We had supper. Jack didnt say anything all during the meal except, ¨Will you pass me this?or ¨Will you pass me that?The two health-farm patients ate at the same table with us. They were pretty nice fellows. After we finished eating we went out on the porch. It was dark early. Like to take a walk, Jerry?Jack said. Sure,I said. We put on our coats and started out. It was quite a way down to the main road and then we walked along the main road about a mile and a half. Cars kept going by and...
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A PURSUIT RACE WILLIAM CAMPBELL had been in a pursuit race with a burlesque show ever since Pittsburgh. In a pursuit race, in bicycle racing, riders start at equal intervals to ride after one another. They ride very fast because the race is usually limited to a short distance and if they slow their riding another rider who maintains his pace will make up the space that separated them equally at the start. As soon as a rider is caught and passed he is out of the race and must get down from his bi...
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I aint slept for a week,Jack says. ¨All night I lay awake and worry my can off. I cant sleep, Jerry. You aint got an idea what its like when you cant sleep. Sure. I cant sleep. Thats all. I just cant sleep. Whats the use of taking care of yourself all these years when you cant sleep? Its bad. You aint got an idea what its like, Jerry, when you cant sleep. Put some water in that,I said. Well, about eleven oclock Jack passes out and I put him to bed. Finally hes so he cant keep from sleeping. ...
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On the train going to town Jack didnt talk. He sat in the corner of the seat with his ticket in his hat-band and looked out of the window. Once he turned and spoke to me. I told the wife Id take a room at the Shelby tonight,he said. ¨Its just around the corner from the Garden. I can go up to the house tomorrow morning. Thats a good idea,I said. ¨Your wife ever see you fight, Jack? No,Jack says. ¨She never seen me fight. I thought he must be figuring on taking an awful beating if he d...
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When did you wake up?Thomas Hudson asked him. When I heard a gurgling noise. Ill make a gurgling noise some night and see if that wakes you up. Dont worry, Tom. Willie does that for me every night. ¡@Thomas Hudson decided not to drink the rum. Then, seeing them all having had a drink and being cheerful and happy on an uncheerful errand, he thought it would be pompous and priggish not to take it. He wanted it, too. Split this with me,he said to Peters. ¨You are the only son of a bitch I ever k...
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But we have to check,Ara said. He was backing up Henry. Sure,Willie said. ¨I was just commenting. Wheres that Dawn Patrol from that damned Molasses ship at Cayo Franc?s? They dont patrol on Sundays, do they?Willie asked. ¨This must be a Sunday. Theres going to be a breeze,Ara said. ¨Look at the cirrus. Im afraid of one thing,Thomas Hudson said. ¨That theyve gone in through the pass at Guillermo. Well have to see. Lets hook the hell up and get there,Willie said. ¨This is getti...
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Yes,Ara said. ¨They took the boats. Why was the sailor killed?Henry asked. ¨You forgive me if I dont sound too intelligent, Tom. But you know how much I want to do what I can and Im so happy we have contact. We havent contact,Thomas Hudson said. ¨But Christ weve got a lovely scent. Breast high?Henry asked hopefully. Dont mention that word to me. But Tom, who killed the sailor and why? Family trouble,Thomas Hudson said. ¨Did you ever see a man shot in the base of the spine for kin...
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Are you doing it? Yes,he said. ¨Its wonderful. Do you know now what we have? Yes,he said. ¨Yes I know. Its easy to give up. Will you give up everything? Are you glad I brought back the boys and that I come and be a devil in the night? Yes. Im glad of everything and will you swing your hair across my face and give me your mouth please and hold me so tight it kills me? Of course. And youll do it for me? ¡@When he woke he touched the blanket and he did not know, for an instant, that it was a...
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¡@Ara brought the dinghy along the careened lee of the turtle boat and put the grapnel aboard against the gunwale. He climbed carefully aboard with the ease of a bear. He had a water bottle and a bottle of tea in an old gin bottle each tied to a piece of heavy fishing line that suspended them over his neck. He crawled up to lie beside Thomas Hudson. What about some of the damn water?Henry asked. ¡@Ara laid his stuff down beside Thomas Hudsons, untied the water bottle from the fish line and crawled...
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¡@They heard the outboard and then saw Ara round the poult. That dinghy rides as high in the bow as a canoe, Thomas Hudson thought. Get your junk together, Henry,he said. ¨Were going back to the ship. Im glad to stay aboard this thing if you want me to. No. I want you on the ship. ¡@After Ara came alongside Thomas Hudson changed his mind. Stay here, Henry, a little while and Ill send Ara for you. If they come out, get a frag into the skiff if they come alongside. Take this back hatch where you...
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Shell be booby-trapped till Christ wont have her. Theyre coming in with the dinghy,Antonio said. Ill get Ara and the necessary and get over there,Willie said. Dont blow yourself up. Dont think too much,Willie said. ¨Get some rest, Tom. Youre going to be up all night. So are you. The hell I am. When you want me they can wake me. Ill take the watch,Thomas Hudson said to Antonio. ¨When does our tide turn? Its turned already but it is fighting with the current that the strong east wind blows...
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Hes disassembling and cleaning everything in a frenzy of enthusiasm. How much rum did you guys take? Less than half a bottle. It was my idea. It wasnt Aras. OK. Get the hell down with him and clean the weapons and check the .50s. You cant check them really without firing them. I know. But you check them completely without firing them. Throw away the ammo thats been in the breeches. Thats smart. Tell Henry to come up here and bring me a small glass of this and tell him to bring a drink for himsel...
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¡@They rode straight up into town and were out of the wind and, passing the warehouses and stores, Thomas Hudson smelled the odor of stored flour in sacks and flour dust, the smell of newly opened packing cases, the smell of roasting coffee that was a stronger sensation than a drink in the morning, and the lovely smell of the tobacco that came strongest just before the car turned to the right toward the Floridita. This was one of the streets he loved but he did not like to walk along it in daylig...
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But while you were away a man died in the village from eating bananas when he was drinking rum. How do you know he wasnt just a banana-eating rummy who died from rum? No, se?or. This man died very suddenly from drinking a small amount of rum after eating a large quantity of bananas. They were his own bananas from his garden. He lived on the hill behind the village and worked for the route number seven of the buses. May he rest in peace,Thomas Hudson said. ¨Bring me a few bananas. ¡@Mario brou...
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¡@They rolled through the squalor of the village side street and turned onto the central highway. They passed the houses of the village, the two grocery stores open onto the street with their bars and rows of bottles flanked by shelves of canned goods, and then were past the last bar and the huge Spanish laurel tree whose branches spread all the way across the road and were rolling downhill on the old stone highway. The highway ran downhill for three miles with big old trees on either side. There...
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