'You can't, can you?' I said.
'Fuck off, man.'
Dwayne was standing close to me, blocking the sun.
I ignored him and looked at Chantel. 'He can't, can he, Chantel,' I said.
Chantel said softly, 'He can read a little. I'm trying to teach him.'
'Shut up, Chantel. Don't tell this honkie motherfucker nothing.'
Chantel's gaze was steady on Dwayne for a long moment. She opened her mouth and then decided not to speak and closed it. Dwayne turned toward me.
'You tell anybody 'bout this and I'm going to kill your motherfucking ass,' he said.
'I shouldn't have to tell anyone, Dwayne. This is a goddamned college. You've been here four years. They should know.'
'You hear what I'm saying?' Dwayne said.
'You and Chantel go over the stuff I gave you, Dwayne. It says when and how I think you shaved some points. When you've got it, and you want to talk about it, give me a call.' I gave Chantel a card.
She looked at me with her steady gaze for a moment. 'What you going to do?' she said. 'You going to tell?'
'Never mind, Chantcl. He ain't gonna do shit, he knows what's good for him.' Dwayne put his hand on my shoulder to turn me toward him. I felt the little switch go that always went when people put their hands on me. I went with the direction Dwayne was trying to turn me, but I went much, faster than he had in mind and as I came spinning around I brought my right arm up outside his and gave him a sharp chop with my forearm behind his elbow. With the force of my turning weight behind it, the blow slapped his arm across his chest like a loose tiller. I was right behind it and with my chest pressed against his flattened arm and my face very close to his chin, I said, 'Don't make a bad mistake.'
I could feel his body get rigid. I kept pressing against him. It pinned his right arm and I could feel what he was going to do before he did it.
'Hey, man,' Dwayne said, 'what's wrong with you?'
I looked up the nearly nine inches between my eyes and his. His eyes were soft. They weren't scared. They were hurt. I stepped away, keeping my right foot back of my left, and my left shoulder turned slightly toward Dwayne. I could feel the air going in and out of my chest in big slow breaths.
'You crazy, man,' Dwayne said, 'fucking with Dwayne Woodcock? You crazy?' The voice was angry, street tough, Bed-Sty tough.
But the eyes were hurt. The eyes were a kid who'd been startled and felt bad.
'No touching,' I said. 'You and Chantel talk and let me know.' I stepped past Dwayne carefully and went out the front door and closed it softly behind me.
11
'THE kid can't read,' I said to Susan. 'He's a senior in college, carrying a C + average, and he can't read.'
We were having dinner in Rocco's in the Transportation Building and I was halfway through a vodka martini on the rocks with a twist.
'You mentioned that,' Susan said. 'Twice on the ride over.'
'It is outrageous,' I said. 'Nobody ever noticed?'
'Nobody ever cared,' Susan said.
The waiter came to take our order. Susan decided on sweet and sour Thai soup and roast pheasant. I ordered black bean cake and Peking Duck.
'Isn't this the most spectacular room you've seen?' Susan said.
I nodded. 'There's an academic adviser. Just for the team. Lot of major college teams have them. Try to keep the kids on time to graduate and such.'
Susan nodded encouragingly as she gazed around the high-ceilinged trompe l'oeil faux art decor.
'Academic adviser says Dwayne's intellectually gifted despite an impoverished childhood.'
'Could be,' Susan said.
'Sure, but the kid can't goddamn read. Don't you think someone might someplace make mention of that? He's twenty-one years old and in his senior year in college and he can't read.'
'You mentioned that. Who are you mad at?' I took a pleasing swallow of my martini. More than two and I got a headache, but one before dinner was just right, sometimes.
'I'm mad at his teachers, his academic counselor, him.'
'Yes,' Susan said. 'Him too. He knows he can't read and hasn't corrected it.'
'Hard for a kid like Dwayne to admit,' I said.
'Yes,' Susan said. 'Maybe too hard. He needs help.'
'There's a girlfriend, Chantel.'
'Excuse me?'
