CSI: American Carnage (Friday, February 7, 2020)
WASHINGTON – It is very late and the fog blankets Pennsylvania Avenue. Inside the Executive Lounge, Donald tightens his wrapper and leans back in the recliner. Stevie, he says, we need to take the ball and pitch it down their throats, hurl it, you know, like they used to do, back awhile ago when they’d come at each other with their guns and shoot it out, right there in the fucking Congress, and then they’d take their iron pokers and hit at each other hard, real hard, not like the pussies today, but hard until there was nothing left of the head and the wives would say, Oh, honey, I guess you’re not coming home tonight, and smile and check the watch, that’s what we need. Donald takes a long drink from his Jolt Cola and tosses the can behind the recliner where a growing mound of debris is rising toward the ceiling and small, vague creatures are now spontaneously combusting from the unusual mix. Several scatter as the can hits the top of the pile and rolls downhill. Donald shouts, Hector! Hector! Get me another Jolt. Hector unplugs from his niche and tries to make it to the fridge across the room, but his way is blocked by debris and he keeps banging against what appears to be a wall of mold, white and creamy, like good pus. The room is filled by Hector’s whir and the acrid smell of electronics burning out. Donald says, Jordan, Stevie, Jordan. When I first got to know Jim, I said, Huh, he never wears a jacket. What the hell is going on? It’s like the Muslims and their potato sacks. What the hell? He’s obviously very proud of his body. And they say where he works out — you know, where the congressmen, senators, they work out — they say, when Jim works out — even though he’s not as young as he was, but he works out — the machine starts burning. Hector! Get me the fucking soda! What the hell is that burning smell? What the hell is going on? And you know, Steverino, it’s just a different form of a workout than us. Right, And — there he is. Look at that guy. But one day I’m looking, and he looks tough. And I’m looking, and I’m looking at those ears. And I say, Those ears have something going on there. I said, Did you ever wrestle? Says, Yeah, I did. Those are the broccoli ears that you grow. And I knew about Jim, you feel those ears, I reached out and touched them. They are ears. And there is something going on there, inside, where you can’t see, but if you listen to your gut, you know, and you feel the electronic connection. – Friday, February 7, 2020