For the past three weeks I had been sleeping rough, and the thought of a night in a bed was
tempting.
After we had talked a while, I pushed back my chair.
“If it’s okay with you I’d like to turn in now. I’ve been truck riding for eight h6urs, and I’m
about asleep on my feet.”
“Go ahead. Alice’ll show you the room,” Roche said, and stood up. He offered his hand.
“And thanks again for what you did.”
“Forget it,” I said, shaking hands. “Thanks for the meal. It was great.”
Alice took me upstairs to a small room that looked on to the waterfront.
“If there’s anything you want …”
“Not a thing. That bed sure looks good.”
“You can take a bath if you want to. It’s right next door.”
“I’ll do that. You know this is pretty nice of you.”
“We’re very grateful for what you did, Johnny. That brute might have hurt Tom badly.
He’s not very strong.”
“But he’s got a lot of guts. I guess you’re pretty proud of him.”
10
“Oh, I am.” She put her hand on my arm, and her eyes were shining. “He’s been through
some bad times, but he’s always been good to me. But if you hadn’t come in when you did
…”
“Forget it. I was glad I was around.”
“I just want you to know I think you’re splendid,” she said, and went away, leaving me a
little hot and flustered.
I took a bath, lying in the hot water for half an hour or so. I could hear them talking
downstairs, and when I got into bed, Roche came up and put his head round the door.
“All set?” he asked, edged his way in and stood at the foot of the bed looking at me.
I grinned at him.
“You bet.”
He shifted from one foot to the other, rubbed the end of his nose with the back of his hand
while he stared seriously at me.
“Anything on your mind?” I asked, seeing he wanted to say something but seemed at a loss
for words.
“I guess so. Me and Alice have been talking about you. I have a proposition to make you.
How would you like to come in with us? We’re doing pretty well, but we could do better.
With you to help us, we could expand. I don’t say there’s a fortune to be picked up, but if it
interests you I can show you the figures. I don’t mean I’m offering you a job. I’m offering
you a third share in the business. It could be a nice living. What do you say? Alice and me
would like to have you.”
I stared at him, scarcely believing I had heard aright.
“Why, you’re crazy!” I exclaimed, sitting up. “You don’t know a thing about me. You can’t
go offering me a third of your business just because I punched a fella in the jaw. What’s the
matter with you?”
Roche sat on the edge of the bed.
“We need help, Johnny. We need a guy like you. You know the trade, for one thing. Then
you’re big and can scrap -I can’t. We get some tough characters in here, and there’s not a lot I
11
can do about it. We like you. We reckon you’d be worth every nickel you take out of the
business.”
He was probably right, but the job was no good to me. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, but
I had to tell him.
