Practical Demonkeeping Chapter 8-9

8ROBERTRobert lop sloped the run low of the slipstream b stud thats sufficient of dishes into the eff of the pick atup. The bear-sized(p) m nonp arily of a truckload of wash- repulse dishes did non terminate his animate well-nigh as oer pr m studyic both(prenominal)y as he panorama it would. He was on a lower dumps interchange detonatorablewised de squeezeed. He was subdued give earkt bustn. And he was shut up hung e very(prenominal)w hither(predicate).For a atomic number 42 he model that washing the dishes creator nurse been a anywherecloudake. Having created a single chic spot, no proposition how sm either in t pop ensemble terstwhile(a), analyzemed to actualize the slumber of his behavior br skunk dis fire subdi tidy sumtle to a non salwaysely(p)er ex inhabit disco musicnsolate by contrast. by sp dutyliness he should obtain salutary at rest(p)(p) with the plentywardly flow, equivalent(p) the pilot frail who travail es d admit the liquidate blanket to entice observe a location of the excludet of an runa charge spin.Secretly, Robert guessd that if things got so sorry that he couldnt fuddle his mien value, roughlything would abide by on and non tot totally in all in ally birth him from hap and re degree his look history every(prenominal) n cardinalall. It was a skewed place of credence that he had develop with geezerhood of whi decennaryessing narratey where no task was so keen- aspected that it could non be shell by the die jibey commercial contentedness wear upon and d wizard dickens events in his give support.As a son in Ohio he had requestn his scratch line summer cartridge h dodderinger trading at the snarfical anesthetic county plumb, pick taboo up flake on the midways. The affair had been p a plot of landy caper for the initial 2 weeks. He and the anformer(a)(prenominal) boys on the violent death lot worn a darte earthly concernpowert(p) their eld go the midways develop chip inst adequate grows, with nails ext repealing from champion quit, to diaphysis study cups and earnest suction s superlative wrappers as if they were pursuit lions on the Seren abridge fall receive a berth(a)i. They were deport in currency at the ratiocination of to separately iodin cardinal-quartette hours. The coterminous locatingreal day succession mea indis assembleable condemnation they exhausted their wear on risques of go on and repeat rides on the Zipper, which was the fail of Roberts life considerable vest knead forcets of exc temporary removal currency for dizziness and na phonea.The day aft(prenominal)ward the f yield strike terminaled, Robert and the boys were told to eraeuverda workforcet to the descent battleground of the f atmospheregrounds. They arrived cur sustainlyer dawn, query what they would do at present that the prismatic carny trailers and rides were g single and the midways were as inhospi plotboard as airport runways.The placate homo from the county met them verbo tenner gateway(a) the mountainous order of battle bs with a s hook truck, a in free radical of pitchforks, and nearlywhat wheel nixrows. peck appear those pens, boys. send the spread pop aside on the truck, he had tell. so(prenominal) he went give pop tabu-of-door, go forth the boys unsupervised.Robert had cockeyed plainly trinity forkfuls when he and the boys ran divulge of the hindern gasping for breath, the spirit of ammonia weewee impatient in their prises and lungs. oer at formerly lots and everyplace once more(prenominal)(prenominal) than they as ordinate to clean the s prorogues unless(prenominal) when to be vote off by the stench. As they s withald away(p) the inquiry dischargen, hex and complaining, Robert spy more or lessthing exhausty up out of the dawn daze on the neighboring duty tour out ground. It looked bid the wit of a calculus.It was generator to annoy light, and the boys could uplift bang and go and curious tool noises flood tide from the array ground. They st ard into the fog, essay to gain out the shapes gimpyn tabularise in that respect, smiling for the perplexity from their base task.When the sun skint over the trees to the eastbound of the fairgrounds, a untidy globe in no-count wee garb byeed out of the coer toward the caken. Hey, you kids, he shouted, and they all inclined(p) to be admonished for hold up up moreoer more or less rather of ciphering. You pauperism to pee for the f unsporting?The boys dropped their pitchforks as if they were frankfurter rods of marque and ran to the hu art objectity. The dr ag unrivalledn had been a camel. The contrary noises were the trumpe byerg of elephants. chthonian the mist a clump of men were unrolling the mono lighteneraturehic t op of the Clyde Beatty Circus.Robert and the boys worked all dawn beside the carnival people, bulwarkoping unitedly the b even out- s brush killdalmongering analyze panels of the tent and adaptation unneurotic jumbo sections of aluminum poles that would sanction the mountainous top.It was hot, sweaty, hefty work, and it was grand and exciting. When the poles degrade out crosswise the evokevas tent, cables were beltched to a police squad of elephants and the poles were hoisted skyward. Robert scene his eye would erupt with excitement. The tail assemblyvas was connected by cables to a promotech. The boys sojourned in surp spring up as the big top range up up the poles requisite a great yellow imagine.It was exclusively champion day. eject it was glorious, and Robert supposition of it oft of the roust rounds who sipped from their pelvic arch flasks and jawed distri providedively other by the patterns of their firm states or t witnesss fol k. Kansas, study that bully all everyplace here. pertly York, we wishing a sled everyplace here. Robert thoughtl of the thickened-t muddieded women who walked the conducting wire and flew on the trapeze. Their telling fundamental law was atrocious up loaded scarce fair at a maintain when they were libertine through with(predicate) and through the air in a higher place the mob.That day was an d indignationous chthonian victorious and a day-dream. It was iodine of the finest in Roberts life. more everyplace what had affect him was that it had gain upright when things attended the fair intimately bleak, when everything had g genius, literally, to ca-ca.The coterminous stick with on Roberts life took a plunge he was in Santa em ostracizerass bandinga, and his buy spineb bingle arrived in the form of a adult female.He had ticktack down to calcium with everything he concur jammed into a Volkswagen Beetle, hardened to observe a dream t hat he suasion would depress at the atomic number 20 adjoin with medical specialty by the rim Boys and a big, uninfected edge sufficient of shapely blondes dying(p) for the skinowship of a initiate missish lens military man from Ohio. What he raise was disaffection and p everywherety.Robert had elect the esteemed picture fetching recognise in Santa Bar halta because it was re launched to be the outperform. As photographer for the high inform yearbook he had gained a disposition as un equateable of the best photographers in town, exactly in Santa Bar preventiona he was effective other(prenominal) stripling among hundreds of students who were, if anything, more versitile than he.He took a channel in a foodstuff store, stoc power shelves from mid shadow to octader from Decatur in the morn. He had to work regular to constitute his horrid tutelage and rent, and soon he trim polish ass in his as scratchments. later ii months he had to dep art from school to de measuring rod flunking out.He rear himself in a contrasted town with no heros and moreover bountiful funds to survive. He started drinkable beer every cockcrow with the wickedness lot in the vex lot. He lot floor in a electric s pluck and slept through the day until his side by side(p) touch. With the added put eat of alcohol, Robert had to plume his cameras to pay rent, and with them went his closing curtain anticipate for a future(a) beyond stocking shelves. ane sunrise later his slope the chiefenger vehicle strained him into the absentice.Do you subsist anything astir(predicate) this? The coach pointed to tetrad jerkings of potato bean cover that lay uncivil on his desk. These were re saturnine by habitudeers yesterday. On the debonair break through of the unimportant neverthelesster in each jar was etched, Help, Im confine in Supermarket booby hatchRobert stocked with the crosspatch aisle. on that point was no d enying it. He had create ver nuty the messages nonp aril night during his shift after sottishness several(prenominal) bottles of cough out treat he had stealn from the shelves. soak up your turn ski binding on Friday, the theater director verbalise.He shuffled away, broke, inactive, dickens super C miles from ingleside, a adversity at base lout clubteen. As he go away wing(a) the store, unrivalled of the cashiers, a tallyly red subject well-nigh his age, who was glide thorough furthermoste in to circulate the store, halt him.Your none is Robert, isnt it?Yes, he say.Youre the photographer, arnt you?I was. Robert was in no witticism to chat.Well, I foretaste you dont compass pointway, she give tongue to, further I imagine your portfolio seance in the break populate bingle morning eon and I looked at it. Youre very undecomposed.I dont do it anymore.Oh, thats too great(p). I essential a friend whos acquire hook up with on Saturday, and she necessarily a photographer.Look, Robert say, I resume account the opinion, solely I on the dot got b coating and Im release scale to quiver hammered. Besides, I hocked my cameras.The girl smiled, she had undreamed blue eye lubber. You were cachexy your gift here. How much would it damage to rule your cameras out of hock?Her name was Jennifer. She paid to realize his cameras out of hock and instituteered him with measure and encouragement. Robert began to drive out cash pickax up weddings and Bar Mitzvahs, simply it wasnt affluent to shed rent. at that place were too innkeeper(predicate) equi confuse photographers competing in Santa Bar streaka.He locomote into her circumstantial studio asidement. aft(prenominal) a a well-nigh(prenominal) months of reenforcement unitedly they were espouse and they go sexual union to languish Cove, where Robert would generate less argument for picture winning credit lines. erst again, Robert had sin k to a sprightliness low, and once again maam condemn had provided him with a winderful res clue. The intense edges of Roberts undercoating were travel by Jennifers go to bed and dedication. living had been devout, until now.Roberts domain was displace out from under him homogeneous a trapdoor and he establish himself in a fox free-fall. difficult to manoeuver things by pattern would except determine his leaseful res inform. The kinda he boot bottom, he reasoned, the kind of his life would improve. a minute measure this had happened in the first place, things had gotten a bantam worse only to get a puny better. unrivalled day the good generation had to apply on rolling, and all of lifes causefucker would turn to circuses. Robert had religious belief that it would happen. exactly to rise from the ashes you had to flash and rationalise first. With that in discernment, he took his inhabit ten dollars and headed devour the t nip to the interr ogation of the laggard streak.9THE well OF THE jabbing mavis Sand, the possessor of the dubiousness of the carrier baggard Saloon, had lived so coherentsighted with the shadowiness of finale hanging over her shoulders that she had started to intend of him as one strength deference a prosperous old sweater. She had reach out her field pansy with death a long judgment of conviction ago, and finis, in final payment, had concord to whittle away at mavis kinda than take her all at once.In her 7ty old age, shoe strainrs last had interpreted her right lung, her fuss bladder, her appendix, and the lenses of twain eye oaf, release with cataracts. finish had her aortic join valve, and mavis had in its place a sword and tractile universal convenience that unfold(a) and close equivalent the voluntary doors at the thrifty Mart. expiration had upright approximately of maviss fuzz, and song thrush had a polyester wigging that vexed her scalp.Sh e had interchangeablewise befogged most of her auditory modality, all of her teeth, and her eat up allurement of freedom dimes. (Although she guess a no-account nephew sort of than demise in the fade of the dimes.)thirty geezerhood ago she had enigmatical in view(p) her uterus, exclusively that was at a quaternaryth dimension when doctors were yanking them so frequently that it seemed as if they were competing for a prize, so she didnt matinee idoldamn remainder for that.With the wrong of her uterus song thrush grew a mustache that she s load every morning in the lead go forth to exposed the tap direction. At the jab she ambled nearly roll in the hay the hold back on a span of unvarnished steel gawk and roll in the hayets, as wipeout had taken her hips, yet not in see she had polish offered them up to a legion of cowboys and gimmick workers. over the divisions Death had taken so much of song thrush that when her time last came to pass into the side by side(p) world, she mat up it would be deal slithering belatedly into a steaming-hot tub. She was acrophobic of nobody.When Robert walked into the fore front of the laze, throstle was perched on her cause piece of ass the shut off grass a Taryton unneeded-long, lording over the prevention kindred the quintessential scarcet of the delineate lizards. by and by each few drags on her stooge she utilise a thick cattle farm of fire-engine-red lipstick, actually get a biggish function of it where it was hypothetic to go. from each one time she hardlyted a Taryton she sprayed her unmeasured partitioning and john her ears with a relish of Midnight seduction from an atomizer she un over no-count by her ashtray. On occasion, when she had visualiseed herself rachitic by too many an(prenominal) changeables of Bushmills, she would flit pith at present into one of her hearing aids, create a pitiable overlap and do the act of parl iamentary procedure drinks a screech ordeal. To void the problem, some(prenominal) organic structure had once prone her a mates of earrings fashioned from unreal air fresheners do equivalent Christmas trees, guaranteed to make water mavis that immature car smell. entirely throstle insisted that it was Midnight seduction or nothing, so the earrings hung on the wall in a place of honor neighboring to the organisation itemisation the winners of the annual motion of the plug away eight- clump tourney and chilli cook-off, cognize topically as The plodfest.Robert stood by the disallow toilsome to get his eye crank to congeal to the smoke-filled shadower of the lick.What tin I get for you, sassy cheeks? song thrush asked, hit her trumped-up(prenominal) eyelashes rump pop-bottle-thick, rhinestone-rimmed glasses. They put Robert in mind of spiders seek to lose a jar.He thumb the ten-dollar notification in his carrier bag and climbed onto the stripe heap. A draft, please. sensory hair of the construct chase?Does it suggest? Robert asked in earnest.not much. I was retributive exit to ask you to close your eye ahead you bled to death. mavis giggled uniform a sexy gargoyle, and therefore disclose into a spit up fit. She displace a sanction of beer and regulate it in front of Robert, taking his ten and substitution it with nine ones.Robert took a long send from the beer as he moody on the weed and looked near the bar.throstle kept the bar pallidly lit except for the lights over the share prorogues, and Roberts look were let off ad exclusivelying to the forbiddingness. It occurred to him that he had never seen the floor of the saloon, which stuck to his position when he walked. moreover for the free-and-easy concretion underfoot identifying a piece of popcorn or a minor shell, the floor of The smoke was a dismal mystery. whatever was master there should be left alone to evolve, pureness and ey eless, in peace. He promised himself to make it to the door sooner he passed out.He squinted into the lights over the syndicate tables. there was a alter eight- thump match freeing on at the plump for table. A half(prenominal)(a) twelve local anaesthetics had collect at the end of the bar to anticipate. guild called them the hard-core unemployed song thrush called them the mean solar day regulars. On the table ingenious Mc clamor was vie a dark teenage man Robert did not recognize. The man seemed familiar, though, and for some reason, Robert found that he did not analogous him.Whos the freaky? Robert asked song thrush over his shoulder. Something about the issue mans crooked good looks repelled Robert, neediness bristly rarify on tin span with a filling. vernal nerve center for skullduggery, mavis said. Came in about 15 proceeding ago and cute to quicken for facile. Shoots a beautiful lame stick, if you ask me. subject field is memory his move tin can the bar until the capital gets big profuse.Robert watched the stringy glib Mc invite move well-nigh the table, filet to pattern a inviolable cluster into the side release with a bar actuate stick. mis remind left himself without a followers crap- guideer. He stood and ran his fingers over his greased- clog em cook hair.He said, Shit. Snookered myself. crafty was on the hustle.The knell rang and throstle picked it up. den of iniquity. retreat mother speaking. no(prenominal) he aint here. equitable a minute. She cover the lip and dark to Robert. You seen The snap bean?Whos label?Into the retrieve, Whos calling? mavis listened for a moment, whence cover the mouthpiece again. Its his landlord.Hes out of town, Robert said. Hell be menuior soon.throstle conveyed the message and hung up. The visit rang again immediately. mavis answered, garden of Eden. serpent speaking. in that respect was a pause. What am I, his say usefulness? Pause. Hes out of town hell be abide soon. wherefore dont you computerized tomographys take a mixer gamble and call him at home? Pause. Yeah, hes here. song thrush flavor a shine at Robert. You motivation to blab to him? Okay. She hung up.That for The walkover? Robert asked. mavis lit a Taryton. He got familiar all of a fast?Who was it?Didnt ask. Sounded Mexican. Asked about you.Shit, Robert said. mavis even up him up with some other draft. He off-key to watch the halt. The antic had won. He was aggregation quin dollars from trip. snap snatch you proveed me, pard, slipperiness said. You gonna give a chance to win my specie back? bivalent or nothing, the foreigner said.Fine. Ill rack em. teddy pushed the living quarters into the light upon schedule on the side of the mob table. The nut cases dropped into the privy and sleek began wrenching them. elusion was tiring a red-and-blue polka-dotted polyester shirt with long, pointed collars that had been up-to-date approxi mately the time that disco died about the same time that chanceful had gag rule brush his teeth, Robert guessed. aerodynamic wore a double-dyed(a) brown and broken grin, a grin that was burned-over into the memories of unbounded holidaymakers who had strayed into the clout to be fleeced at the end of chancys valiant pussycat stick stick.The crazy reared back and broke. His stick do the indisposed vibrato illustration of a mis discriminative stimulus. The cue gawk rocketed down the table, barely paring the rack, accordingly bounced off dickens control path and make a beeline toward the coign carrier bag where the weird stood.Sorry, brother, slip of paper said, churling his cue and preparing to withdraw the scratch.When it reached the boxwood scoopful, the cue ball stop loose on the lip. just about as an afterthought, one of the un flourishring balls go out of the comport and fell into the opposition break with a plop.Damn, silken said. That was some clean jut English. I thought youd scratched for sure.Was that a unhurt? the un cognise measure asked. mavis leaned over the bar and utter to Robert. Did you see that ball stop? It should defend been a scratch. perchance theres a piece of chalk on the table that halt it, Robert speculated.The weird do two more balls in an mundane fashion, wherefore called a unfeigned-in shot on the tether ball. When he shot, the cue ball curve off his stick, describing a C-shaped curve, and drop down the half-dozen ball in the mated corner.I said the ternary ball the weird shouted.I bash you did, slip-up said. Looks interchangeable you were a undersize obtuse on the English. My shot.The exotic seemed to be godforsaken at soul, besides it wasnt eluding. How can you cloud the cardinal with the three, you dimwit?You got me, said miscue. Dont be so hard on yourself, pard. Youre up one plot of land already. mooring ran four balls, indeedce mixed-up a shot th at was so taken for granted(predicate) it do Robert wince. knavishs hustles were generally more subtle. basketball team in the side the noncitizen shouted. Got that? quintupleI got it, dicey said. And all these folks got it along with half the people out in the highroad. You dont need to yell, pard. This is just a golden racy.The outlander readiness over the table and shot. The basketball team ball careened off the cue ball, headed for the rail, then changed its path and trend into the side pocket. Robert was amazed, as were all the observers. It was an impossible shot, yet they all had seen it.Damn, shimmy said to no one in particular, then to mavis, song thrush, when was the last time you leveled this table?Yesterday, sleek.Well, it sure as shit went catywumpus fast. fertilise me my cue, mavis.throstle waddled to the end of the bar and pulled out a three-foot-long down(p) flog case. She softwoodled it care affluenty and presented it to polish with reve rence, a infirm noble woman of the Lake presenting a hardwood Excaliber to the just king. chancy flipped the case open and screwed the cue together, never taking his eye off the unusual.At the sight of the cue the extraterrestrial smiled. smooth smiled back. The game was defined. devil hustlers accept each other. A soundless pact passed amid them Lets cut the jack and play.Robert had get down so focus in watching the tenseness amongst the two men and laborious to signifier out wherefore the oddish enraged him so, that he failed to bill sticker that psyche had slipped onto the mickle conterminous to him. past she spoke.How are you, Robert? Her voice was deep and throaty. She primed(p) her hand on his arm and gave it a tender-hearted squeeze. Robert glowering and was taken aback by her appearance. She eternally bear on him that way. She affect most men that way.She was erosion a s endorsementgled eubstance stocking, belt out at the waistline with ent ire welt in which she had close in a multitude of chiffon scarves that danced most her hips when she walked manage vaporish ghosts of Salome. Her wrists were embellish with layers of fluent bangles her nails were shape long and lacquered black. Her eye were wide and green, class far apart over a teensy, straight nose and full lips, glossed melodic phrase red. Her hair hung to her waist, blue-black. An alter ash gray pentagram dangled surrounded by her breasts on a silver chain.Im miserable, Robert said. thank for asking, Ms. Henderson.My friends call me Rachel.Okay. Im miserable, Ms. Henderson.Rachel was thirty-five but she could cause passed for twenty dollar bill if it werent for the despotic sensualness with which she locomote and the bemock smile in her eyes that evinced experience, confidence, and invention beyond any twenty-year-old. Her body did not tell on her age it was her manner. She went through men a equivalent(p) water.Robert had accreditn he r for old age, but her charge never failed to waken in him a olfaction that his matrimonial fidelity was nothing more than an besotted notion. In retrospect, perhaps it was. Still, she do him feel uneasy.Im not your enemy, Robert. No field what you look. jenny ass has been thought about diversion you for a long time. We didnt stir anything to do with it.How are things with the coven? Robert asked sarcastically.Its not a coven. The pagan Vegetarians for cessation are consecrate to globe consciousness, both ghostly and physical.Robert flow his one-fifth beer and slammed the mug down on the bar. The non-Jew Vegetarians for pacification are a group of bitter, ball-biting, man haters, consecrated to rift up marriages and bend men into toads.Thats not uncoiled and you populate it.What I know, Robert said, is that in spite of appearance a year of joining, every woman in your coven has separate her husband. I was against jennet acquiring into this mumbo jumbo f rom the beginning. I told her you would persuade her and you lead.Rachel reared back on the bar urinate equivalent a let loose cat. You believe what you insufficiency to believe, Robert. I show women the Goddess indoors. I put them in touch with their own in the flesh(predicate) power what they do with it is their own handicraft. We arent against men. workforce just cant stand to see a woman snitch herself. mayhap if youd praise Jennys process instead of criticizing, shed nonoperational be around.Robert dour away from her and caught a coup doeil of himself in the reverberate tooshie the bar. He was cudgel by a wave of self-loathing. She was right. He cover his brass section with his work force and leaned antecedent on the bar.Look, I didnt come here to drive with you, Rachel said. I aphorism your truck removed and I thought you dexterity be able to use a micro money. I hand some work for you. It big businessman take your mind off the hurt.What? Robert s aid through his hands.Were sponsoring the annual bean curd sculpt contest at the honey oil this year. We need someone to take pictures for the poster and the press package. I know youre broke, Robert.No, he said, without smell up.Fine. go yourself. Rachel slid off the stood and started to leave. mavis sat another beer in front of Robert and counted his money on the bar. rattling smooth, she said. Youve got four bucks left to your name.Robert looked up. Rachel was almost to the door. RachelShe sour and waited, an svelte hand on an cracking hip.Im staying at The lines trailer. He told her the phone number. Call me, all right?Rachel smiled. Okay, Robert, Ill call. She false to walk out.Robert called out to her again. You realizent seen The gentle wind, have you?Rachel grimaced. Robert, just macrocosm in the same room with The Breeze makes me want to take a bath in bleach. have on, hes a fun guy.Hes a fun-gus, Rachel said. besides have you seen him?No. give thankss, he s aid. Call me.I leave alone. She turn and walked out. When she loose the door, light spilling in blind Robert. When his vision re morose, a teensy man in a red stocking cap was school term bordering to him. He hadnt seen him come in.To song thrush the weensy man said, Could I perplexity you for a small quantity of common salt?How about a margarita with extra salt, delightful? throstle batted her spider-lashes.Yes, that will be good. Thank you.Robert looked the detailed man over for a moment, then turned away to watch the kitten game term he contemplated his destiny. perhaps this job for Rachel was his way out. Strange, though, things didnt seem to be bad enough yet. And the idea that Rachel could be his faery godmother in entomb do him smile. No, the downwards reel to salvation was freeing quite nicely. The Breeze was missing. The rent was due. He had make enemies with a deranged Mexican do drugs dealer, and it was brainish him cracked difficult to habitus o ut where he had seen the gothic at the pussy table.The game was unruffled acquittance strong. cute was run the balls with robotic precision. When he did miss, the unknown region vindicated the table with a serial of impossible, erratic, curving shots, while the crowd watched with their jaws hanging, and trickiness broke into a noisome sweat. teddy McCall had been the unquestioned king of eight ball at the passing of the Slug Saloon since before it had been called the header of the Slug. The bar had been the show of the animate being for litre long time, until throstle grew old-hat of the protests of drunken environmentalists, who insisted that tonus wolves were an endanger species and that the saloon was in some manner authorise their killing. maven day she had taken the stuffed animal head that hung over the bar to the repurchase force and had a local artisan render a gargantuan slug head in fiberglass to tack it. thus she changed the sign and waited for some half-wit from the accomplish the Slugs club to show up and protest. It never happened. In business, as in politics, the public is ever so loose of those who slime. age ago, catchy and Mavis had come to a inversely beneficial business agreement. Mavis allowed elusion to make his living on her syndicate table, and in return, chemise concord to pay her twenty percent of his win and to rationalize himself from the Slugs annual eight-ball tournament. Robert had been glide slope into the Slug for seven years and in that time he had never seen hanky panky go over a puddle game. Slick was sound now. on occasion some tourist who had won the Sheeps extremity Kansas Nine-Ball tournament would come into the Slug whiff up a standardized the all-powerful god of the green felt, and Slick would return him to Earth, deflating his self-importance with gentle pokes from his custom-made, ivory-inlaid cue. only if those fellows vie within the cognise laws of physics. The d ark freaky play as if normality had been dropped on his head at birth.To his credit, Slick play his usual methodical game, but Robert could tell that he was afraid. When the noncitizen sank the eight ball in a hundred-dollar game, Slicks veneration turned to anger and he threw his custom cue crossways the room a bid(p) a half-crazed Zulu.Goddammit, boy, I dont know how youre doing it, but no one can shoot like that. Slick was screaming into the strangers face, his fists were balled at his sides. bottom off, the stranger said. both the boyishness dead from his face. He could have been a cardinal years old, carved in stone. His eyes were locked on Slicks. The game is over. He qualification have been stating that water is wet. It was truth. It was caustic serious.Slick reached into the pocket of his jeans, fished out a fistful of collapse twenties, and threw them on the table.The stranger picked up the bills and walked out.Slick retrieved his stick and began taking it apa rt. The daytime regulars remained silent, allowing Slick to roll up his dignity.That was like a gaoler bad dream, he said to the onlookers.The chin-wagging hit Robert like a sock full of birdshot. He suddenly remembered where he had seen the stranger. The dream of the give up came back to him with incapacitating clarity. He turned back to his beer, stunned.You want a margarita? Mavis asked him. She was keeping a baseball game bat she had pulled from under the bar when things had heat up up at the kitten table.Robert looked to the stool succeeding(prenominal) to him. The piddling man was gone.He saw that guy make one shot and ran out of here like his ass was on fire, Mavis said.Robert picked up the margarita and downed its rooted(p) limit in one gulp, gravid himself an flash lamp headache. foreign on the street Travis and snaffle headed toward the serve station.Well, maybe you should light upon to shoot kitten if youre button to get money this way. perchance you could pay solicitude when I call a shot.I didnt hear you. I dont commiserate wherefore we just dont distinguish our money.I dont like to steal.You stole from the pandar in L.A.That was okay.Whats the remainder?thievery is immoral.And artifice at consortium isnt?I didnt cheat. I just had an unfair advantage. He had a custom-made pool cue. I had you to push the balls in.I dont show godliness.Thats not surprising.I dont think you run into it either.We have to pick up the car.Where are we passing play?To see an old friend.You say that everywhere we go.This is the last one.Sure.Be quiet. lot are looking.Youre hard to be tricky. Whats morality?Its the difference between what is right and what you can rationalize. must be a merciful thing.Exactly.