What do I do after I get out? I cant
walk the streets all bandaged up.
Dont worry about it, the driver said.
I'll be there. I know the section and I got the whole thing mapped
out already. The alley cuts through to a second alley. I'll have
the taxi parked there at the end of the second alley.
Suppose he cant make it
tonight.
Well take the chance. I think we better
shove now. I don't want any cops to see me parked here. Where do we
go?
Make a right hand turn at the end of the
block, Parry said.
The taxi went down the street, made a
right turn, made another right turn, then a third, then down four
blocks and a left-hand turn.
Stop alongside that apartment house,
Parry said.
The taxi went halfway down the street and
came to a stop.
Whatll it be? Parry said.
An even two bucks.
Parry handed the driver a five-dollar
bill. He said, Keep it.
The driver handed Parry a dollar bill and
a dollar in silver. You need some silver, he said. Besides, you
dont want to go throwing your money around like that. Now what's
it going to be?
Three on the dot.
All right. Ill call him. And you be
there. And listen, keep telling yourself it'll work out okay. Keep
telling yourself you don't have a thing to lose.
But you, Parry said. Youve got plenty
to lose. You and your friend. Don't worry about me and my
friend, the driver said.
You just be there at three. Thats all
you got to worry about. Parry opened the door and stepped out of
the taxi. He walked toward the entrance of a third-rate apartment
house. He heard the taxi going away and he turned and saw the tail
light getting smaller in the blackness down the street.
The lobby of the apartment house was
dreary. People who stayed in this place were in the forty-a-week
bracket. The carpet was ready to give up and the wallpaper should
have given up long ago. There were three plain chairs and a sofa
sinking in the middle. There was a small table, too small for the
big antique lamp that was probably taken at auction without too
much bidding. Parry had been here before and every time he came
here he wondered why George Fellsinger put up with it. He looked at
it through the window of the door that kept him in the vestibule.
He sighed and wanted to go away. There was no other place to go. He
gazed down the list of tenants, came to Fellsinger and pressed the
button. There wasnt any voice arrangement. There wasn't any
response to the first press. Parry pressed again. There wasn't any
response. Maybe the Bridge was better after all. It didn't pay to
keep up with this, all this vacuum in the stomach, going around,
going up to Ms brain and going back to his stomach and coming up
again and eating away at his heart. He pressed the button again,
and this time he got a buzz and he opened the door, quickly crossed
the lobby, saw that the elevator was right there waiting for him.
Maybe the police were waiting upstairs. Maybe they
weren't.
The elevator took him to the fourth floor.
He hurried down the corridor, knocked on the door of Fellsingers
apartment.
The door opened. Parry stepped into the
apartment. The door closed. George Fellsinger folded his arms and
leaned against the door and said, Jesus Christ.
George Fellsinger was thirty-six and
losing his blonde hair. He was five nine and he had the kind of
build they show in the muscle development ads, the kind of build a
man has before he sends the coupon away and gets the miracle
machine. Fellsinger had blue eyes that were more water than blue
and the frayed collar of his starched white shirt was open at the
throat.
The apartment was just like Fellsinger. It
consisted of a room and a bath and a kitchenette. The davenport was
set with pillow and sheets and there were six ash trays stocked
with stubs, a magazine on the floor, an empty ginger-ale bottle
resting on the magazine. Parry knew Fellsinger had fallen asleep on
the davenport after having finished the magazine and the ginger ale
and the cigarettes. There was a trumpet on one of two
chairs.
Jesus Christ, Fellsinger said
again.
Howve you been, George?
Ive been all right. Jesus, Vincent, I
never expected anything like this ran to a small table, opened a
drawer, took out a carton of cigarettes. With a thumbnail he slit
the carton, extracted a pack, and with the same thumbnail he opened
the pack, with the same thumbnail got a match lit. He ignited
Parry's cigarette, ignited his own and then went back to the door
and leaned against it.
You saw the papers?
Sure, Fellsinger said. And I couldnt
believe it. And I can't believe this.
Theres no getting away from it, George.
I'm here. This is really me.
In that brand-new suit?
Parry explained the suit. From the suit he
went back to the road, told Fellsinger how she had picked him up,
told Fellsinger everything.
You cant work it that way, Fellsinger
said. What you've got to do is take yourself out of town. Out of
the state. Out of the country.
Thats for later. What I need now is a
new face.
Hell ruin you. I tell you, Vince, you're
working it wrong. Every minute you waste in town is
Look, George, you said I was innocent.
You always kept saying that. Do you still believe it?
Of course. It was an accident. Nobody
killed her.
All right, then. Do you want to help
me?
Of course I want to help you. Anything,
Vince. Anything I can do. For Christs sake
Look, George, have there been any big
changes in your life since they put me away?
I dont know what you mean.
I mean, you never used to have any
visitors. You were always alone up here. Is it still that
way?
Yes. I lead a miserable life, Vince. You
know that. You know I have nobody. You were my only friend. A
suggestion of tears appeared in Fellsingers eyes.
Parry didnt notice the tears. He said,
I'm mighty glad nobody comes up here. That'll make it easy. And it
won't be more than a week. Do it for me, George. That's all I'm
asking. Just let me stay here for a week.
Vince, you can stay here for a year, for
ten years. But thats not the point. You said she gave you money.
That's half the battle already. With money you can travel. Here
you'll only run into the police. Maybe even now
I cant travel with this face. It needs
to be changed. I'm going there tonight. Maybe the police will be
here when I get back. Maybe not. It's fifty-fifty.
Fellsinger took a key case from the back
pocket of his trousers. He unringed a key and handed it to Parry.
Its good for both doors, he said. I still think you're working
it wrong, Vince.
Got anything to drink?
Some rum. Its awful stuff, but that's
all I can get these days.
Rum. Anything.
Fellsinger went into the kitchen, came out
with a bottle of rum and two water glasses. He half filled both
glasses.
They stood facing each other, gulping the
rum.
I still cant believe it, Fellsinger
said.
I was lucky, Parry said. I got breaks.
If I had planned it for a year it couldnt have worked out any
better. The truck was right where I wanted it to be. The guards
were nowhere around. It was all luck.
And that girl, Fellsinger
said.
Parry started to say something, then found
his lips were closed, found the words were crumbling up and
becoming nothing. He didnt want to talk about her. He was sorry he
had told Fellsinger about her. He couldn't understand why he had
told Fellsinger everything, even her name and her address and even
the number of her apartment. He was very sorry he had done that but
he didn't know why he was sorry. He knew only that now and from now
on he didn't want to talk about her, he didn't want to think about
her.
Fellsinger made himself horizontal on the
davenport. He finished the rum in his glass, got the glass half
filled again. Parry brought a chair toward the davenport and sat
down.
And Madge Rapf, Fellsinger said. You
sure thats who it was?
Thats who it was.
All my life Ive tried to keep from
hating people, Fellsinger said. That's one of the people I hate.
I remember once I was at your apartment with you and Gert, and
Madge walked in. I saw the way she was looking at you. I
remember what I was thinking. That she was
out to get you and once she had you shed rip you apart and throw
the pieces away. Then she'd go out and look for the pieces and put
them together and rip you apart again. That's Madge Rapt. And how
come she's connected with this Janney girl? What takes place
there?
Parry thought he had already told
Fellsinger what took place there. Wondering why he kept it back
now, he said, I dont know.
Sure you dont know?
George, Ive told you everything, I'm
depending on you now. I wouldn't keep anything from
you.
Fellsinger took a long gulp of rum. He
said, I wish I could sleep with Madge Rapf.
Are you out of your mind?
You dont get me, Fellsinger said. I
wish I could sleep with her provided I was sure she talked in her
sleep. I think she'd say the things I want her to say. I think
she'd admit Gert never made that dying statement. Jesus Christ, if
we could only prove that was a frame.
I dont think it was a frame, Parry
said. I think Madge was telling the truth.
Maybe she thought she was telling the
truth. Maybe she drilled it into herself that Gert really said
that. People like Madge make a habit of that sort of thing. It
becomes part of their make-up.
Gert hated me.
Gert didnt hate you. Gert just didn't
care for you. There's a difference. Gert would have walked out on
you only she had no one else to go to. No one.
There were others.
They werent permanent. She would have
walked out if she could have found something permanent. And she
wouldn't frame you, Vince. She was no prize package, but she
wouldn't frame you. Madge framed you. Madge wanted to hook you.
When she couldn't hook you one way, she hooked you another way.
Madge is a fine girl.
Maybe one of these days shell get run
over by an automobile.
Its something to pray for, Fellsinger
said. He took a thick watch from the small top pocket of his
trousers. What's your schedule?
I want to be there at three.
Plenty of time, Fellsinger
said.
Hows the job going?
The same job, Fellsinger said. The same
rotten routine. Sometimes I feel it getting the best of me. Last
week I asked for a raise and Wolcott laughed in my face. I wanted
to spit in his and walk out. One of these days Im going to do just
that. I can't stand Wolcott. I can't stand anything about that
place. Thirty-five dollars a week.
What are you kicking about? Thats a
marvelous salary.
I talked to my doctor a few months ago. I
asked him if I could stand a manual job. He said the only kind of
job I could stand was a job where I sit in one place all day and
dont use my muscles. I had no idea I was in such awful shape. He
gave me a list of rules to follow, diet and cigarettes and liquor
and all that. Rather than follow those rules I'd throw myself into
the Bay.
You mean jump off the Bridge?
What?
Nothing.
Not nothing. Something. Youve been
thinking in terms of the Bridge. You got to get rid of that, Vince.
That's no good.
Im all right. And everything's going to
be all right. With a new face I won't need to worry. At least I
won't need to worry so much. As long as I'm careful, as long as I
keep my wits about me, as long as I have something to hold on to
I'll be all right.
They sat there talking about themselves,
the things that had once amounted to something in common.
Fellsingers amateur status with the trumpet. Fellsinger's refusal
to go professional. Fellsinger's ideas in regard to sincere jazz.
Fellsinger's interest in higher mathematics, and his lack of real
ability with higher mathematics, and his feeling that if he had
real ability he could make a lot of money in investment securities.
Fellsinger's lack of real ability with anything. Parry's claim that
Fellsinger had real ability with something and as soon as he found
that something he would start getting somewhere. Their vacation at
Lake Tahoe a few years back. Fishing at Tahoe and the two girls
from Nevada who wanted to learn how to fish. Empty bottles of gin
all over the cabin. What a wonderful two weeks it had been, and how
they agreed that next summer they would be there again at Tahoe.
But they weren't there the next summer because Parry was married
that next summer and Gert wanted a honeymoon in Oregon. She wanted
to see Crater Lake National Park. She was interested in mineralogy.
She collected stones. She claimed there was flame opal to be found
in Crater Lake National Park. She liked opal, the flame opal, the
white opal with flames of green and orange writhing under the
glistening white. She was always asking Parry to get her something
in the way of flame opal. He couldn't afford flame opal but he got
her a stone anyway. He went to a credit jewelry store downtown and
said he wanted a flame-opal ring. They said they didn't have any
flame opal in stock but if he came back in a few days they would
have something. He didn't tell Gert about it. He wanted to surprise
her. She would have a birthday in four days and he would have that
flame opal in three. When he went back to the credit jewelry store
they had the flame opal, a fairly large stone set in white gold
with a small diamond on each side. They wanted nine hundred
dollars. Parry had figured on about four hundred dollars and he was
telling himself his only move was to turn and walk out of the
store. Then he was thinking the flame opal would make Gert very
happy. She hadn't found any flame opal in Crater Lake National
Park. It ruined the honeymoon. She was always saying how badly she
wanted flame opal. Parry made a down payment of three hundred
dollars, which reduced his bank account to one hundred dollars. He
told them to wrap the ring nicely. He took the ring home and on the
following day, which was Gert's birthday, he presented her with the
flame opal. She snatched it out of his hand. She broke a fingernail
tearing off the wrapping. Parry was in the room but Gert was all
alone in the room with her flame opal and she had a magnifying
glass and she studied the stone for twenty minutes. Then when she
saw Parry was there she asked him how much he had paid for the
stone. He told her. She asked him where he had bought the stone. He
told her. She started to carry on. She said he didn't have any
sense. She said the credit jewelry store was a gyp point and
anybody with half a brain wouldn't put out nine hundred dollars for
a flame opal in a place of that sort. She told him to take the ring
back and demand his money. She said the flame opal was full of
flaws and the diamond were chips and at the very most the ring was
worth two hundred dollars. She hopped up and down and made a lot of
noise. He asked her to quiet down. She threw the ring at him and it
hit him in the face and cut his cheek. Gert started to sob and yell
at the same time and Parry begged her to quiet down. He said he
would take back the ring and try to regain his down payment. She
laughed at him. On the following day he took the ring back but they
wouldn't return the down payment. When he became insistent they
told him to get a lawyer. He said the ring wasn't worth nine
hundred dollars. They told him to go get a lawyer. He walked out of
the store and he was very weary and he knew he was out three
hundred dollars. He wanted to go home and tell Gert he had regained
the three hundred and put it back in the bank. He knew that
wouldn't work. He had never been much good at putting a lie across.
He told himself Gert was right. He didn't have any sense. He should
have used his head and taken her with him when he went to purchase
her birthday gift. She was absolutely right. He didn't have any
sense. It was for his own good she had carried on like that. She
wanted him to be something, not a nothing. She wanted him to be
something she could respect. He put his hand to the cut on his
cheek. She hadn't meant to do that. She hadn't meant to hurt him.
It was for his own good. Maybe this would be the beginning of a
change in his life. Maybe from here on he would start to use his
head and make something of himself, climb out of that
thirty-five-a-week rut in the investment security house. Maybe this
was all for the best. He went to the bank and took out fifty of the
remaining hundred. He went into a large, dignified jewelry store
and asked if they had anything in the way of flame opal. A man
wearing white and black and grey looked Parry up and down and said
they didn't have anything under six hundred dollars. Parry walked
out of the store. He went into another store and they didn't have
anything under seven hundred dollars. He went into a third store
and a fourth and a fifth. He was forty minutes past his lunch hour
and he hadn't eaten yet and he was getting a fierce headache. He
made up his mind he wouldn't go back to the office until he had a
flame opal for his wife. He went into a sixth store. A seventh and
an eighth. The headache was awful. He went into the ninth store and
it was a small establishment that seemed sincere, that also seemed
as if it was having a hard time staying on its feet. A man well
past seventy showed Parry a ring set with a rather small flame
opal, a sterling silver setting. The ring looked as if it had been
in the store since the store was founded, and the store looked as
if it had been founded a hundred years ago. But it was a flame opal
and Gert wanted a flame opal, and when the man said $97. 50 it
became a sale. Parry threw a milkshake down his throat and sprinted
back to the office. When he arrived at the office the headache was
taking his head apart and Wolcott was telling him this sort of
thing would never do, and besides his work lately had been anything
but satisfactory, and he had better wise up to himself before he
found himself out on the street looking for another job. When Parry
got home that night he tried to kiss Gert but she turned away from
him. He handed her the small package and said happy birthday. She
opened the small package and looked at the small flame opal. She
looked at it for a while and then she let it fall to the floor. She
put on her hat and coat. Parry asked her where she was going. She
didn't answer. She walked out of the apartment. Parry heard the
door slamming shut. He reached down, picked up the ring. He looked
at the closed door, then looked at the flame opal, then looked at
the closed door and then looked at the flame opal.