The Two-Bear Mambo

We got drenched going out to the car. Leonard cranked the engine, turned on the heater.

'I feel kinda bad about Cantuck,' I said. 'I wanted us to push him, see if he knew more than he was letting on, but I feel kinda mean-spirited.'

'Hell,' Leonard said. 'I did all the pushing.'

'Making fun of a man's balls is pretty low, you know?'

'I admit I feel a little bit like a horse's ass myself. All those pictures of his kid, weird shit with the charities. I feel sorry for him. What did you tell me the boy died of?'

'Muscular dystrophy.'

'Yeah, well, just because he loved his son and likes charities, doesn't mean he isn't a worthless dick.'

I could feel my wet jacket sticking to Leonard's upholstery. The heater was slow to work. My stomach grumbled from hunger and need of coffee.

I said, 'I hate to sound like you, but just because he's a dick doesn't mean he's a real villain.'

'Jesus,' Leonard said, 'you're right. I'm starting to sound like a knee-jerk liberal asshole. I been around you too long.'

'When I was growing up, Leonard—'

'Oh, Christ, another parable.'

'Listen. My dad had the worst rhetoric you ever heard. He could get so worked up over 'the niggers,' he would vibrate.'

'I've known people in my family to be the same way about whites.'

'Yeah, but you know, one time I went down to my dad's garage, and there were a bunch of little black kids there, laugh­ing, and my dad was giving them five-dollar bills. Apiece. It wasn't like we had lots of money, and when the kids were gone, I said, 'Dad, what are you doing?,' and he said, 'I was afraid they might be hungry.'

'Dad hated the black race, but liked them as individuals. He hated some as individuals too, but you get my point.'

'I do.'

'I'm not defending his racism. I detest it. I think that's one reason I hate it so much, my old man being that way, and other­wise being just the kind of man I wanted to be.'

'Just because your old man was a good man, does that mean Cantuck is? It's hard to believe he'd go out of his way to worry about some black girl that might have gotten killed.'

'You knew my daddy, it would be hard to believe he would give five dollars apiece to a handful of black kids too.'

'We're not dealing with your daddy, though. This Cantuck, we know nothing about him. Say he wouldn't do anything to hurt Florida, he's still convinced she's out shacking up. Blacks are all a bunch of animals to him. He figures all we want to do is eat and fuck.'

'That's all I want to do.'

'Maybe that's all anyone wants to do. As for the Chief, he might not swerve to hit an animal, but he still knows he's dodg­ing one. And when it comes to blacks, well, he might not go out of his way to do one harm, but he wouldn't expect anything of them but the most basic of animal behavior. Like being shacked up somewhere.'

'So, we don't know any more than we knew when we went in.'

'We know he's got an officer that isn't a nice person. Even _B Cantuck says so. And I know this. I'm one hungry sonofabitch. I say we go over to the cafe and get breakfast.'

'You know how that'll go.'

'We came here to be maggots in the shit. Squirm around, see if we can find what we want. What better way to stir the shit than to jump right in.'

'I like the more casual approach. One where I don't have to get doo-doo on me.'

'You sit here and be casual. I'm hungry, I'm wet, and I'm cold. The cafe is bound to be warm, and they've got coffee. I'll bring you some.'

'We really ought to go over to the black section of town. Ask around there.'

'We will.'

'What's wrong with now?'

'You're stalling, Hap.'

'Just as long as I can.'

Leonard cut the engine, put his hand on the door handle, turned and looked at me.

'Oh, all right,' I said. 'What's a few stitches among friends?'

Chapter 16

Leonard was right. The cafe was warm. It was also crowded. The brothers who I had warned about the ants were there, and their mother, of course. There were also a lot of burly types, and old men. The blue-haired woman I had seen at Tim's filling station was also there. She was sitting with an elderly man who, from the look on his face, appeared to be dealing with some sort of digestion problem.