meets the eye. Be patient.' 'But why bring me along?'
'You're my straightman, Dennis. Come on, have some of this lunch.'
They stood around the two room-service tables pushed together picking at the lunch. Dennis made himself say to Jerry, 'Hey, thanks for getting me off.'
'You ever reenact before?'
'No, but I can't wait.'
Robert said, 'Don't overdo it.'
Anne said, 'These two haven't either.'
Jerry said to Anne, 'But we know all about the war, Queenie. You don't know shit.'
'I'm looking forward to the sowbelly,' Robert said. 'The hardtack.'
The phone rang.
Jerry stepped over to the counter and picked it up saying to Robert, 'We're getting around that, don't worry,' and said into the phone, 'Yeah?… Send him up.' Coming back to the table Jerry said, 'Tonto's here.'
Robert went to the door saying to Dennis, 'His real name's Antonio Rey, but Jerry calls him Tonto, so that's what it is now.' Robert opened the door and stood waiting, telling Dennis, 'He's part Tonto-Mojave but related to Geronimo going way back to when Geronimo raped his great-greatgrandma, in Oklahoma. Tonto's part MexicanAmerican, too, from Tucson, Arizona.'
'And part African-American,' Jerry said, 'from Niggerville.'
'Be nice,' Robert said, serious, like he was giving Jerry an order. His expression changed then as the guy appeared, Robert grinning now saying, 'My man, Tonto.'
Dennis watched them high-five and hug each other, Tonto with dark skin, dark hair to his shoulders coming out of a bandanna he wore piratefashion, a man you had to notice and look at.
Jerry and Anne didn't seem taken with him, though Anne said, 'That's what I'm wearing with my costume, a do-rag,' and Jerry raised his hand to him.
Robert said, 'Dennis? Tonto Rey, man.'
Dennis, holding a piece of fried chicken, gave him a nod.
Jerry said, 'How'd you do? You get everything?'
'Some from the Dixie Gun Work,' Tonto said, with an accent from down Mexico way. 'Some from the place in Corint.' He brought out folded sheets of paper from his denim jacket and opened them, Robert hovering, asking if, he wanted a drink, something to eat-'Yes, of course'-Robert finally getting him seated with a straight vodka and a plate of food on the table in front of the sofa. Dennis saw he was wearing scuffed brown cowboy boots. Jerry had taken a chair, Anne had gone in the bedroom and closed the door.
Robert said, 'You want to eat your lunch first?' Jerry said, 'I want to know what the fuck he got, okay?'
Tonto Rey took his time, looking at Jerry and then at the sheets of paper he was holding. He said, 'I got everything Robert tole me. I got four Navy Colt revolvers, thirty-six-caliber, like the ones you have,' looking at Jerry again.
Jerry said, 'Extra cylinders?'
'Two for each revolver. Also I got four of the big fucking Enfield rifles, fifty-eight-caliber. I got cartridge boxes, canteens, cooking pots, the lanterns, the sacks…'
'Knapsacks,' Robert said.
'Yeah, those.'
Jerry said, 'The tents?'
'I got three of the big wall tents with the awnings, and I got the stakes, the cooking irons, pots, a table that folds up.'
Robert said, 'Anything you couldn't get?' 'Everything you tole me. Is all in the truck.' 'What about Dennis' uniform?'
'At the place in Corint. Is ready, he can pick it up.
Dennis looked at Robert. 'How's he know my size?'
'I told him same as mine be close enough. This place in Corinth, you can pick out your hat, too.
Have a choice, a forage cap or the kepi.'
Jerry got up from his chair saying, 'I'm going to take a nap. You guys finish and get out of here.' He went in the bedroom and closed the door.
Robert said to Tonto, 'You bring some good weed?'
'Only the best.'
'What they have here's not too bad.'
'Where they get it?'
'Mostly Virginia.'
'I hear is okay.'
'We'll go to my room,' Robert said and looked at Dennis. 'You want to puff some?'
Dennis said no. He had a question, but now Robert was asking Tonto what he'd like to do after. 'Get laid,' Tonto said. 'They any girls around here?'
'Cute ones. They say, `You want to see my trailer?' You tell the one you want, `You betcha.' '
He looked at Dennis. 'You want to come?'
Dennis shook his head and Robert said to Tonto, 'I believe the man has all he needs. Hey, man? You can blow your whistle, you can ring your bell, but I know you want it by the way you smell. Know what I'm saying?'
Tonto said, 'I hear you, man.'
Dennis watched them grinning at each other. He said, 'I know where you've got something going too.' Robert's grin didn't fade away, but did weaken.
'Tell me,' Dennis said, 'why you need all the guns.'
'We got more reenactors coming,' Robert said.
Vernice had let him use her Honda. He pulled up to the house and saw her waiting for him at the front door, Vernice looking worried, anxious. 'Your car's fine,' Dennis said, 'still in one piece.'
'You have a visitor.'
'Don't tell me Arlen Novis.'
'From the state police. What in the world have you been doing?'
'I wish I knew,' Dennis said. He walked through the empty living room and dining L to the kitchen.
John Rau, wearing his dark suit and the tie with the flag, was at the table with a cup of coffee. He said to Dennis, 'Sit down.' He looked past him and, in a milder tone, said, 'Vernice, would you mind leaving us alone for a few minutes? Thank you.'
Dennis heard the door close as he took the chair facing John Rau stirring his coffee but looking this way.
He said, 'Guess who's dead?'
'Do I know him?'
'I think you do. Junior Owens.'
Dennis started to shake his head.
'Better known as Junebug.'
'I never met him.'
'He was fished out of the river this morning.'
'He drowned?'
'You know better than that. Cause of death, gunshot.'
'How many times?'
'You want to know if it was the same gun that did Floyd. No, he was shot once, in the chest, looking at the man who fired a bullet that went through and through.'
'Have you talked to anybody?'
'You're top of the list, Dennis. Like you were on top the ladder when those fellas killed Floyd. Have you heard that story?'
'I have, yeah.'
'Is it true?'
'I've been advised not to get involved in this.'
'By a lawyer?'
