volume one IN THE D U D L E Y C L A R K - Ohio Vine Tours

“CLICK”
Roy Stands before 28/RR, right hand poised to knock. His Sony
tape player has just clicked off.
It has been a wonderful day.
A day unlike any other.
It’s not every day he gets eighty-sixed from two stores.
He’s filled with courage and aflame with confidence.
He is no longer Window Washer Roy, or Brother of Rick the
Asshole Roy.
He’s not exactly sure who or what kind of Roy he is, but one
thing’s certain—he’s a changed man, an altered version of the
Before Roy.
The fact that he’s about to knock on 28/RR’s door proves it.
But what’s brought him to such an uncharacteristic place?
What’s prompted such feelings of bravado?
Was it just the music?
Roy takes a deep breath and—
His right hand’s uncovered knuckles come into contact
with the door but, unlike as with a knock, make no sound.
Instead, they rest, as after a long day’s journey, or a complicated
conversation, or a young couple’s energetic tryst.
—What was he thinking, busting in here like this, just because
of some silly music he overheard? What is up with him being so
heedless of consequences, of racing headlong into the fray?
Any fray?
Roy thinks—
—This needs to be better thought out.
—This needs to have a plan.
His fire, having eaten through its fuel, flickers instead
of flames. His confidence, so bloated moments ago, is as if
punctured by a nail.
ROY ROGERS IN THE 21ST CENTURY 1