…”
“No, not this ground, the feelings ground. And Rusty just laid some shit on me, and now you’re all – grown up.”
“Jesus, you don’t have the ground for this, do you?”
“I got it. Just not… We’re still at the bust balls and mean nicknames stage and you got my knight jumping a1 to h8.”
“What the fuck?”
“It’s… Congratulations, man. I’ll find my forked tongue later, and we can get back to it.”
“Deal. Thanks, man. You know.”
“I know.”
“That hill’s - somethin’.”
“That’s just your first time, Rusty. Tanner did it ten times one day last week.”
“So, yeah. Don’t forget nothing down there. This dude got no sympathy.”
“I’ll take a note – on that.”
“It isn’t that bad.”
“You walk it.”
“I just did, buddy, and I got a bag of air the size and shape of a beer bottle on my lung too.”
“Ouch.”
“Not really. Just annoying against the ribs.”
“How you get that?”
“You’ll be shocked to know I’m a smoker.”
“Yeah, shocking. I smelled it coming up the driveway.”
“Over all that weed?”
“Ouch.”
“So, Tanner here has the idea. Read my mind or something. You need two frames for this array, gonna have two panels each. Next step is head to that shed, measure the panels in the front yard, and off we go.”
“Did you see any raccoons in there while you were at it?”
“Oh, hey, babe! I didn’t hear you come in.”
“That’s because I didn’t come in. I walked.”
“Stuck?”
“Way.”
“Guys, this is Stefanie.”
“She don’t look mean.”
“That one’s Tanner – says he needs a dentist appointment.”
“Nice to meet you, Stef.”
“Hi Tanner.”
“This is Rusty.”
“Hi Stef. Nice to meet you.”
“Hi, Rusty. That your whip down there smells like you park in a grow house?”
“She’s different too.”
“Cute, Tanner. Way different. You guys got a handle on this? Bill’s going to be here in like two hours, and I gotta go strike a deal on those culvert pipes and get back before he gets here.”
“Same old Bill, just a new works site to be late at.”
“Amen. Alright. Let’s get down there and try out the new tow strap.”
“Already on it. Cody was mucking out the Alps, and he’s down there now gonna pull me out.”
“Let’s hit it.”
“If you’re waiting on me, you’re backing up.”
“What’s that even… Never mind.”
“Amazing they got these roads clear so fast.”
“Yeah. So, you know there’s no chance I catch one of those guys stoned up there, and I’m logical, right?”
“Yeah. Kids, though. Tough to scare.”
“If not fear or common sense, you better remind them a lot.”
“I hear you.”
“Whoa, brakes.”
“Oh, my little helper’s in the car. I’m pretty sure I’d be dead and gone years ago if you weren’t there in the passenger seat telling me brakes and turns and look-outs and such.”
“Why you turning here?”
“John Sevier Highway.”
“Been in this county all my life and never came this way to Asheville Highway.”
“Sit back and enjoy the ride then, Sidecar.”
“You sure these people are open?”
“One way to find out.”
“Yeah, other way’s call – on the phone – before you needlessly put my life in your hands – that’s a Stop Sign.”
“Stoptional.”
“God help me.”
“Hey, that’s my line.”
“Mine has the capital G, buddy. Direct line.”
“That’s problem being Catholic, I got a whole list of people I gotta call on first before I bother God with my bullshit.”
“Kathleen Madigan. Now, that girl is funny! I thought you were asleep.”
“I caught that part.”
“I’m going to that Dupont Baptist this Sunday.”
“You should try out Dripping Springs Baptist too.”
“I might… What the fuck, you can’t stop in the middle of the road.”
“Look at that.”
“It’s a construction site. Michael, highway. You gotta drive.”
“I am. Waiting for the cross traffic.”
“From the middle of the highway?”
“It’s not an interstate. Route number.”
“But that doesn’t mean stop in the traffic lane – and no blinker.”
“Gimme the test later. Look at that place. It’s just what we’re looking for.”
“What? How? You can’t just pull into someone’s driveway.”
“It’s not someone’s yet. There’s no doors, no windows, and that truck says there’s workers here.”
“So you’re just – Michael, wait.”
“I’ll be right back.”
“You’ll be right next to me.”
“Then, hurry up.”
“Buenos.”
“Buenos.”
“Eres el dueno, o solo que?”
“Ayudante. El patrón está abajo.”
“Aquí?”
“Sí.”
“Boss is downstairs.”
“Are you just going…”
“Come on.”
“Hola, el ayudante me dice que te encuentraria aquí bajo.”
“¿Qué hay?”
“Estuvimos conduciendo, y vimos la casa y quisimos verla.”
“El dueño no está, pero vive en la casa de la esquina.”
“The owner lives in the house on the corner.”
“I never get tired of watching their face when you start speaking Spanish.”
“Yes, ees a surprise. He no look like he speak Spanish. ¿Dónde aprendiste?”
“Now who’s surprised?”
“Este casa, me encanta.” “Is there a plan anywhere?”
“Por supuesto, upstairs.”
“Plan’s…”
“Yeah, I got that, Juan.”
“Ay.”
“Que si eres el contratero?”
“Soy el contratista, sí.”
“Puedo sacar un photo de este plan?”
“Sí, ¿vas a construir una de estas casas?”
“I think so – see this honey? Houseplans.net. No shit. I was looking for the architect, and it’s a cutter off the internet.”
“Sí, ess online plan. Cheap. I build three already.”
“Are you serious?”
“En serio, sí.”
“I just learned to say seriously in Spanish, En sario.”
“Close.”
“Thees guy, he teach you. Where you learn?”
“School, amigos, oreja.”
“Thass a good oreja.”
“Thanks, man. Quanto tiempo tiene aquí en este lado?”
“Catorce años.”
“Tu también hablas bien el Ingles.”
“I get a lot of practice.”
“It’s working.”
“Can we look around and get a feel?”
“Si, si, make yourself home.”
“Did we just find our house?”
“Not so fast.”
“Wait, your only request was big, deep, wide front porch, and that porch goes all the way around the whole house.”
“I did, but that’s a lodge style.”
“That’s easy. Build bridge trusses on the load bearing walls, carry them with the front and back posts, and pull off the cross brace. Bam, not a lodge anymore.”
“Lodge.”
“No, it’s not. It’s a church, but it’s not a lodge. I got a pic of the map number off the plan. Get that and look it up.”
“I already did. They call it a lake house.”
“That’s because the front is one level, and the back shows two levels with the walk-out basement. That’s why it’s perfect for the hillside we gotta build it on. The roof is a little complicated, and the bridge trusses, I’ll need to get those engineered, but the truss company will handle all of that. It’s sticks and bricks from there.”
“No.”
“What?”
“No, No, NO. You’re not building the house.”
“We decided that. I’m just running the pitch through my head when we interview GCs.”
“Why you turning right?”
“We don’t have time for culvert pipes. You stood on the deck twenty minutes talking to Phil and Jen and I don’t know who else. Act like you’re not decided with me.”
“Not decided.”
“Decided.”