Brush Creek Charlie, D. B. Reynolds [top non fiction books of all time TXT] 📗

“Hey, let’s get off Independence Avenue before the cops bust us. Speaking of cops, you aren’t one them, are you?”
“Not at all.”
“Hop in.”
Kim got inside the car with Charlie and he sped off up the street. The action on Independence Avenue only got hotter. One less woman hooked on drugs disappeared from the avenue.


CHAPTER—15

Charlie and Kim stepped into his apartment and a series of lights flashed on. Kim had a rather dysfunctional history. The deep lines across her face and bags under her eyes told most of her story. The life she’d led for the past twenty years painted an ugly picture. Being raped by her natural father and two uncles tore deep into her self-esteem. Having a mother who put her out on the streets at the age of fourteen didn’t help matters. She opted to the streets and the harsh elements who ruled them became her family. Pimps became the father figure she never had.
Polluting her body with drugs and hard liquor temporarily buried her memories. Selling her body to strange men gave her a sense of need. She longed to be wanted or belong to something. Avoiding a regular job helped her escape a system she believed would’ve never wanted her in the first place. The world she existed in only got colder. Other hookers were the sisters she yearned for. The man she followed home had dangerous plans for her.
“How long have you lived on The Plaza?” Kim asked Charlie, firing up a cigarette.
“Long enough,” Charlie said, rumbling through his closet for some goods.
Kim scanned the walls and noticed the many posters of Brush Creek. “Where’d you get all these pictures of Brush Creek at?”
“Collected them over the years.”
“My brothers and I used to play down there when we were kids.”
“Is that right?”
“Yeah.”
“Brush Creek is the most exciting place, the greatest marvel on this Earth.”
“Looks like you’re fascinated with Brush Creek.”
“Brush Creek is an engineering extravaganza.”
Kim traveled to the wall facing south to look at two posters which had aerial views of the floodwaters during the tragic 1977 flood in Kansas City. “I remember the flood back in Seventy-Seven. I must’ve been a little girl when it happened.”
Charlie stepped up beside Kim. “The swollen Blue River overflowed its banks, which sent water into a lot filled with assembled cars at the General Motors plant out at Leeds. Those waters flooded the Leeds residential area and trailer courts north of I-70.”
Kim pointed to the other poster. “This poster here, what’s it showing?”
“This shows the Brush Creek bulge,” Charlie noted. “Excess water from the heavy rains in Brush Creek was unable to flow into the Blue River. The creek bulged before the confluence of the two.”
“Looks like it made a mess.”
“Homes and businesses along Brush Creek suffered heavy flood damage.”
“A lot of stores on The Country Club Plaza lost serious money.”
“The flood damaged a lot of merchandise in those upscale stores.”
“Well, those rich folks never hurt for anything.”
“The Plaza got back up and running in a few days.”
“Body-after-body was found floating up from the Brush Creek waters.”
“Missing persons reports popped up all over the place.”
“From what I’ve heard, about twenty-five people drowned in that 1977 Brush Creek flood.”
“Sounds about right to me.”
“You know everything about Brush Creek.”
“The excitement just keeps on growing.”
Kim fired up another cigarette. She fell down onto the sofa. “So honey, what’cha looking to do tonight?”
“As far as?”
“As far as something freaky, something sexual.”
“Freaky and sexual, huh?”
“Sure, like something real nasty.”
“Come again, please.”
“You wanna fuck?” Kim blurted out. “You want some head? You want some ass? Isn’t that why you picked me up?”
“Having your over for company, that’s why I picked you up.”
“Are you paying me for my time?”
“You could say that.”
“Time is money, darling.”
“That’s what they say.”
Kim motioned to Charlie with her index finger. “So, why don’t you come over here and sit with me on the sofa.”
Charlie did as she suggested. She looked hard at the deep pits that covered his entire face. The crooked, the rotted teeth, it churned her stomach without him having any idea. The lights went down low. The full bright moon casted a soothing glow into the apartment.
“Alright, tell me some things about yourself,” Kim requested.
“What would you like to know?”
“Have you ever been married?”
“Never.”
“Any children?”
“Zero children.”
“No wife? No kids? Why not?”
“Being single with no kids is the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“Don’t you get lonely?”
“Sometimes.”
“Growing up, how was it for you?”
“As a young boy, I spent hours of everyday hanging down in Brush Creek. I found my peace of mind just wandering beside the creek waters. After high school, I went to the service to serve in Vietnam.”
“You were in Vietnam?”
“Did two tour of duties.”
“That war lasted way too long.”
“Me and the casualties in my company thought we’d never make it back to the states.”
“Did you come out of that war okay?”
“What do you mean by okay?”
“Killing innocent babies, killing innocent women, and killing other innocent people, didn’t that screw your mind up a little?”
“Psychologically, we all became damaged.”
“Diseases, did you catch any when you were over there?”
“I was one of the lucky ones.
“You didn’t catch gonorrhea or that Agent Orange crap?”
“Nope.”
“Did you ever get shot?”
Kim asked the biggest setup questions. Charlie thought back to when a barrage of powerful ammunition shot off his private parts.
“Did you?”
“What?”
“Ever get shot?”
“Sorta.”
“You’re still alive. It couldn’t’ve been that bad.”
“Definitely one of the lucky ones.”
Kim fired up her third cigarette. She wanted her money but knew she had to put more work in. More money awaited her along Independence Avenue. She scooted closer to Charlie and cuddled up with him. He didn’t want to have sex with her. Too bad he couldn’t get intimate since he was minus the tools. She glided her hands along the base of his neck. Clever hookers like herself had the capacity to make any man feel special.
Pitted skin and rotted teeth didn’t stand in the way of Kim making a few bucks. Charlie got caught up in the moment. The atmosphere escalated to erotic heights. Kim sailed both hands down between his parted legs. Complete flatness was all she felt. She drew back and got overpowered by an airy strangeness. Weird was how she felt.
“Did you have an accident down there?” Kim asked, her eyes planted down by Charlie’s mid-section.
Charlie stared with eyes of vehemence. “Wait just a second, bitch! How dare you ask me a fucking personal question like that!”
“Charlie, I didn’t mean any harm,” Kim appealed. “Do you have any privates down there?”
“Private parts or personal parts, it’s none of your goddamned business!”
“If we got in the mood, how were we gonna have sex?”
“Are you making fun of me?”
“Never.”
“Is it a joke to you that I don’t have a dick and a pair of balls hanging between my legs?”
“I’d never make jokes about something like that.”
“You women, you’re all disgusting.”
By now, Kim had pissed Charlie off. His blood rose to the boiling point. She cut a smirk which he’d noticed much too well.
“Are you laughing at me?”
“Why’d you say that?”
“I saw you grinning.”
Kim couldn’t hold it in any longer. She burst into a rumbling giggle.
The time bomb inside of Charlie was set off. The unexpected rage took him back to the exact period when the Vietnamese whores accosted him outside a hotel. The Asian prostitutes laughed at him for not having sexual organs. Indelibly, it was etched into his memory. The pain was buried deep into his tortured soul. Charlie came back into the present. Kim stood at the middle of the floor giggling under her breath. He’d had enough of her disrespect.
“It’s funny, huh?” Charlie ruttled, his face blanketed with rage.
“Look, can you take me back to where you picked me up?”
“Where, Independence Avenue?”
“Yes, back on the avenue.”
Charlie got up in her face. “My dear, you’re not going nowhere.”
“Like hell I’m not!”
“You came here on my terms, and you’ll leave on my terms.”
“What’re your terms?”
“You’re not going to like them.”
Kim noticed him shaking. She witnessed the sweating, the cold and clammy hands, the dizziness and fatigue, the racing heart and dry mouth. Charlie transformed into a monster before her very eyes. She raced for the door. Charlie intercepted any moves