'Can I bring a friend?'
'You are, mahn. Clarence will meet you there too.'
'Clarence is afraid of those people.'
'Everyone is, mahn.'
107
I explained it all to Max. Slowly. Usually, he gets things as sharp as anyone who hears, but he was playing it dumb. Like he does when he doesn't like what I'm saying. He kept trying to deal himself in. I kept shaking my head.
Mama came back, sat down with us, a paper bag in her hands.
'Bonds all gone,' she said.
'That was damn fast— you score ten points?'
'Not all. Three hundred for us.'
'Elroy gets a hundred, Mama. But it's still a giant hit.'
Mama bowed. Put the money on the table, shuffled it like a casino dealer, spun it into piles. Three stacks, a hundred grand in each. Brushed one to the side, Elroy's money. I counted off five grand, handed it to Max. He gets ten points for deliveries. That's what he does, deliveries. Guaranteed. I made the signs for Elroy. Max's thin lips curled— he clapped his first two fingers hard against his thumb, like jaws snapping. I knew what he meant: yak yak yak. He pointed at me, made the sign of driving a car. He'd have to borrow mine to make the delivery. I nodded okay. Then he made the sign of dialing a phone— also my responsibility to tell the maniac Max was on his way. Okay again.
I fanned out the five grand I'd set aside for Max, looking hard at Mama. She knew the rules— she was just as responsible for the money getting back to Elroy as I was. Besides, she probably clouted the bonds for three-fifty or even four hundred and we both knew it.
Finally, she nodded. 'Oh yes, pay fair share, okay?' Handed over five grand of her own.
I took twenty for myself, pushed the rest over to Mama. 'For the bank, okay?'
'Okay.'
She leafed through her money, still keeping the stacks separate. Counted off a bunch of bills, handed them to Max, making the sign of rocking a baby. 'For Flower, yes?' she said, looking at Max, talking to me.
Max bowed his thanks.
Mama smiled. 'Fair share, yes?' And counted off some of my money, handed it to Max.
He gravely bowed to me as well.
Mama counted off still more money, looking at me. 'For Luke, yes? To pay the woman downstairs.'
'Lily's taking care of that, Mama.'
Her eyes went agate. 'Our house, our family,
Max dropped his eyes from the challenge, handed over his entire stack of money. Mama took some, handed the rest back. Looted my pile again.
Finally, she smiled. Got up and left.
108
Max wasn't going to lose two in a row, renewing his demands to come along to my meeting. I made the sign for Lily. For Storm, Immaculata, Wolfe. It took a long time. I pounded my fists together, conflict. Pulled them apart. Separation. Then I pointed at Max. Tapped my heart. Locked two hands together. We wouldn't be separated, he and I, okay? His time would come.
Finally, he nodded.
I went into the back to call Elroy.
'It's me,' I said by way of greeting.
'Hey, Burke! Is Pansy in heat? I mean, Barko ain't been himself, man. Don't want to pull his load, nothing. He needs his woman, buddy. Give my boy a break.'
'Look, fool. I called you about something else. Everything's all set, okay? You'll get what's coming to you real late tonight…maybe two in the morning, okay?'
'Yeah, yeah…You gonna bring Pansy?'
'I'm not coming. I'm sending my brother…and don't say his name on the phone.'
'Oh, the Chinaman who don't talk? You sending him? I heard he does deliveries…'
Fucking moron.
'Just calm down, all right? He'll be driving my car. And keep those damn dogs out of his way.
'Sure, sure. But when you gonna…?'
I hung up on him.
109
Eleven-thirty. I made a slow circuit of the empty drive-in at the wheel of the Plymouth. Nothing. Max and I lit cigarettes, smoking in silence. He'd reopened the argument on the way out to Queens, and we'd reached a compromise.
I was wearing a dark suit, white shirt, black tie. Unarmed— not even a knife. Max was dressed in his thin-
