Carney dismissed the waiter and pulled up a chair. The two chorines smiled at him and he grinned back amiably.
'Hear you've been having trouble recently,' Grumpo said.
'Nah, just a little misunderstanding,' Carney said.
'The Daily Times is billing it as the biggest gang war Necropolis has ever seen. Pictures and everything. It wasn't pretty.'
'I don't imagine. Still, they're blowing it all out of proportion, as usual.'
'Yeah, they have the box office to think of, too,' Grumpo said, phlegmatically munching the end of his cigar.
'Strange things are happening,' Cisco said. 'I got a friend in the mayor's office says they haven't seen him for two days.'
'Who?' Carney said. 'The mayor?'
'Yeah. Nobody knows where His Honor is. They got no message from him, nothing. The papers are sitting on the story.'
'Interesting. But he's probably down in Palm Coast again with the phone off the hook.'
'A reporter I know says he's at the Tweeleries. On ice.'
'He and Clare are buddies. Or were.'
'Yeah, but I don't think this is friendly.'
Food arrived, stacks of sandwiches and piles of cole slaw. Carney ordered a drink, and it came with lightning speed.
'You want half my sandwich?' Heppo offered. 'I can never finish these.'
'No, thanks, Hep.' Carney looked at his watch. 'I can't imagine where my driver got to.'
'You need a lift?' Cisco asked.
'You have your car?'
'No,' Cisco chuckled. 'Hey, I just asked you if you needed a lift.'
'You ought to work on that material. It shows promise.'
'Promises were made to be broken,' Grumpo said. 'I have a car, John, and you're welcome to it, if you can get it back from the finance company.'
Cisco snorted. 'He's always kvetching about how hard up he is. Bullshit ? he's rich.'
'Bullshit, I'm rich.'
'Go on, you're rolling in it. I'm the one with the sob story. I lost fifty grand at the track last year.'
'And that was after taxes,' Grumpo said. 'You know, Morris ?'
The brothers (fraternal triplets) always called each other by their proper names.
'? just the other day someone said you were dumb.'
'Yeah? What did you say?'
'I said, _He's shit.''
'Well, thanks, I appreciate it,' Cisco said.
'If you can't stick up for your brother, who can you stick up for?'
'Stick it up your ass.'
'Don't knock it if you haven't ?' Grumpo turned to one of the chorines, who was convulsed. 'You can choke to death that way, honey. Spit that corned beef out.'
She swallowed and gagged. Grumpo slapped her bare back.
Carney checked his watch again, then gave a glance back to the maitre d's station.
'You seem a little nervous, John,' Heppo remarked.
'Maybe I am.'
'Well, take it easy. You're among friends.'
'With friends like us,' Grumpo said, 'he needs all the enemies he can get.'
'Don't listen to this guy. Momma always said his mouth would take him to the top, and then right back down again.'
'Momma didn't raise any mute children, except you.'
'I know my limitations. I can't talk for sour beans. Shoot a Moogie ?'
Heppo made a grotesquely comical face.
'? that I can do. There was this guy below our place when we were kids, ran a fix-it shop. When he worked he screwed up his face like this.' Heppo did it again. 'His name was Mort, but they called him Moogie, for some reason. Anyway, I been cashing in on him ever since.'
'An artist uses the material of everyday life,' Carney said.
'And a comedian buys his gags from a good gag writer,' Grumpo said.
'Grumpo,' Carney said, 'your best gags are your own. In fact, you're eponymous for the quick retort. Grumpoisms.'
Grumpo looked rueful. 'I wish I was a surgeon. Or a dishwasher. Anything but a professional wiseguy.' He seemed to mean it.
The meal went on, the talk gravitating to show business. Carney decided to stay put for now, as he was reluctant to take a cab alone. Not because he feared an ambush ? if one came it could be a litmus test by which to judge the possible outcome of the evening ? but because the cabby might get hurt.
At some point, Cisco threw down his half-eaten sandwich. 'Let's get out of here. It's late and I'm tired.'
'Spoken like a trouper,' Grumpo said. 'Let's vamoose. John, you're welcome to share a cab with us.'
'Thanks, I will.'
Grumpo picked up the check and looked it over. 'This is outrageous. John, if I were you ?'
Carney's fifty was already in the tray, and the sight of it spoiled Grumpo's punch line. All he could do was grin awkwardly and say, 'That's decent of you.' Grumpo was not known as the world's fastest check-grabber.
Outside, Cisco herded the girls into a cab and waved goodbye to them.
'I'm bushed,' he said. 'Besides, I think they're both virgins. They're from out in the Midwest somewhere.'
'Yeah, Virginia.' Grumpo said.
'No, from some farm state.'
'Aren't they all? Virgins are a cash crop out there. They ship 'em all east to the Boulevard.'
'How about Studio City?' Cisco asked.
'Studio City? Virgins? Are you kidding?' Grumpo appealed to Heppo. 'He's gotta be kidding.'
A cab pulled up. Carney had been vainly searching up and down the street.
'Coming, John?' Heppo said.
'Yeah.' Carney got in.
The cab pulled away, and Carney settled back, unsure of what to do.
'Where are you going, John?' Grumpo asked.
'Hellgate.'
'Driver,' Grumpo yelled. 'East Seventieth and Bennington, then over the river for this gentleman here.' He turned around on the little flip-down seat. 'We'll pay the fare since you were stupid enough to pick up the check.'
'Forget it. Hellgate's a long way.'
'Well, if you insist,' Grumpo said affably. 'I like arguing with this guy. You always lose to your benefit.'
Cisco turned the conversation back to virginity and related matters, and was in the middle of a story about a sporting house up in Eindhoven with an employee whose specialty was something akin to fruit arrangement, when Carney spotted a gray Leland parked on the street.
'She takes these pineapple slices see…' Cisco was saying.
'Stop here, driver,' Carney called.
'Sounds so good I'd probably eat it myself,' Grumpo said. 'Are you getting off, John?'
'Good night, boys.'
'Well, don't take any wooden Indians. Whatever that means.'
'Take care, John,' Heppo said.
Carney got out and watched the cab move off. The street was quiet. He walked back to the parked
