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"You hang on to it," I suggested "I can always ask for it back if it's old news"

"True, but-"

"And if it's straight," I said, "I ht not be around to pay you So you'd better take the nify that with an answer," he said

"But you'll keep theCrystal's an expensive toy Do you want to stay for another set, Matthew? If not, would you stop at the bar and tell the little darling it's safe to return? And put your money away, I'll pay for your coffee My God, you're as bad as Brian"

"I only drank half of that last cup," I told hih You're welcome to the rest of it"

"That's decent of you," he said "That's real decent"

The cabbie had it all figured out The only way to handle the crack problem was to cut off the supply You couldn't lessen the deot addicted to it, and you couldn't seal the borders, and you couldn't control production in Latin Aovernovernment," he said "What we do, we annex the fuckers Take 'em over Make 'em territories at first, until they shape up and they're ready for statehood Right away you dry up your drugs at the source And you got no more wetbacks, because how can people sneak into a country when they're already there? Any place where you got your insurgents, your rebels up in the hills, you declare 'em citizens and draft their asses into the US Arot clean unifor at the PX You do this right, you solve all your problems at once"

He letall an's Open House, Michael J Ballou, proprietor

I walked in the door and the beer sht and the roo darts at the back Burke was behind the bar with a cigarette in his hter produce a flahter and lit the cigarette with a match

I didn't see his lipsbecause Mick turned athis butcher's apron, more a coat than an apron It buttoned up to the neck and covered hi white except where it showed reddish-brown stains Some of them had faded over the years, and some had not

"Scudder," he said "Good man What will you drink?"

I said a Coke would be fine Burke filled a glass and slid it across the bar to lass toJJ&S, the twelve-year-old Irish that the Jaan, who'd worked behind the stick at Ar's some years back, used to drink it, and I'd tried it on a few occasions I could still remember what it tasted like

"It's a late hour for you," Mick said

"I was afraid you ht be closed"

"When did we ever close at this hour? It's not two yet We're open till four, as often as not I bought this bar to have a place for late drinking Soht" His eyes narrowed "Are you all right, man?"

"Why?"

"You look like a ht"

I had to smile "This afternoon," I said, "but it didn't put a o it was a different story"

"Oh?"

"Maybe we should sit down"

"Maybe we should," he agreed He snatched up the whiskey bottle and led the way to a table I brought my Coke and followed him As we sat down, someone at the far end of the room played the jukebox and Liam Clancy declared hi people The voluet in your way, and neither of us said anything until the song had ended

Then I said, "I need a gun"

"What sort of gun?"

"A handgun An autoh to conceal and carry around but heavy enough to have solass was still a third full, but he drew the cork stopper frolass and looked into it I wondered what he was seeing

He drank off solass down "Come on," he said

He stood up, pushed his chair back I followed him to the back of the room There was a door to the left of the dart board Press-on letters announced that it was private, and a lock guaranteed privacy Mick opened it with a key and ushered me into his office

It was a surprise There was a big desk, its top completely clear A Mosler safe as tall as I was stood off to one side, flanked by a pair of greencabinets A brass coatrack held a raincoat and a couple of jackets There were two groups of hand-colored engravings on the walls, some of Ireland, the others of France He'd told o, his father froe near Marseilles Behind the desk there was a raph with a white mat and a narrow black frame It showed a white frame farmhouse shaded by tall trees, with hills in the distance and clouds in the sky

"That's the farm," he said "You've never been"

"No"

"We'll go one day It's up near Ellenville We should have snow soon That's when I like it the most, when all those hills have snow on them"

"It must be beautiful"