Right as Rain

Le

'One more thing.' Strange slipped the photograph of Sondra Wilson from his leather. 'You recognize this woman? Ever see her with Kane?'

'No,' said Le

'What's that mean, not exactly?'

Le

Strange took a long pull off his beer. He set the bottle on the bar and slipped five folded twenties into Le

Le

'I'm flattered,' said Strange. 'To be honest with you, though, I'm spoken for.'

'I understand.' Le

'And you.'

He watched her leave the restaurant and walk north on 14th. Strange finished his beer, realizing that he was hungry, and maybe a little drunk. Le

26

Terry Qui

As the last of the diners left the restaurant, Juana came out of the women's room, still dressed in her wait outfit but washed and combed, with a fresh coat of lipstick on her mouth.

'I tipped the busboy out extra to finish my side work. You ready?'

'Yeah,' said Qui

Raphael, sitting at a deuce and putting di

'Got something in today you'd like,' said Qui

'"Talk to me quick,"' said Raphael. 'Hold it for me, will you? I'll be in to pick it up.'

Qui

'This is me,' said Qui

'For real?'

'C'mon. Let's go for a ride.'

Qui

'Now I know what you like to listen to,' said Juana.

'It speaks to the world I came up in,' said Qui

'I like this car,' said Juana.

Juana's hands were in her lap, and she was rubbing one thumb against the knuckle of the other. Qui

'I'm go

'Thanks.'

'I got all this baggage, Juana. I'm aware of it, but I don't know what to do about it. If I didn't care about you I'd say, I'm go

Juana nodded. 'I thought when we met that it could work. But then, out in the world, when other guys were staring at us, making comments when we were walking down the street, I could see that you couldn't handle it. And it's not like it was going to go away. In this wonderful society we got here, no one is ever going to let us forget. There were times, I swear to God, it seemed like you wanted the conflict. Like the promise of that was what got you interested in me in the first place. I never wanted to be your black girlfriend, Tuh-ree. I only wanted to be your girlfriend. In the end, I wasn't sure what was really in your heart.'

'I'll tell you,' said Qui

'It's too intense with you,' said Juana. 'It's too intense all the time. Even sometimes when we're making love. The other night-'

'I know.'

'I'm young, Tuh-ree. I got my whole life to deal with the kinds of relationship problems that everyone has to face eventually. Money problems, infidelity, the death of love… but I don't want to deal with those things yet. I'm not ready, understand?'

'I know it,' said Qui

Qui

'Nice night,' said Qui

Qui

They crossed the pedestrian bridge over Georgia and came to the chain-link fence.

'I'll give you a leg up,' said Qui

'You said a walk, not a climb.'

'C'mon, it's easy.'

On the other side of the fence, they walked by the train station and along the tracks. A Metro train approached from the south. Qui

'It's beautiful, isn't it?'

Her fingers touched his face.

'Don't forget me,' said Qui

He kissed her on the mouth as the train went by, and held the kiss in the storm of dust and wind.

Strange was starving, and he decided he could handle another beer. He left the Purple Cactus and drove over to Chinatown. He parked in an alley, behind a strip on I Street, between 5th and 6th. There was a hustler in the alley, and Strange gave him five dollars to watch his car, promising another five when he returned.

Strange entered the back door of an establishment that fronted I. He went by a kitchen and down a hall, passing several closed doors, and on through a beaded curtain into a small dining room that was sparsely decorated and held a half dozen tables. Several young Chinese women and an older one were working the room. A single white guy sat at a four-top, looking about as much like a tourist as a man could look, drinking a glass of beer.

'Go

'You like drink?' said the girl.

'Tsingtao,' said Strange.