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Part ONE

"Who is like unto the beast?"

- Revelation 13:4

Chapter 1

ON THE TELEVISION SCREEN the newscaster was speaking of falling economies and the latest South American earthquakes

Mary Kate slid a cup of coffee across the cigarette-burned countertop to the night&039;s last custoh bleary eyes and ainst the counter watching the late-night news program; he always did She knew the routine "Holy Jesus Christ!" he said "They&039;re killin&039; the city with all this tax shit! You can&039;t make a decent livin&039; no more!"

"Man shouldn&039;t even try," said the customer "Should just be a bum and lay around in the park like all those kids do The world has gone to hell"

There was a clatter of plates as Mary Kate gathered them up "Watch that!" Ernest said On the fly-blown black-and-white screen the solemn face said, "fear another assassination atteht I&039; late! Joe&039;s home by now and he&039;d be tired as hell He&039;ll want soet his dinner on ti Ernest "It&039;s time, that&039;s what it is The world has run the circle You knohat I&039; about? The circle&039;s been run and now, by God, it&039;s time to pay up"

" kidnapped yesterday by anization Ransom demands have not yet" said the newscaster

"The circle&039;s been run?" Ernest asked He had turned his head to look at the other man and one side of his heavy-jowled face reflected the television&039;s blue glow "What&039;d you iven so aze flickering froain "When your tio Same&039;s true of cities, of countries even You knohat happened to Roht over the edge"

"So New York and Root somethin&039; in common, huh?"

"Sure I read about all this somewhere Or reasy, cigarette-butt-littered plates in her ars, she h a pair of swinging doors into the kitchen and set the dirty dishes in a rack near the sink The co black naarette dangling from a corner of his ht?" he asked her; he always did

"I&039;ve asked you to stop calling ood-lookin&039; rims last week"

"I&039;ll take the bus"

"I can save you so behind his eyes; that look of his always frightened her "I can save you some time I don&039;t need a ride I&039;ll take the bus like I always take the bus You understand that now?"

Woodrow grinned around the cigarette An ash fell like a block of , sister You don&039;t go for the blackthe kitchen doors shut behind her and the sound aze fixed on her for a few seconds and then turned again to the television, where a long-legged weathergirl was explaining that the heat ould continue at least through Thursday

That bastard! Mary Kate beganthe counter I&039;ve got to get a new job, she told herself; she always did I&039;ve got to get a new job and getas I&039;m away from here!

Here I am, she said Twenty years old and a waitress in a slop shop, lish-et out of here even if itI don&039;t want to do She wondered what Joe&039;s reaction would be if one night in their craently and whispered, "Joedearest one on earth, I think I&039;d be happier as a whore"

There was a click! as Ernest switched off the television set The custoo home," Ernest said "Another day, another dollar Another lousy dollar Hey! Woodrow! Hey! You locking up back there?"

Woodrow called back in his best slave imitation, "I&039;se lockin&039; up, boss!"

Mary Kate folded her apron neatly and laid it beneath the counter She said, "I&039;et hoainst the counter, staring at the e around, he said, "So? Leave"

She pushed through the frosted-glass door out into the street where a red neon sign flashed Ernie&039;s Grill off and on, off and on a thousand times a day; once she&039;d actually counted

The air was as thick and heavy as if she were standing in the center of a stearill toward her bus stop three blocks away, keeping her purse high on her shoulder to guard against hit-and-run thieves

At one tio to secretarial school; she and Joe would be able to support each other and maybe save a little on the side But then he had dropped out of school and his subsequent depression infected her as well They were now like two survivors of a shipwreck in a leaking life raft Too weak to live, too scared to die, just drifting, drifting Things had to change

And now she found herself doubting that she still loved him She didn&039;t know No one had ever explained to her how she should feel; her father was the strict conservative type, a grease-handed e, and her lasses after dark, as if she hoped to be discovered for the oods in second-rate supermarkets

She still felt attracted to Joe, yes Of course she did But love? Love? That thrilling passionate dip into the soul of someone else? She really couldn&039;t put it into words, and if she asked Joe to help her articulate it she was certain he&039;d laugh It wasn&039;t that she was no longer healthy or pretty or anything like that, though when she stood before a mirror she had to admit she was far too thin and her face had taken on the blank stare of a orill was far frolowed yellow all along the curb The es watched her pass as solee cans overflowed into the gutter and newspaper headlines shrieked of murder and arson and the threat of war

This heat, she said This heat The sweat had burst out across the bridge of her nose It had collected under her arms and now trickled down her sides How er? And only the beginning of summer, with the hottest months yet to come