“That’s right. That’s dangerous stuff to do, talk out of line. There can be a lot of trouble.”
“Sure, a lot of trouble. Sometimes guys kill each other up here. It’s happened. This is a funny place. You get a little queer up here.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Hodges added a third story to his house.
“Me and the Chief, we don’t get along so well, but I ain’t got any hard feelings against him, know what I mean?”
“I think so. Started over a girl, didn’t it?”
“There’re not many up here. The ones they’ve got there’s a lot of competition for. We were just after the same one.”
“He got her?”
“Yeah, he got her.”
Hodges began to build an annex on the left side of the house. Bervick hoped he would build one on the right side, too. It looked lopsided the way it was.
“That’s too bad,” said Hodges.