out of there like zombies.

'Strong medicine,' I said.

'Or strong poison. I'm sorry, I've been picking a lot of winners lately, haven't I? That movie that you hated and now this.'

'I didn't hate this,' I said. 'I just feel as though I went ten rounds with it, and I got hit in the face a lot.'

'What do you figure the message was?'

'It probably comes through best in Serbo-Croatian. The message? I don't know. That the world's a rotten place, I guess.'

'You don't need to go to a play for that,' she said. 'You can just read the paper.'

'Ah,' I said. 'Maybe it's different in Yugoslavia.'

We had dinner near the theater, and the mood of the play cloaked us. Halfway through I said, 'I want to say something. I want to apologize for the other night.'

'That's over, honey.'

'I don't know if it is. I've been in a strange mood lately. Some of it has to be this case. We had a couple breaks, I felt as though I was making progress, and now everything's stuck again and I feel stuck myself.

But I don't want it to affect us. You're important to me, our relationship is important to me.'

'To me, too.'

We talked a little and things seemed to lighten up, although the play's mood was not easily set aside.

Then we went back to her place and she checked her messages while I used the bathroom. When I came out she had a curious expression on her face.

She said, 'Who's Walter?'

'Walter.'

'Just calling to say hello, nothing important, wanted to let you know he was alive, and he'll probably give you a call later.'

'Oh,' I said. 'Fellow I met at a meeting the night before last. He's fairly newly sober.'

'And you gave him this number?'

'No,' I said. 'Why would I do that?'

'That's what I was wondering.'

'Oh,' I said, as it dawned on me. 'Well, I guess it works.'

'You guess what works?'

'Call Forwarding. I told you the Kongs gave me Call Forwarding when they were playing games with the phone company. I put it on this afternoon.'

'So your calls would come here.'

'That's right. I didn't have a lot of faith that it would work, but evidently it does. What's the matter?'

'Nothing.'

'Are you sure?'

'Of course. Do you want to hear the message? I can play it back again.'

'Not if that's all it said.'

'It's all right to erase it, then?'

'Go ahead.'

She did, then said, 'I wonder what he thought when he dialed your number and there was an answering machine with a woman's voice.'

'Well, he evidently didn't think he had the wrong number, or he wouldn't have left a message.'

'I wonder who he thinks I am.'

'A mysterious woman with a sexy voice.'

'He probably thinks we're living together. Unless he knows you live alone.'

'All he knows about me is I'm sober and crazy.'

'Why crazy?'

'Because I was dumping a lot of garbage at the meeting I met him at. For all he knows I'm a priest and you're the housekeeper at the rectory.'

'That's a game we haven't tried. Priest and housekeeper. 'Bless me, Father, for I have been a very naughty girl and I probably need a good spanking.' '

'I wouldn't be surprised.'

She grinned, and I reached for her, and the phone picked that moment to ring. 'You answer it,' she said.

'It's probably Walter.'

Вы читаете A Walk Among the Tombstones
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