'For what? So she can take advantage of me, ravage me? I want rest, boy!… And—let them rest, Evan. They've been through a lot and they don't even know what they've been through. I'm fine, just tired. Try running in the Olympics when you're sixty.'
'Sixty?'
'Shut up, son. I can still give you a run for your money for that lovely girl.'
'Could it have been something the doctor gave you?' asked Khalehla, smiling warmly at the compliment.
'So what did he give? Nothing. He just took a little blood for his mishegoss laboratory and offered me some pills which I told him I'd throw down the toilet. They were probably samples he got for nothing and then charges enough for a new wing on his fancy house… Ciao, young things.'
The two of them watched as the old man walked through the archway into the living room, each step firmly planted ahead of the other as if he were summoning strength he did not feel. 'Do you think he's okay?' asked Evan when Weingrass was out of sight.
'I think he's exhausted,' said Khalehla. 'You try doing what he did tonight—forget sixty or eighty—try tomorrow.'
‘I’ll look in on him every now and then.'
'We'll take turns. That way we'll both feel better without waking the nurses.'
'Which is another way of saying they'll stay put and away from the windows.'
'I guess it is,' admitted Rashad. 'But we'd still feel better, even if it's on both counts.'
'Do you want another drink?'
'No, thanks—’
'I do.' Kendrick got up from the couch.
'I haven't finished.'
'What?' Evan turned as Khalehla rose and stood in front of him.
'I don't want a drink… but I do want you.'
In silence, Kendrick looked down at her, his eyes roving over her face, finally settling, staring into her eyes. 'Is this pity? Be merciful to the confused man in pain?'
'You'll get no pity from me, I told you that. I respect you too much, I told you that, too. As for the poor, confused man in pain, who's pitying whom?'
'I didn't mean it that way—’
'I know you didn't. I'm just not sure how you meant it.'
'I told you before. I'm not looking for any fast action, not with you. If it's all I can have, I'll take it, but it's not what I'm looking for.'
'You talk too goddamned much, Evan.'
'You evade too much. You told Manny that you weren't evasive, but you are. For at least six weeks I've tried to get near you, tried to get you to talk about us, tried to break down that glass wall you've erected, but “No dice,” says the bright lady.'
'Because I'm scared, damn you!'
'Of what?'
'Of both of us!'
'Now you're the one who's talking too much.'
'Well, you certainly didn't talk last night. You think I didn't hear you? Pacing up and down like an ape in a cage outside my door?'
'Why didn't you open it?'
'Why didn't you break it down?' They both laughed quietly, their arms encircling each other. 'Do you want a drink?'
'No… I want you.'
There was not the frenzy of Bahrain. There was urgency, of course, but it was the urgency of lovers, not of two desperate
