'Ever hear of a street gang named the Death Dragons?'
'Are you some kind of cop or something?' the bartender said.
'Some kind,' I said.
'Ever hear of the Death Dragons?'
'No. It's not bike guys.'
'No. Chinese.'
'Oh, fuck, that's Chinatown shit. I don't know nothing about Chinatown.'
'Ever hear of a guy named Lonnie Wu?'
'No.'
'Kwan Chang?'
'Who?'
'It's a what. Kwan Chang.'
He shook his head.
'How come you were so hostile when I came in?'
'I wasn't hostile, I just didn't know you.'
'You're hostile to everyone you don't know?'
He looked at me as if I were disputing the law of gravity.
'Yeah,' he said.
'Of course.'
I looked at the guys sitting along the bar.
'Any of you ever see this guy?' I said.
They shook their heads.
'Death Dragons mean anything to you? Lonnie Wu? Kwan Chang?'
They kept shaking their heads. Probably more exercise than they were used to. I looked over at the woman in the booth.
'What's she drinking?' I said to the bartender.
'Gin, tonic, splash of grenadine.'
'Jesus,' I said.
'Mix one up.'
The bartender made the drink and set it in front of me. I paid him, picked up the drink, and walked over to the woman.
'Hi,' I said and put the drink down in front of her.
'Okay if I buy you a drink?'
She looked at me vaguely.
'Sure,' she said.
'May I sit for a minute?'
'Sure.'
I sat and took a sip of my beer and didn't say anything. She took a long pull on her drink and turned her gaze on me. The vagueness was still there, but she was focusing on me.
'Big,' she said.
'I try,' I said.
'I saw you back Eddie down.'
'Eddie?'
'Bartender.'
'I like to think it was superior charm,' I said.
She shook her head.
'Naw. Eddie don't know nothing about charm. You got the look.'
'The look?'
'Yeah.' She drank some more pink gin and tonic.
'Look says double.'
'You've seen the look before?' I said.
