Sam,theandinginhisaprohetwomensittier。"Yes,sir,"hesaid。Algotdownfromhisstool。
"I'mgoingbacktothekitwiththeniggerandbrightboy,"hesaid。"Goonbacktothekitigger。Yougowithhim,brightboy。"ThelittlemaerNidSam,thecook,batothekit。Thedoorshutafterthem。Themaattheteroppe。Hedidn'tloebutlookedihatranalongbackoftheter。Henry'shadbeenmadeoverfromasaloonintoalunter。
&quhtboy,"Maxsaid,lookingintothemirror,"os;tyousaysomething?"
"os;sitallabout?"
"Hey,Al,"Maxcalled,&quhtboywantstokno;apos;sallabout。"
"os;tyoutellhim?"Al'svoicethekit。
"Whatdoyouthinkit'sallabout?"
"Idon'tknow。"
"Whatdoyouthink?"
Maxlookedintothemirrorallthetimehe>
"Ios;tsay。"
"Hey,Al,brightboysaysheos;tsaywhathethinksit'sallabout。"
"Ihearyht,"Alsaidfromthekit。Hehadproppedopehatdishespassedthroughibottle。"Listen,brightboy,"hesaidfromthekitte。"Standalittlefurtheralongthebar。Youmovealittletotheleft,Max。"Hehingfrouppicture。
"Talkthtboy,"Maxsaid。"Whatdoyouthink'sgoingtohappen?"
Geedidnotsayanything。
"I'lltellyou,"Maxsaid。"tokillaSwede。DoyouknowabigSwedenamedOleA;
"Yes。"
"Heesheretht,don'the?"
"Sometimesheeshere。"
"Heeshereatsixo'p;apos;the?"
"Ifhees。"
"Weknowallthat,brightboy,"Maxsaid。"Talkaboutsomethiothemovies?""Onawhile。"
"Yououghttogotothemoviesmore。Themoviesarefinefhtboylikeyou。"
&quoingtokillOleAndresonfor?Whatdidheeverdotoyou?"
"Heneverhadacetodoanythingtous。Heneverevenseenus。"
"Andhe'sonlygoingtoseeuso;Alsaidfromthekit。
&quoingtokillhimfor,then?&queasked。
"himforafriend。Justtoobligeafriend,brightboy。"
"Shutup,"saidAlfromthekit。"Youtalktoogoddamnmuch。"
"Well,Igotthtboyamused。Don&aphtboy?"
"Youtalktoodamnmuch,"Alsaid。"Theniggerandmybrightboyareamusedbythemselves。Igotthemtieduplikeacoupleofgirlfriendsi;
"Isupposeyouwerei;
"Youneverknow。"
"Youwerei。That'swhereyouwere。"
Geelookedupattheclock。
"Ifanyoneesihecookisoff,andiftheykeepafterit,youtellthemyou'llgobadcookyourself。Doyougetthat,brightboy?"
&quht,&quesaid。"Whatyougoingtodowithusafterward?"
"That'lldepend,"Maxsaid。"That'sohosethingsyouthetime。"
Geelookedupattheclock。Itastsix。Thedoorfromthestreetope-ein。