“Is that what it is? Morning, I mean?”
“For the next few minutes.”
“It’s almost noon?”
“Almost noon. How do you feel?”
“Different than yesterday.”
“Oh? How so?”
“Today my head hurts too.”
Her smile was a smart-aleck curve. “You shouldn’t have drunk all that rum last night.”
“It was your idea.”
“No, it wasn’t. You sent me out for it.”
“I did?”
“Yes—I merely suggested alcohol as an anesthetic. And you were too fussy to settle for something civilized, like gin. You made me go out and get rum.”
“I’m a sick boy. I deserve to be pampered.”
“And you deserve that hangover, too.” She put the cigarette out in the tray on her nightstand, flopped the magazine on her lap. “How else do you feel?”
I rotated my shoulders; lifted my legs. “About the same. Maybe a little better.”
She threw back the sheets.
“Well,” she said, “you seem to be changing color. For what it’s worth.”
The black-and-blue splotches on my legs had turned purple, with patches of yellow spreading within them. My skin looked like a suit in poor taste.
“Why don’t you go take a shower?” she said. “I’ll get some brunch going….”
I took her advice; cold first, then hot. I did feel better. I still ached, but it didn’t hurt just to breathe. Except for my head. Maybe that was it—maybe the hangover was distraction enough to make me forget the other aches. I got out of the shower and toweled off—and it didn’t hurt any worse than having somebody tear off one of my fingernails—and found a little can of tooth powder on the counter by the sink with a brand-new toothbrush. Brushing my teeth made me feel vaguely human again, and I wrapped a fresh towel around my middle and plodded back into the bedroom.
The new suit I’d bought with Nitti’s money was laid out there for me; also a shirt I’d bought, a hat, and socks and underwear, not new, but clean. I hadn’t brought any of this with me, so it looked like my friends had been taking care of me. I got into the underwear and pants and shirt and went to the kitchen, where she was making brunch. Scrambled eggs again, or actually an omelet with some diced vegetables and cheese. It reminded me a little of the side dish at Pete’s Steaks and I felt my stomach go queasy. But then I was all right, and I wouldn’t have said anything to her even if I wasn’t.
I took a seat at the table and she glanced over with a maternal smile. “Barney brought some of your things over,” she said.
“I don’t have many friends,” I said, “but I got the right friends.”
“You count me among them?”
“You and Barney are at the head of the list, today. If Barney hadn’t come in when those guys were dancing with me, I might be in traction right now.” I laughed, and it only hurt a little. “They didn’t exactly expect a world’s champion fighter to come to my rescue. The guy he lit into must have a swollen puss about now.”
“He really took care of ’em, huh?”
“He did all right for a lightweight. Anyway, it sent them running fast enough.”
“You know who they were?”
“Not their names. But they were East Chicago cops.”
“Cops?”
“Yeah—say, have you seen the papers today, been listening to the radio?”
She shrugged, stirring the eggs. “I have the Sunday
“I don’t follow the funnies. What about the radio?”
“I had the radio on, earlier. Why?”
“What’s in the news?”
“The heat. Real muggy out there today. It’s one hundred one point three degrees, last tally I heard. Seventeen died of heat prostration yesterday, and half a dozen more reported today already.”
“Nice to be inside where it’s cool.”
“Why’d you ask? It’s not the heat you’re interested in.”
“I thought there’d be something else in the headlines.”
“What?”
