'I know.'
'Metaphorically, as well as really,' he said.
'I know.'
Pearl had the ball again and nudged my arm and murmured at me. I made a lightning move for the ball, and she moved her head half an inch and I missed. She growled and wagged her tail. I grabbed again. She moved her head again. If I'd had her reflexes I'd have beaten Joe Walcott… and my nose would be straight. On the third try I grabbed her collar and held her while I pried the ball loose. Then I fired it into the living room where it ricocheted around with Pearl in lickety-split pursuit, her claws scrabbling on the hardwood floors. She got it and brought it back and nudged my arm and made a low sound.
'You needed to find your mother, and you did and you got the chance to look straight at her and now you know what she's like,' I said. 'That's prog ress.
'The truth will set you free,' Paul said. His voice was angry.
'Not necessarily,' I said. 'But pretend sure as hell doesn't do it.'
Paul turned and looked at me for a minute andthen raised his bottle and drank and put it back down on the counter top and grinned.
'Malt does more than Milton can,' he said, 'to justify God's ways to man.'
Pearl nudged my arm again. I grabbed at the ball. And missed.
CHAPTER 34
I was drinking coffee and eating donuts and reading the Globe while I sat in my car in the parking lot of the Dunkin' Donuts shop on Market Street in
Allston. Pearl was in the backseat, with her head on my right shoulder, and every once in a while I would give her a piece of donut. I had bought with that in mind, so there were enough. I was studying Cabin Hobbes when Vinnie Morris opened the door on the passenger side and got in.
'I been looking for you,' he said.
'You been following me,' I said.
Vinnie shrugged.
'Usually they don't make me,' he said.
'Usually they're not me,' I said. 'You alone?' 'Yeah.'
I didn't double-check him in the rearview mirror. Vinnie would kill you, but he wouldn't lie to you. 'Get some coffee,' I said. 'We'll talk.'
Vinnie nodded and opened the car door.
'If you get donuts, get extra. The dog likes them.'
Vinnie looked at me without comment for a moment and closed the car door.
By the time he came back, I had finished the comics and folded the paper and put it on the floor in the backseat. He had two cups of coffee and a bag of donuts.
Pearl wagged her tail and nosed at the bag.
'Can you control this fucking hound?' Vinnie said.
'No,' I said.
He handed me the bag and I took out a donut and broke it in two and gave
Pearl the smaller half. I took a bite of my half and pried the cover off the fresh coffee. It had been a rainy fall, and it was raining again.
Market Street was a bright wet black. The traffic was sporadic and slow.
And the parking lot at the discount lumberyard across the street was nearly empty except for one guy in an emergency slicker he'd made from a green trash bag, tying a piece of surplus plywood to the roof of a ten-year- old
Subaru wagon.
'I been trying to figure this out,' Vinnie said.
Pearl was gazing at the cinnamon donut Vinnie was holding. Her head moved as his hand moved.
'Dog's supposed to get a bite,' I said.
'Fuck,' Vinnie said, and broke off a small piece and fed it to her gingerly. He wiped his hand on his pants leg.
'I been trying to figure out where I stand in this between you and Gerry and Joe,' Vinnie said.
'Un huh.'
'Joe figures the only way Gerry's ever going to be a man is to face up to something bad-'
'Which is me,' I said.
'Which is you,' Vinnie said. He trolled the coffee cup a little to stir it, and had a sip. 'To face up to you and to win.'
