Bad Glass

And there is a table there. And on the table, a stack of pages. And in the pages, the breath that I breathe, the Wild Turkey that I drink, the beauty that flashes in my eye.

And it resists. Like the human mind resists.

Or maybe God just left.

Maybe God got bored, pissed off, fed up, and generally stuffed. Stood up from the table and left the room. Leaving us in charge. And us in charge, with nothing—no one—to stabilize and baby-sit, we’re warping and driving everything into the motherfucking ground.

Nothing left to see. Nothing left to do.

Because that’s who we are. That’s what we do.

And there is a room, somewhere. In a building, somewhere. In a city.

And the world is red.

The world is red, and the boardroom is empty.

And I stop writing.

And I’m here

         all alone.

LOT 1105.

Contents of black footlocker, 513 Madison St, Apt. 540 (back closet):

handwritten manuscript, 583 pages (document 511; reference case 412); handwritten composition book (document 512; reference case 413); loose paper, handwritten (document 513; reference case 413); loose paper, handwritten (document 514; reference case 419); skateboard; notebook computer (contents cataloged, document 515; reference case 412); Canon Rebel digital camera; 6GB CompactFlash memory card (contents cataloged, document 516; reference case 412); 4GB CompactFlash memory card (contents cataloged, document 517; reference case 412); newspaper clipping (document 518; reference case 412); Sony video camera (contents cataloged and transcribed, document 519; reference case 412, 415)

Referencing:

Case

Devon. Status:

[Expunged; Executive Order

Executive Order

Executive Order

Executive Order

Executive Order

Executive Order

Executive Order

Password Clearance: Black Alpha and Higher.]

Case 012.

Daltry, Dr. Stephen. Status: DECEASED. (Reference case 013, 417)

Case 013.

Daltry, Dr. Cheryl. Status: DECEASED. (Reference case 012, 417)

Case 053.

Moon, Lieutenant Daniel “Danny.” Status: LOCATED.

Case 117.

Barnes, Sharon (AKA. “Mama Cass.”) Status: LOCATED.

Case 222.

Twill, Terence “Terry.” Status: LOCATED.

Case 315.

Gilles, Cob. Status: MISSING. (Reference case 316)

Case 316.

[Name Unknown], “The Poet.” Status: MISSING. (Reference case 315)

Case 412.

Walker, Dean Andrew. Status: MISSING. (Reference document 511, 515, 516, 517, 518, 519)

Case 413.

[Last Name Unknown], Wendell (AKA. “Weasel.”) Status: MISSING. (Reference document 512, 513)

Case 414.

Stray-Gupta, Taylor (AKA. “Taylor Gupta,” “Taylor Stray.”) Status: MISSING. (Reference case 420, 421)

Case 415.

Grey, Julie (AKA. “Sabine Pearl-Grey.”) Status: MISSING. (Reference document 519)

Case 416.

Boyd, Floyd (AKA. “Pretty Boy Floyd.”) Status: MISSING.

Case 417.

Daltry, Charles “Charlie.” Status: MISSING. (Reference case 012, 013)

Case 418.

O’Donnell, Mackenzie “Mac.” Status: MISSING.

Case 419.

Siebert, Amanda. Status: MISSING. (Reference document 514)

Case 420.

Gupta, Miriam (AKA. “Miriam Stray-Gupta.”) Status: MISSING. (Reference case 414, 421)

Case 421.

Gupta, Dr. Harold “Harry.” Status: MISSING. (Reference case 414, 420)

FOR JIM,

WHO WAS THERE WITH ME

IN THE STREETS AND TUNNELS

IN THE RED AND THE BLUE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I’m the luckiest SOB in the world. I’m lucky to have editors like David Pomerico and Betsy Mitchell. I’m lucky to have an agent like Jim McCarthy. And I’m lucky to be able to call Jim Geist, Vicki Mau, Jeremy Horwitz, Margaret Danielson, Sheryl Burnham, and George Dake my readers, friends, and family. Thank you, all!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

RICHARD E. GROPP lives on a mountain outside of Seattle with his partner of fifteen years. It is a small mountain. He studied literature and psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and has worked as a bookstore clerk, a forklift driver, and an accountant. He has a hard time spelling the word broccoli, and in his spare time he dabbles in photography and cooking.

Bad Glass is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

A Del Rey Trade Paperback Original

Copyright © 2012 by Richard E. Gropp

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Del Rey, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

DEL REY is a registered trademark and the Del Rey colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gropp, Richard E.

Bad glass/Richard E. Gropp.

p. cm.

eISBN: 978-0-345-53564-1 1. Photographers—Fiction. 2. Quarantine—Fiction. 3. Spokane (Wash.)—Fiction. 4. Psychological fiction. I. Title.

PS3607.R653B33 2012

813′.6—dc23

2012019974

www.delreybooks.com

Frontispiece illustration: mckenna71 at stock.xchng

Cover design: David G. Stevenson

All cover photographs © Shutterstock,

except front cover, lower left © Mike Bryan

v3.1