“You quit baaing at me.”
“Let’s get the hell out of here and take Dingo to have her muffler fastened.”
Jimmy stood waiting in the door of the reeking garage. The dusty afternoon sunlight squirmed in bright worms of heat on his face and hands. Brownstone, redbrick, asphalt flickering with red and green letters of signs, with bits of paper in the gutter rotated in a slow haze about him. Two carwashers talking behind him:
“Yep I was making good money until I went after that lousy broad.”
“I’ll say she’s a goodlooker, Charley. I should worry.... Dont make no difference after the first week.”
Stan came up behind him and ran him along the street by the shoulders. “Car wont be fixed until five o’clock. Let’s
taxi.... Hotel Lafayette,” he shouted at the driver and slapped Jimmy on the knee. “Well Herfy old fossil, you know what the Governor of North Carolina said to the Governor of South Carolina.”
“No.”
“It’s a long time between drinks.”
“Baa, baa,” Stan was bleating under his breath as they stormed into the café. “Ellie here are the black sheep,” he shouted laughing. His face froze suddenly stiff. Opposite Ellen at the table sat her husband, one eyebrow lifted very high and the other almost merging with the eyelashes. A teapot sat impudently between them.