'What have I got to lose?' Tony asked.
The toad peeped-croaked again.
'That's the way I look at it. I've got nothing to lose.'
He stepped around the amphibian cupid and rang the bell. He could sense Hilary Thomas looking at him through the one-way peephole lens, and when she opened the door a second later, he spoke before she could. 'Am I terribly ugly?'
'What?'
'Do I look like Quasimodo or something?'
'Really, I--'
'I don't pick my teeth in public,' he said.
'Lieutenant Clemenza--'
'Is it because I'm a cop?'
'What?'
'You know what some people think?'
'What do some people think?'
'They think cops are socially unacceptable.'
'Well, I'm not one of those people.'
'You're not a snob?'
'No. I just--'
'Maybe you turned me down because I don't have a lot of money and don't live in Westwood.'
'Lieutenant, I've spent most of my life without money, and I haven't always lived in Westwood.'
'Then I wonder what's wrong with me,' he said, looking down at himself in mock bewilderment.
She smiled and shook her head. 'Nothing's wrong with you, Lieutenant.'
'Thank God!'
'Really, I said no for just one reason. I don't have time for--'
'Miss Thomas, even the President of the United States manages to take a night off now and then. Even the head of General Motors has leisure time. Even the Pope. Even God rested the seventh day. No one can be busy all the time.'
'Lieutenant--'
'Call me Tony.'
'Tony, after what I've been through the last two days, I'm afraid I wouldn't be a barrel of laughs.'
'If I wanted to go to dinner with a barrel of laughs, I'd take a bunch of monkeys.'
She smiled again, and he wanted to take her beautiful face in his hands and kiss it all over.
She said, 'I'm sorry. But I need to be alone for a few days.'
'That's exactly what you don't need after the sort of experience you've had. You need to get out, be among people, get your spirits up. And I'm not the only one who thinks so.' He turned and pointed to the stone footpath behind him. The toad was still there. It had turned around to look at them.
'Ask Mr. Toad,' Tony said.
'Mr. Toad?'
'An acquaintance of mine. A very wise person.' Tony stooped down and stared at the toad. 'Doesn't she need to get out and enjoy herself, Mr. Toad?'
It blinked slow heavy lids and made its funny little sound right on cue.
'You're absolutely correct,' Tony told it. 'And don't you think I'm the one she should go out with?'
'Scree-ooak,' it said.
'And what will you do to her if she turns me down again?'
'Scree-ooak, scree-ooak.'
'Ahhh,' Tony said, nodding his head in satisfaction as he stood up.
'Well, what did he say?' Hilary asked, grinning. 'What will he do to me if I won't go out with you--give me warts?'
Tony looked serious. 'Worse than that. He tells me he'll get into the walls of your house, work his way up to your bedroom, and croak so loudly every night that you won't be able to sleep until you give in.'
She smiled. 'Okay. I give up.'
'Saturday night?'
'All right.'
