Moving like that brought him up out of it a bit more, far enough out so he could begin to separate sensations, differentiate between hearing the voice in his ears and feeling the pains on the side of his face, begin to know they weren't connected, not two parts of the same thing after all but just two separate sensations that had both helped to drag him back to consciousness.
From there, it was practically no step at all to come up far enough to begin to wonder what the voice was saying, and almost immediately to begin to separate the words and discover what they meant:
'… out of it. Come on, Willis, snap out of it. I don't have all day. Get with it, fella, get with it.'
Now there was something else added to it all; somebody poking and pushing at his left shoulder. He complained, and moved around again, twisting on the concrete floor, and all at once he was out of it completely, eyes open, brain working. He sat up and stared into the face of Captain Younger.
They were in a basement, garishly lit by bare bulbs in fixtures along the central beam. The concrete floor was painted a greyish blue. Captain Younger was sitting on the next-to-the-bottom step of the stairs leading up to the main floor, and Parker had been lying on his back right in front of the stairs.
Captain Younger said, You conscious now?'
Parker said, 'I was slugged.'
You sure you didn't fall downstairs?'
Parker shrugged. He was still woozy, having trouble thinking, having trouble making things connect so they made sense. The best thing for now was to say not much of anything; otherwise he might say something stupid and make trouble for himself.
Captain Younger pointed and said, You chopped up the side of your face there pretty good.'
Parker said nothing. He closed his eyes and tried to make his brain come into focus.
Captain Younger said, 'Don't pass out again. I got questions for you.'
'Don't worry.'
'Like for instance,' Captain Younger said, 'What were you digging for?'
Parker opened his eyes. 'What?'
Captain Younger pointed off to the right. 'What were you digging for, Willis? What were you trying to find?'
Parker turned his head, slowly, and looked over where the captain was pointing. There was a coal-bin over there, with wooden slat sides. There wasn't any coal in the coal-bin, because the furnace had long since been converted to oil, and the concrete floor didn't extend into the coal-bin. The coal-bin had a dirt floor, most of which had been dug into. A big mound of dirt was out on the concrete.
Captain Younger said, 'Well?'
'I didn't do that.'
'Come on, Willis, you think I'm stupid?'
Parker squinted up at him, trying to think. Younger wasn't kidding around; he really did think Parker had done that digging. So Parker's first thought, that Younger or somebody working for Younger had been down in the cellar and had slugged him, was probably wrong. There was somebody else in this, too, somebody Younger didn't know anything about.
Tiftus? Could it possibly be Tiftus? Could that little bastard have been the one down here?
Captain Younger leaned forward, his round face inches from Parker's. A thin sheen of perspiration covered his face, glinting like wet varnish. In a hoarser and quieter tone, he said, 'I know what you're looking for, Willis. I knew what you were up to the second you came to town. You found out the old bastard was dead and you figured to just come in here and have everything your own way.'
He wasn't making any sense all. Parker shook his head and said, You're talking Chinese. I'm going to stand up now.'
'Go right ahead.'
Parker reached out and grabbed the staircase banister and used it to drag himself up to standing. Captain Younger had got to his feet in the meantime and retreated, up three more steps, so he was out of Parker's reach.
Parker looked up at him and said, 'Let's go upstairs.'
'What were you digging for, Willis?'
'It's the way I exercise.' He put his hand on the banister again, and started up the steps.
Captain Younger retreated backwards up the stairs, looking affronted. 'You'll tell me, Willis,' he said. His voice was a little thrill. 'You'll tell me anything I want to know. Before I'm done with you…' He didn't finish the sentence; he'd reached the top of the stairs. He backed out of the way and glared, and Parker came on up the stairs and through the hall and into the bathroom.
The face he looked at in the mirror over the sink was a mess. The left side of it, from the jawline up into the hair above his ear, was all mottled red and purple and black, as though somebody had thrown bright- coloured mud on him. A puffiness and darkness was developing around his left eye; unless he did something about it soon, he was going to have a hell of a shiner.
Captain Younger came and stood in the doorway and said, 'That's a real job you did on yourself.'
'Call your tame doctor, I need him.'
