When I was almost done with dinner, Al walked out with Pam. She sat down at my table. The restaurant was still empty. I finished the rest of the chicken. Pam had a glass of water with ice. Al went into the kitchen and didnt come out. Customers started coming in for dinner and we left. I drove her home.
The rest of that summer, when I would walk over to University Avenue for coffee or cigarettes, I would see the Buon cooks and waiters outside smoking. They would always be sitting and leaning on this bus bench next to the restaurant. They told me to bring Pam by for them too. They said they would make me the best dinners if I did.
I did it one more time, for Juan the cook. He was short, and chubby, and had a babys face and little baby hands.
I went over with Pam again. This time it was later in the evening than the first time, and there were customers inside eating, so we went around the side of the building to the kitchen door. It was a warm night.
As we walked up there was an orange glow spilling out of the side door where the kitchen was. Inside, through the screen door, I saw the two cooks were busy, but joking around too. It was Juan and a young one.
Esteban, the headwaiter, came into the kitchen to say something to Juan the cook. Esteban saw me and Pam looking in through the screen. He smiled and said something in Spanish. Then they all looked at us. The young cook said something to Juan in Spanish and they all laughed and made teasing noises. The young cook opened the door for us. I brought Pam in and introduced her to Juan. Juan didnt say much. He was looking at the ground. He had been in the middle of cooking something, but he went with Pam. They walked to the door next to the mens bathroom, where Al had taken her the other time.
I sat at a little table that was in the corner kitchen. It was where the cooks ate their dinners. The younger cook finished what Juan had been making and he made me some angel hair pasta with shrimp. It was good and had lots of garlic. I drank two glasses of wine with it. He was making me a steak cooked in butter when Juan came back with Pam. It hadnt been very long. Juan didnt say anything; he just walked back to his place at the stove. He took the steak that was cooking for me off the stove. Juan didnt look at me.
Pam was standing next to me. She didnt look at me, and she didnt say anything. Then the young cook came over and said that we should leave.
School started in September and Pam was there. She didnt have any friends. The only person she knew was me.
I tried out for soccer, and I made it on the team. At practice, I told the guys about Chinatown. Thats what we started calling her. Wed all go down to Chinatown.
After I made the team, I had to go to soccer practice every day. It was boring. I stopped going and they kicked me off the team.
One day at lunch we parked Seth Kleins BMW in the far corner of the parking lot, behind the Palo Alto High School sign. I got Chinatown. I hadnt seen her in weeks. Ramone Washington came with us. He is a huge black football player. China got in the backseat. She was on her hands and knees on the seat. Seth got in behind her and put on a condom. He pushed her skirt up and took off her panties. Ramone stood at the open back door, in front of her face, and undid his pants. His dick is huge and disgusting. I was standing guard at the back of the car, looking at the school. Every once in a while I looked back. Seth was doing it really hard, and the car was shaking. Pam was choking. A bunch of cars left the parking lot at the beginning of lunch, and after a while they came back.
A month later, Seths grandmother sent him away. He had been coming home drunk. His eyebrows would be shaved off, or hed have felt marker beards and human shit on his face.
His grandfather had invented some sort of special part for microwaves. Seths grandfather
was working on us.
Chrissy came in to get a glass from the cupboard.
Hey, Chrissy, you suck any dick lately?
Youre a fucker, Ivan, said Chrissy. She was short, pretty, and perfectly blond. Barry, why do you even let this fucker at your house? she said.
I dunno, said Barry.
Chrissy, suck dick or get out, said Ivan.
Youre such a motherfucker, said Chrissy. A pale motherfucker. Ivan was really pale.
Suck dick, said Ivan, and all the guys drinking whiskey laughed because Ivan had a running thing with Chrissy where he hated her and just said the worst things to her. Her boyfriend, Jerry, wasnt there so we felt free to laugh.
After a while I was drunk and things felt wavy. I felt like I could talk to April. I got up and wandered around the house. It was still daytime and there werent that many people at the party. Some people were on couches drinking beer. I went through Barrys bedroom and out some sliding glass doors to the backyard. Ed was out there on the wooden bench on the deck. He was hunched over some tinfoil with the clear shell of a Bic pen. He was lighting the bottom of the foil and trying to suck up the smoke. There was no one else outside.