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He started to say soot guys sent away for things they didn't do I don'ton was bad to start with I'd know a guy did a certain job, and I'd know I couldn't touch hiestible enough to ID hih to put hiuys in the joint who didn't do what they went away for," he allowed "Not all of them I mean, three out of four cons'll swear they were innocent of what they're doing time for, but you can't believe 'eed "But sometiret putting the right people away for the wrong reason It got them off the street, and they were people who didn't do the street a whole lot of good But that didn't necessarily ed in my fifth step"

"So you told soainst the law, but that botheredaround onti out on the there for people in general One ti of thyroid cancer She was er sister, she was all the fao and see her in the hospital, and I kept putting it off and putting it off, and the wo to the hospital that I didn't get to the funeral, either I sent flowers, though, and I went to so candle, all of which must have been a hell of a comfort to the dead wo west on one of the streets in the low Fifties, then taking a left on Tenth Avenue We passed a lon saloon with the door open and that stale beer s all at once He asked if I'd ever been in the place

"Not lately," I said

"It's a real bucket of blood," he said "Matt? You ever kill anybody?"

"Twice in the line of duty And once accidentally, and that was line of duty, too A bullet of mine ricocheted and killed a child"

"You ht"

"Did I? Sometimes I do, souy ju on I threw hi and died of a broken neck And another time, Christ, I was all of a week sober, and this crazy Coloun into him So the answer is yes, I've killed four people, five if you count the kid

"And, except for the kid, I don't think I ever lost a night's sleep over any of theonized over the assholes I sent up for so to do it, I wouldn't do it that way now, but none of that stuff botherswhen she was dying But that's an alcoholic for you The big stuff is easy It's the little shit that drives us crazy"

"So you, Eddie?"

"Oh, shit, I don't know I'rew up in Hell's Kitchen, the one thing you learned was not to tell nothing to nobody 'Don't tell your business to strangers' My mother was an honest woman, Matt She found a diive it back to, but I must of heard her say it a thousand times 'Don't tell nobody your business' And she walked the walk, God bless her Two, three times a week till the day he died, the oldand slap her around And she kept it to herself Anybody asked her, oh, she was clumsy, she walked into a door, she lost her balance, she fell down a flight of stairs But most people knew not to ask If you lived in the Kitchen, you knehat not to ask"

I started to say soed me to the curb "Let's cross the street," he said "I don't like to walk past that place if I don't have to"

The place in question was Grogan's Open House Green neon in theoffered Harp lager and Guinness stout "I used to hang out there a lot," he explained "I like to steer clear of it now"

I knew the feeling There was a ti's, and when I first got sober I'd go out ofthe place When I had to walk past it I would avert ht otherwise be drawn in against net Then Jimmy lost his lease and relocated a block west at Tenth and Fifty-seventh, and a Chinese restaurant moved into his old spot, and I had one less problem in my life

"You knons that joint, Matt?"

"Soan?"

"Not in years That's Mickey Ballou's place"

"The Butcher Boy?"

"You know Mickey?"

"Only by sight By sight and by reputation"

"Well, he's a sight and he's got a reputation You won't find his name on the license, but it's his store When I was a kid I was tight with his brother Dennis Then he got killed in Vietnam Were you in the service, Matt?"

I shookcops"

"I had TB when I was a kid I never knew it at the ti showed up on the X ray, kept utter "Another reason to quit these things But not today, huh?"

"You've got time"

"Yeah He was okay, Dennis Then after he died I did sos with Mick You heard the stories about him?"

"I've heard so? And what he had in it?"

"I never knehether to believe it or not"