can take that away from you.”
“Right. Hunnerd procent right. Now you go in
there and tell that to the bitch’in black, straighten her out. Tell her I got to have those kids.”
“I can’t do that.”
He pouted like a child denied dessert.
BLOOD TEST 23
“You do it. Right now.”
“I can’t. You’re under a lot of stress. You’re not
ready to take care of them. You’re going through a
full-fledged manic episode, Mr. Moody. You’re a
manic-depressive and you need help badly …. ”
“I Can handle it, I got plans. Get a trailer, get a
boat, take ’em outta the dirty city, outta the smog-clouds,
take ’em to the country,relish for trout, hunt
for meat, teach ’em the way to survive. Like Hank
Junior says, country boy will survive. Teach ’em to
shovel shit and,eat good breakfasts, get away from
scumbags like him and her until she gets straightened
out, who. knows when it’ll come she keep up
with him, humpin’ him in front of them, a disgrace.”
“Try to calm down.”
“Here, watch me calm down.” He inhaled deeply
and let the air out in a noisy whoosh. I smelled the
stench of his breath. He cracked his knuckles and
the silver rings sparkled in the sun. “I’m relaxed,
I’m clean,. I’m ready for action, I’m the father, go in
and tell her.”
‘.’It doesn’t work that way.”
“Why not?” he growled and grabbed the front of
my jacket.
“Let go. We can’t talk if you keep doing that, Mr.
Moody.”‘
Slowly his fingers parted. I tried to edge away
from .him but my back touched the car. We were
close enough to slow-dance.
“Tell her! You fucked me up, you fix it, Head-shrinker!”
His voice had taken a decidedly menacing tone.
Manics could do damage when they got worked up.
As bad as paranoid schitzes. It was obvious that the
power of persuasion wasn’t going to do the trick.
24
Jonathan Kellerman
“Mr. Moody–Richardwyou need help. I won’t
do anything for you until you get it.”
He sputtered, sprayed me with saliva, and jacked
upward viciously with his knee, a classic street
brawler’s move. It was one of the gambi
ts I’d figured him for and I swiveled so that all he made
contact with was gabardine.
The miss threw him off-balance and he stumbled.
Consciously sad, I caught his elbow and threw
him off my
hip. He landed on his back, stayed
down for a quarter second, and was at me again,
arms chopping like a thresher gone mad. I waited
until he was almost on me, ducked low, and hit him
in the belly just hard enough to knock some wind
out. Moving out of the way I let him double over in
privacy.
“Please, Richard, calm down and pull it all
together.”
His response was a growl and a snivel and a grab
for my legs. He managed to get hold of one cuff and
I felt myself going down. It would have been a good
time to jump in the car and tool out of there, but he
was between me and the driver’s door.
I contemplated a move for the passenger door,
but that would mean turning my back to him and
he was strong and crazy-fast.
As I contemplated; he bounded up and charged
toward me shouting gibberish. My pity for him had
made me too careless and he was able to connect
with a punch to the shoulder that made my body
rattle. Still stunned, I cleared my eyes soon enough
to see the follow.through: a left hook aimed squarely
at my man-made jaw. Serf-preservation won out
over pity and I slid away, took hold of his ann, and
threw him full-force against the car. Before he could
BLOOD TEST 25
have second thoughts I jerked him up,yanked the
arm behind him, and pulled up to the point where
it was just short of snapping. It had to be agonizing
but he evinced no sign of suffering, Manics could
get like that, on a perpetual speed trip, impervious
to minor details like pain.
I kicked him in the butt as hard as I could and he
went flying. Grabbing for my keys, I jumped in the