when carl got to the front of the shop and looked out the window and saw how hard the snow was falling he decided to close down for the night.
as gus had told him, there were two customers at the counter, with just coffee cups in front of them.
one was an old bum who looked sort of familiar, as familiar as a bum could look since they all looked alike.
and the other was a young guy, dressed as ratty as an old bum. he turned and looked at carl, and just as gus had said, he looked a little loco.
“we are closing up for the night, fellows,” carl said. “finish your coffee and be on your way.”
“i paid for the this coffee,” the younger guy said. “i am going to finish it.”
carl leaned on the counter. his feet and legs were killing him, and he was in no mood for arguing with anybody. “i didn’t say you couldn’t finish it. i said you could finish it. just be reasonable, o k? finish it like a reasonable human being. nobody here is looking to make trouble, are we?”
“i paid for it, and i’ll finish it when i finish it,” johnny insisted.
“what is this, huh?” gus had followed carl out from the back of the shop. now he came out from behind the counter and approached johnny. “what are you, some kind of wise guy troublemaker? you want to make trouble, big guy? is that what you want?”
“i was in the war,” johnny said.
“you were in the war? i don’t care if you were in the girl scouts, or in alexander’s ragtime band on the fourth of july on the titanic. i will give you one minute - one minute by that clock over there - to finish your coffee and get out of here.”
“you can’t talk to me like that,” johnny said, and reached inside his coat.
“what the -!” gus was on johnny in a second, knocking him off the stool onto the floor and knocking him cold.
gus knelt over johnny and felt inside his coat and around his legs. “i thought he was pulling a gun on me. or a knife,”
“well, was he?” carl asked.
“nothing on him.” gus stood up, and glared at reilly. “this character a friend of yours?”
“no, i never seen him before . i just met him - about half an hour ago, maybe.”
“get him out of here.”
“i told you - he’s no friend of mine.” reilly drained his cup of coffee, got up and turned toward the door.
“i am just going to throw him out in the street - in the snow.”
reilly shrugged. “you are stronger than me.” he went out the door.
gus looked at carl. “help me move this guy.”
“can’t you do it yourself? me legs are killing me. and my back, too.”
gus didn’t argue. he looked down at the unconscious johnny. “all right.”
“he isn’t dead, is he?” carl asked.
“no, he ain’t dead.”
“try to move him a little ways away from the door. we don’t people tripping over him right in front of the door.”
“no, we can’t have that.” gus reached down to grab johnny’s legs, and just as he did a figure loomed behind him, at the door.
“connors,” said carl. “connors is here.”
No comments:
Post a Comment