Page 34 of Head Over Feels
Myhands were shaking asIgrabbed atFelix’sshoulder.Hecoughed, then rolled on his side.Thankfuck he was alive.Herubbed at his face, then sat up.HemouthedAreyou okay?at me.Inodded and pointed at him.You?Henodded back.
Ilooked him over anyway.Hehad a couple of small cuts on his right arm, but mostly he was covered in the same dustIwas, probably from the street.Therewas a small crater about twenty feet from us.Thestreet and my driveway were littered with hex nuts and nails.Notmany had made it to where we’d been standing, thank fuck.
Felix, in his rage, had thrown the box a good distance and the bomb hadn’t had a large blast radius.Otherwisewe could have died.Felixcould have died.
Ishuddered, trying to keep it together.Felixdid not need me spacing out right now.Ifocused on my breathing.Felixrubbed my back, andInodded at him to try to indicateIwas fine.Hah.
Okay,Ineeded to get through this.Thepolice would be here soon.Icould hold it together until they were gone.Istretched my legs out, wincing.Felixducked in front of my face with a concerned expression, butIshook my head and brushed futilely at the dustIwas covered in.
Ginnie, my neighbor to the west, jogged toward us in her purple terry bathrobe, phone glued to her ear.Otherneighbors were coming out of their houses to see what was going on.
Sheshouted questions at me andFelix, butIwasn’t able to hear her.Igestured at my ears and shook my head.Felixdid the same.
Ginnieseemed to be saying, “Idon’t know,” over and over to the dispatcher on the phone.
Iwaved at her and made a square with my fingers. “Box.”Isaid, hopefully without shouting. “Thebomb was in a box.”
Ginnierepeated it to the dispatcher.
Therest of the neighbors were getting closer, soIgestured atFelixto stand up and help me to my feet.Whothe fuck knew where my cane had gone.OrdinarilyI’dhave been embarrassed about not being able to get up by myself, butIwas too busy pretendingIwas calm.
Felix, realizingIdidn’t have my cane, let me sling an arm around his shoulders for support.Iwaved my other arm at the neighbors. “Stayback!”Ishouted.Well, hopefullyIwas shouting. “Thepolice need the evidence preserved!”
Ed, who lived on the other side ofGinnie’shouse, stepped up and took charge.He’dbeen in theMarinesa couple of decades ago.Inabout three minutes he had the rest of the neighbors arranged in lines about twenty yards down the street in either direction from where the bomb went off.Afew people were sent to the ends of the block, no doubt to keep an eye out for the cops and to prevent other traffic from coming through.
Ed’swifeTonishowed up next, marching toward us with a determined look in her eyes.Shewas a retired nurse.
“We’refine,”Itried to assure her. “Wejust can’t hear anything.”
Felix, the traitor, shook his head and pointed at my leg. “It’sfine,”Igrowled asItried to pretendIwas putting weight on it.
Tonipointed atFelix’scar, gesturing like she was opening the door.Oh, she wanted me to sit down.Iheld my hand up. “Don’ttouch it.Thebomb was on top of the car.”
Thatdrew her up short.Sheturned around and yelled at someone.
Thepain in my hip was radiating down my thigh.Myphysical therapist was going to be pissed.Notto mention what my doctor would say.AtleastIhadn’t aggravated my lower leg too.
Everyoneother than me andFelixturned toward the end of the street.Thecops must be almost here.Fuck,Ineeded to textBrian, my boss.Oh, shit, andCraig.
Ipulled my phone out of my pocket and braced it againstFelix’sshoulder.Felixwas texting someone himself.Thankfuck we hadn’t landed on our phones when we fell.
Despitewanting desperately to look at my unicorn photo,Iopened my text thread withBrianand used speech-to-text to create a message.
Hey,I’mgonna be late.Bombin my driveway.Iwasn’t the target.Noone’s hurt.Copsalmost here.
Okay, the part about not being hurt was a little bit of a lie, but whatever.
Istarted to open my text thread withCraig, but the phone rang instead.Foster.Ifhe’d heard the address on the scanner, he’d have already calledCraig.Shit.
Ianswered. “Hey,I’mfine, no one was hurt.Thehouse is fine.Iwas close to the blast, though, soIcan’t hear anything you’re saying.Here,I’mgoing to hand the phone to somebody.”Toniwas still standing nearby, soIwaved her over and held the phone out. “ThisisFoster.He’sa detective withBentOakPD.Canyou tell him what’s going on?”
Thephone vibrated asIhanded it to her.ProbablyBriantexting me back.Iwouldn’t be surprised if he showed up soon as well.
Twosquad cars turned the corner, followed by a fire truck and an ambulance.Ishould’ve toldBrianIwouldn’t be in today at all.
AneighborIdidn’t know walked up with two folding chairs.Toni, still talking toFosteron my phone, waved at her to put them down onGinnie’sdriveway.Felixhelped me hop over to them, which jarred my entire body with each step.Icouldn’t pretendIwasn’t hurt anymore.
Whilethe cops and paramedics left their vehicles and assessed the scene,Felixgot me seated on one of the folding chairs.Thenhe andIhad a non-verbal argument about propping my leg up on the second chair.Itwould just put different pressure on my hip and thigh, but it wasn’t likeIcould explain that to him.Tonistill had my phone, andFelix’swas in his pocket.
