“Maybe he ain’t getting anything,” Mooney commented.
“Maybe,” Nick conceded. “But on the other hand, I think he knows how to operate. I got that impression when I offered to get him fixed up. It was something he said when he turned me down.”
Kerrigan looked at Nick. “What did he say?”
“He claimed it does nothing for him when he has to pay for it. Paying for it takes away the excitement.”
“Maybe he has something there,” Mooney said.
“He makes a lot of sense, the way he explains himself,” Nick went on. “I asked him if he was married and he said no, he’d tried it a couple times and it always bored him. I guess it’s a kind of ulcer in the head that gives him loony ideas.”
“You think he’s really sick that way?” Kerrigan murmured.
“Well, I’m not an expert in that line.”
“The hell you’re not,” Mooney said.
Nick looked at Mooney. Then he turned again to Kerrigan and said, “I guess most of us are sick with it, one way or another. There ain’t a man alive who don’t have a problem now and then.”