- 1) Camels were near the bottom of his preferred list of brands,
and
2) He could have sworn he'd stuck his hand in this particular pocket multiple times over the course of his unplanned vacation, and he hadn't felt a thing.
Presented with the related need to actually light his mysterious cigarette, Rabbit dug into his back pocket this time and came away with a pack of matches, or rather a single match in an otherwise empty book. It was no Zippo, but it did the job just the same.
He drew in a searing lungful of... turkish blend, trying to put the first half of his day out of mind, and it worked for all of thirty seconds. As the nicotine hit his bloodstream and the tightness behind his eyes started to abate, he began to notice the little things, like how the whole goddamned street looked like the Staples-Puft Marshmallow Man had exploded all over it. Rabbit bent to grab one of the flyers, crumpling and tossing it as far away as he could when he saw what it said. He thought of Olivia, frightened and alone as It Walked all over the ******** neighborhood. Against his better judgment he picked up another identical sheet before he broke into a jog, stuffing it into a pocket as he headed for home.
- - - - -
The initial shock of waking up in a parallel universe had been very distracting, so much so that he had left his keys behind and neglected to shut the door. It was a relief to find that their place had been squared away in his absence, door closed tightly and Rabbit subsequently locked out. When he got close enough to hear who was inside he deflated a little, grateful that someone was taking care of his sister, but unbelievably salty that that someone was Jim.
He knocked, giving the door the finger until Jim's shadowy bulk shifted in front of the peephole. Just before it did he dropped the gesture and smiled directly into the fisheyed piece of glass. As the door opened he blew past his sister's boyfriend and into Olivia's arms. She was already holding them out for him, and as he fell into an awkward crouch beside her wheelchair, her shaky sigh filled his ears.
"Bring your phone next time, okay?"
"I don't think it would have helped, but yeah. I will."
She pulled back, examining him with mild scrutiny. "I guess you're not going to tell me why you're all muddy?" The look she gave him made it less of a curious question and more a demand, but he countered with a disapproving glance at Jim and a small shake of his head. He would not be elaborating while her boyfriend was here.
"Later. I promise." Rabbit stood and started toward the bathroom. He thought it quite the accomplishment that he didn't say anything scathing on his way past the other man.
Once he was alone he stripped carefully, searching for any concrete signs that he and his clothing had been somewhere else, but besides mud, all he found was the piece of paper he'd picked up off of the street. Whatever had been walking surely wasn't doing it anymore. Compared to the last few foggy days it had been almost sunny out as he'd hurried home. Well, not quite, but comparatively...
Anyway, it wasn't worth thinking about right now. As he stepped under the spray of warm water, Rabbit's exhaustion pushed to the forefront, softening the relevance of this new world he had found himself a part of, one populated by bird-dogs and mutant deer and ancient teenagers. Once the water ran clear he toweled off, wearing nothing but that towel as he shuffled across the hall and got into bed with the cat.
For the first time in a week, he didn't dream at all.
