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"How about A
Robert put his hand over the phone and watched A
"I'm diving at two."
"You can if you want. But Mr. Billy Darwin agreed you could cut that one."
"Why?”
"Have time to get the uniform and the gun and shit. We meeting in their suite at one o'clock, have some lunch."
"What if I'd rather dive?"
"De
He hung up, A
"How'd he know about me?"
Robert was already thinking about it. He said, "Gimme another minute or two."
Mularoni was introduced to De
"The ladder stands eighty feet high. That correct?"
"Exactly," De
"But how does anybody know for sure?"
"Some people actually count the rungs."
"That's what I thought," Jerry said, "the skeptics. You know what you could do? Have a couple of the ladders, the ones you put on top, make the rungs six inches apart instead of a foot. From the ground you'd never be able to tell, but now you're ten feet lower up there."
"Jerry thought of that last night," Robert said, "watching the show."
"But whether you go off from seventy or eighty feet," De
"Either one," Robert said, "you can kill yourself, huh? You want champagne, beer, vodka tonic-what's your pleasure?"
De
A
Sounding like a TV commercial. Charlie was right, she could be a fashion model, the long, streaked hair, the way she moved, sure of herself. She took his hand and kissed the air next to his cheek, giving him a whiff of scent that was the best thing he'd ever smelled. In his life. Up close she could be thirty-five.
For lunch there was cold shrimp, a mixed salad, marinated calamari, fried chicken, A
De
"It's lunchtime," Robert said. "Don't you eat lunch?"
"Come on."
"They're my friends and you're my friend."
A
She looked right into his eyes, making him wonder if it was there for him. He wasn't sure how to handle it. He asked if she and Jerry had any childrenstupid, trying to think of something to say-and it turned off the look she was giving him. She said, "Jerry and I aren't into children."
He wanted to ask what Jerry did for a livingJerry on the balcony now with a plate of calamari. But Robert came over with a vodka tonic for A
A
"A quadroon," Robert said, "so I won't be the only darky."
De
"A Yankee," Robert said, "who gets his ass whipped. Remember I told you, Forrest put the skeer in the Yankees, chased 'em all the way back to Memphis?"
De
A
Robert said, "Big projects, all over the Midwest. And you know what kind? Manufactured home communities." Robert waited, looking at De
"Jerry knows Kirkbride?"
"Knows of him."
"But if they're in the same business-"
"I'm out of this," A
De
"I don't remember."
"American Dream, Incorporated. Kirkbride makes 'em in Corinth and sells 'em all over the country. Jerry's brother looked into American Dream as a source. You know, to buy from. One reason or another it didn't work out. They deal with the same kind of company up by Detroit makes homes you put together."
"You didn't mention this to Kirkbride."
"Why would I? Jerry's not dealing with him."
"But they're in the same business."
"Jerry's like A
"Like playing war," De
"And A
"But you don't want Kirkbride to know any thing about you, or what Jerry does."
Robert said, "There's no reason for him to. Man, you know there's always more to what you see going on than meets the eye. Be patient." "But why bring me along?"
"You're my straightman, De
They stood around the two room-service tables pushed together picking at the lunch. De
"You ever reenact before?"
"No, but I can't wait."
Robert said, "Don't overdo it."
A
Jerry said to A
"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 De
"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 gri
De
Jerry and A
Robert said, "De
De