STONEWALL TITAN
We drove across town to a bluff overlooking the Dunetown River. The rain had stopped and the river
steamed in the warm southern wind that had brought it. Ancient brick buildings, shrouded in fog and
dating back to God knows when, lined the bluff, like sentinels guarding the waterfront from Frit Street
and the Strip, and history swirled around us in the fog as we edged down a narrow cobblestone alley
from Bay Street to the river?s edge.
I felt the cold breath of ghosts on my neck. Unseen signs, hidden in the mist, creaked before the wind.
The dim shape of a freighter drifted eerily down the river, not twenty yards from us, its foghorn
bleating a path to the sea.
This was the Dunetown I remembered.
Doomstown seemed a Saturn ride away.
The Feed Mill was a long, narrow place on River Street facing the waterfront. The menu was written
out on a green chalkboard at one end and between it and the front door there were maybe twenty
tables and booths. We sat near the front. Dutch squinted through his glasses at the bill of fare.
“The chicken fried steak is great; so?s the mulligan stew. All the vegetables are good,” he said as he
studied the menu.
He ordered the steak, three vegetables, a side dish of mashed potatoes and gravy, another side of stew,
and two orders of tapioca pudding. I got heartburn listening to him -
„The Stick and I ordered a normal meal and coffee.
“I think I?m ruling out Nose,” Dutch said, diving into his banquet.
“How?s that?” I asked.
“It?s just not his style. When Nose came out of Little Q after doing that stretch, he went straight after
Cherry McGee, blew him away in broad daylight as McGee was comin? out of a bank on Bay Street.
People were all over the place but he didn?t take out anybody but McGee and one of his strongarms.
We got a woman kayoed here.”
“Could have been a mistake,” the Stick argued.
“Why?s Graves still on the street?” I asked.
“No proof. I had twenty people who were standin? right there when it went down, couldn?t identify
him in the stand-up.”
“Twenty-two,” the Stick corrected.
“He was wearing a stocking cap, and the car he did the trick from was boosted from a downtown park
in? lot half an hour earlier. We couldn?t prove doodly-shit. He walked. And he was laughing as he
went out the door.”
