Sometimes I wonder about you.
Woman. What's fascinating about people like you is your blazing sense of morality. Your devotion to the concept of a place for everything and everything in its place. When you get right down to it, that's what morality means to a moralist. It means shoot to kill but not in a hospital zone. You might wake the patients.
Man. What are you talking about? What's she talking about?
Woman. I'm talking about your underwear. Did you buy those shorts in Schenectady? Was it before or after you fulfilled the contract? I've never seen them before. They're marvelous. They go beyond the outlandish into some private area of metaphysics. All the clocks say nine forty-five. Do you suppose that's morning or evening? Somehow it seems terribly important. You must give me the name of the store so I can call them and ask. In the meantime I want you to tell me very specifically whether you were wearing those shorts when you fulfilled the contract.
Man. Let's get back to what we were saying.
Woman. You don't even remember what we were saying. Now answer my question. Were you wearing those shorts when you carried out the terms set down in the small print?
Man. Okay, I was wearing these shorts.
Woman. Now tell me exactly what time it was when you killed him.
Man. You know I don't talk about that. It's bad enough I tell you where. Details cause trouble. You learn that in this business. Details cause trouble.
Woman. Tell me what time it was. What harm could that possibly do?
Man. It was ten after one.
Woman. Repeat that.
Man. It was about ten after one in the morning.
Woman. I thought so. I knew it.
Man. How did you know?
Woman. It's written all over you. It's literally written all over you. Those clocks on your shorts are a dead giveaway.
Man. The clocks say nine forty-five.
Woman. Exactly. That's exactly the point. You've got to burn them as soon as possible. We can drive down to Nell's place and burn them there.
Man. Look, if you have to know exactly how I did it, I'll tell you.
Woman. I'm not interested.
Man. The last show was coming out. The ticket window was closed. The marquee was dark. Only about ten people came out. I got out of the car and walked up to him. I put out my hand as if I wanted to shake hands with him. It's your natural reaction when a guy puts out his hand like I did that you take it. I knew who he was but he didn't know me like from Adam. He never saw me before. But he put out his hand anyway. That's the natural reaction. Anyone would have done the same thing. We stood there shaking hands and I had a big smile on my face and I called him by his name. He wanted to let go but I kept a tight grip on his hand. Then I put my left hand in my jacket, still holding him with the other hand, and I took out the.38 and fired three times right into the breast pocket of his shirt. There was a war movie playing.
Woman. What did it sound like?
Man. What's the difference what it sounded like?
Woman. Did it make a bang? Did it make a whimper? Did it crack, resound, boom, ping?
Man. It was like 20mm cannon fire. It was like hosing down an LZ with your 20 mike-mike. There's the slang again. There it is.
Woman. How did you feel later?
Man. How would you feel? It was a hospital zone.
Woman. You broke the cardinal rule.
Man. I broke the cardinal's back. He was riding his bike, this Buddhist cardinal, when I double-indemnitized him.
Woman. What were his politics, sweetheart?
Man. Slightly to the left of God.
Woman. That would make him a Taft Republican.
Man. Which Taft?
Woman. Which God?
Man. The one that made little green clocks.
Woman. And little white boys to wear them.
Man. Respect for your husband.
Woman. You're not my husband. My husband is black. Blacker. Blackest black.
Austin's car left the curb in a burst of hysterical rubber. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep for a while so I walked out to Howley Road with Brand. We moved along, jogging part of the way, fighters doing roadwork, snapping out short lefts and rights as we dance-jogged, doing 360-degree turns without breaking stride, hog- grunting on the dark road. We slowed to a walk.
'I'm surprised you people have decided to stay on,' I said. 'I thought you'd get tired of this place. I didn't think this thing I'm doing would take this long.'
'Nobody decided to stay on,' he said. 'We never discussed it. We've never discussed anything and nobody's made any decisions that I know of. We just stayed on.'
'But aren't you tired of this place?'
'I never thought about it. Anyway where would we go without you? You're leading this expedition.'
'I don't think that's in effect anymore. It's just that I didn't think it would take this long to do this thing I'm doing.'
'Nobody's talked about moving on,' he said.
'What about your book?'
'There is no book, Davy. There's eleven pages and seven of them don't have any words on them. And I'm not making any great claims for the other four.'
'I thought you were writing all the time you were up in Maine. How long were you up there?'
'Almost a year,' he said.
'What did you do all that time?'
'I don't know. I really don't remember much of it. I guess I was stoned most of the time. I think I blew a fuse or something. My head went dead. That's the only way to put it. Something in there burned out and blew away. Went dead.'
'And you were in that garage for a whole year. And you weren't doing anything.'
'I was doing something. I was killing my head.'
'All right,' I said. 'Pike's barking in his sleep. He doesn't care where he is as long as he's got a bottle at his elbow. You don't have any novel in the works and you're in no hurry to get back to Maine or anywhere else. But what about Sully?'
'You'll have to ask her. I told you, nobody discusses anything in our family. We're a very tightlipped bunch.'
'How long's your money going to hold out?'
'The lady's been picking up tabs the last ten days or so.'
'I didn't know that,' I said. 'I wish I could lend you some money but I'm not fixed too well myself. I guess I'm out of a job by this time.'
'I was wondering about that. I'd talk to the lady if I were you.'
We jogged some more, drinking in the cool air, drinking it and snorting it out again, throwing punches at the wind. Then the four of us sat around the table in the camper making small sounds with our feet and elbows.
'I was wondering about that,' Sullivan said. 'I seemed to remember that you were due in the Southwest sometime last week but I wasn't sure. You didn't say anything.'
'I've been busy.'
