San Francisco Noir

short, so she didn’t figure him for a street person. A line of blood had dried on his throat where he’d cut himself shaving. He was strongly built, handsome, seventy-something years old. But his eyes were glazed and suspicious.

“Were you a boxer?” Hanna asked.

“I still am.” Bud smiled, because he felt good.

“Yeah, I guess you are.”

She was already inexcusably late, but it would have been too rude to brush the old guy off-as if what just happened was merely one more example of life’s daily irritations, nothing more than a speed bump in her busy schedule.

“My name’s Hanna,” she said, extending her hand. “I can’t thank you enough for stepping in like that. Not many people would have done it-or known what to do.”

“Bud Callum.” Her hand felt like a leaf in his. “Good to meet you.”

“Should we stand here?” Hanna asked, looking around nervously. “Maybe he’ll come back.”

“Let him.”

Bud’s adrenaline was still pumping, making him feel twice his size. He’d rescued this beautiful girl and she appreciated it. She had gorgeous skin and a lopsided smile and everything about her said money. He may not have known where he was, but Bud didn’t need any extra clues to know this woman was loaded.

“What was your name again?” he asked.

“Hanna. Eastman.” She walked toward her car. “Can I drop you somewhere, Mr. Callum? It’s the least I can do.”

Bud couldn’t remember the last time he’d been driven in a car.

“Yeah, that’d be good. ’Preciate it.”

It made her uncomfortable, the way he stared as she called the caterer to reschedule. Maybe he didn’t like people talking and driving at the same time.

“That’s one of those special ones, huh?” he said, after she’d tucked the phone back in her purse. “It goes up to some satellite or something, right? Not through wires, not like a normal phone.”

“Right.” She felt a twinge of fright: Had this guy been away for the past twenty years? Just out of prison, or a mental hospital? How could you live in this city, today, and not have a cell phone?

“When I was growing up we had one phone in the whole ’partment building, in the hall at the top of the stairs. All the families used it, that one phone, if somebody was sick or needed to call the butcher or his bookie. Now everybody’s got a phone. Little kids got phones. This morning I seen a kid talking on one.”

Bud’s eyes lit up-he’d remembered something from that morning. Through his brain he chased the young girl with the tiny phone, hoping she’d lead him to wherever he was supposed to be. But, like the rest of day, she slipped away into a bunch of dim fragments.

“Are you from here?” Hanna asked.

“Yeah, I was born south of the Slot. Used to fight here professionally,” he said, marshalling thoughts into a familiar pattern, one that made sense. “Middleweight. I’m heavier now but not by much. I was right in the thick of it back then, fought all kinds of main events. The Civic, Oakland Auditorium. I was on the undercard when Joey Maxim fought Ezzard Charles here for the title. I fought in L.A. a bunch of times, but never back east. Here in this town, I was a big draw. I gave value-that’s what the promoters used to say. Those were the days. My days.”

He watched the city glide by outside the window. Every street seemed to be under construction, like the whole town was being rebuilt. Nothing looked familiar. Inside, the car was as silent as a tomb; he couldn’t even hear the engine running.

“Where can I drop you?” she said.

He felt defensive, like he was being backed into a corner. His mind raced, but didn’t get beyond the usual place.

“I fought Ray Robinson one time, can you top that? I beat him, too. Right up here at the Civic. Knocked him out in the sixth round. Set him up with a hook, made him bend at the waist. Then over the top I came with a big right cross. Bang! Just like that. The crowd went nuts. Local guy knocking out Sugar Ray, can you top that? I fought ’em all, one time or another. What a life I led.”

It went on like that for blocks. A litany of Bud Callum’s ring accomplishments, each opponent growing in stature, each bout becoming a greater life-or-death battle. Hanna didn’t know anything about boxing, but she knew she wasn’t hearing the truth. It sounded too much like the lies Uncle Bob told the other residents at the retirement home, before they’d had to move him to the assisted-living facility. Before they dared even speak the dreaded A- word.

Bud took his eyes off the street and peered at the woman. In profile, she looked like Nora. Same angular nose, same strong jaw. He was suddenly back in the apartment they had on Jerrold Street. He saw the kitchen curtains that she’d made and the ugly pink-and-brown speckled linoleum they both hated, and for a split second he smelled the burning remnants of the dinner he’d tried to make for her twenty-fifth birthday, when he had no money to take her out.

“You look like my wife,” Bud said.

Hanna blushed. “How long have you been married?”

“She’s dead.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, cheeks reddening. “Was it recently? That she died?”

“Tell you the truth, I can’t remember. I think it was a long time ago. She was beautiful, I remember that.” They fell quiet as traffic on Ninth Street surrounded them.

“Where can I drop you?” she asked, delicately.

“I guess I should go home. Can you take me?”

“Sure. Where’s home?”

“You know, where I live.”

“Well, actually, I don’t know. What’s the address?”

“I can’t remember right now. It’s around here somewhere.”

She drove back and forth on the grid of one-way streets South of Market for the next half hour, while he searched for a landmark he recognized. The problem was, he recognized everything as it was sixty years ago, and delivered a running commentary about what used to be there: the bakery where the homeless shelter now was, a nightclub that had been the glass works, the office building that replaced Coliseum Bowl, the combination boxing arena and rollerskating rink. He knows exactly where he lives, Hanna suspected. He just wants somebody to talk to. Like Uncle Bob. She wondered if Bud Callum knew there was something wrong with him.

“Mr. Callum,” she said, tentatively. “Are you seeing a doctor?”

Doctor. Medicine. Prescription. Drugstore. That’s where he was supposed to go: the drugstore. Joan had gotten him a prescription for some kind of medicine she wanted him to take. Oh Christ, he could hear her now, bitching about how long it took to arrange that appointment at the free clinic. They had a huge fight when he refused to go. There’s nothing the matter with me! he yelled. But he went. Joan was unstop-pable; she always won in the end.

Bud dug into his pants pocket. He still had the slip for the prescription. What about the money? She’d given him cash. A bill, one big bill-a hundred dollars. He couldn’t find it. Joan would kill him. Where had the money gone? It was right in his hand, he could see it.

“Did you lose something?” Hanna asked.

Suddenly, Bud was afraid. He wanted to go home.

“Sixth. I live on Sixth Street,” he said.

Bud didn’t want Nora to leave. He could tell she didn’t believe all the things he’d said, the stories he’d told her about what he’d made of himself, and how close he’d come to fighting for a title. She needed to know. Nora needed to know.

“Please,” he said, looking at her behind the wheel of the expensive automobile. “Come up just for a minute. I’ve got something I want to show you. Please. It’s been a long time, and I just-please.”