"Money talks, bullshit walks 230 "It's the...
"Money talks, bullshit walks
230
"It's the truth He stood up, put his hands in
the small of his back, and twisted it"Would you
like to come up to the house and meet the boss?
She should be arising from her nap just about now
She has her problems, but even at eighty-five
she's quite the babe
This wasn't the time to tell him I thought I
already had met her - briefly - courtesy of my
answering machineWhen the hilarity
subsides"Walk down tomorrow afternoon, if you
like I held out my hand
againHe shook it again, looking at the stump of
my right arm as he did so
"No prosthesis? Or do you just leave it off when
you're not among the hoi polloi?"
I had a story I told people about that - nervepain
in the stump - but it was a lie, and I didn't
want to lie to WiremanPartly because he had a
nose attuned to the delicate smell of bullshit,
but mostly because I just omega speedmaster leather didn't want to lie to
him
231
"I was measured for one while I was still in the
hospital, of course, and I got the hard sell on it
from just about everyone - especially my physical
therapist and this psychologist friend of mine
They said the quicker I learned to use it, the
quicker I'd be able to get on with my life-"
"Just put the whole thing behind you and go on
dancing-"
"Yes
"Only sometimes putting a thing behind you isn't
so easy to do
"Sometimes it's not even right," Wireman said
"That isn't it, exactly, but it's I trailed
off and seesawed my hand in the air
"Close enough for rock and roll?"
"Yes," I said"Thanks for the cold drink
"Come on back and get another oneI only take the
sun between two and three - an hour a day is
enough for me - but Miss Eastlake either sleeps or
rearranges her china figurines most of the
afternoon, and of course she never cartier santos demoiselle misses Oprah,
so I have timeMore than I know what to do with,
232
actuallyWho knows? We might find a lot to talk
about
"All right," I saidHe offered
his hand and I shook with him again"You know
what I think? Friendships founded on laughter are
always fortuitous
"Maybe your next job will be writing the fortunes
in Chinese cookies," I said
"There could be worse jobs, muchacho
iv
Walking back, my thoughts turned to Miss Eastlake,
an old lady in big blue sneakers and a wide straw
hat who just happened to own (sort of) her own
Florida KeyNot the Bride of the Godfather after
all, but Daughter of the Land Baron and,
apparently, Patroness of the ArtsMy mind had
done another of those weird slip-slides and I
couldn't remember her father's name (something
simple, only one syllable), but I remembered the
basic situation as Wireman had outlined itI'd
never heard cambon chanel handbag of anything similar, and when you
233
build for a living, you see all sorts of strange
property arrangementsI thought it was actually
rather ingeniousif, that was, you wanted to
keep most of your little kingdom in a state of
undeveloped graceThe question was, why?
I was most of the way back to Big Pink before I
realized my leg was aching like a bastardI
limped inside, slurped water directly from the
kitchen tap, then made my way across the living
room to the main bedroomI saw the light on the
answering machine was blinking, but I wanted
nothing to do with messages from the outside world
right thenAll I wanted was to get off my feet
I lay down and looked at the slowly revolving
blades of the overhead fanI hadn't done very
well explaining my lack of a fake armI wondered
if Wireman would've had better luck with What's a
lawyer doing as a rich old spinster's chloe handbag lookalike houseman?
What kind of other life is that?
Still considering this, I drifted off into a
dreamless and very satisfying nap
v
234
When I woke up, I took a hot shower, then went
into the living room to check my answering machine
I wasn't as stiff as I had expected, given my twomile
walkI might get up tomorrow hobbling, but
for tonight I thought I was going to be all right
The message was from JackHe said his mother had
connected him with someone named Dario Nannuzzi,
and Nannuzzi would be happy to look at my pictures
between four and five PM on Friday afternoon -
could I bring no more than ten of those I
considered best to the Scoto Gallery? No sketches;
Nannuzzi only wanted to see finished work
I felt a tickle of unease at this -
No, that's not even close to what I felt
My stomach cramped and I could have sworn my
bowels dropped three inchesNor was that rolex watches for sale in the uk the
w