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"Don’t see no problem there," he said

Outside, Mark looked at my old mattress and nodded his approval "I alondered what it would be like to throw one of those out a "

"And?"

"One minute it was there," he said, "and then it wasn’t It was sort of satisfying, actually Made ht it would"

"Nobody on the street seemed to notice"

"Well, New York," he said "That dude at the desk Jacob? He was pretty cool about the whole thing He high on soh syrup," I said

"Well, shit," Mark said "Who doesn’t?"

XL

THERE WAS TIME for a quick bite before the ested a deli on Broadway "We’ll take the bike," he said

It was eight or ten blocks away, and we got there in a hurry When ere seated and had ordered our pastrami sandwiches, I excused myself and made a phone call

Jim was still at the shop "I was supposed to call as soon as I got rid of the booze," I told hiht him up to date, and he asked me how I felt now "A lot better," I said

He said he , but that he’d see me there I went back to the table and told Mark I’d never been on a ," he said "Never?"

"Not that I re I’d re that would cut through the fog"

"You should get one, ood, the french fries well-done I liked the place, and wondered how come I’d never happened on it before It wasn’t that far from my hotel, and I had to have walked past it dozens of times over the years

Mark told me parts of his story while we ate There was a lot of heroin in it, and a lot of hectic trips back and forth across the country He’d spent a lot of time in Oakland and San Francisco, and so," he said, "but I’ll hear a needle calling, and it’s the saht where I’m at"

A couple of times over the years I’ve had dreaht I soared over the rooftops, banking and turning effortlessly, reveling in the siot a second ride on the back of Mark’s Harley, from the deli to St Paul’s, and it had an unreal quality that brought those flying dreams to mind I had slipped into a zone of unreality when I opened my hotel room door the first time, and in this neorld h the night

Then alked into theat St Paul’s and the world caot a cup of coffee and took a seat, and an exchange speaker froe four, when he circled the living roos of everybody’s drinks "Right away," he said, "I knehatto be about"

I raisedthe discussion and said I’d had a difficult day, and one that had included a challenge to my sobriety But I’d stayed sober, and what especially pleased one so far as to ask for help, which was by no means characteristic behavior on my part I’d received the help I needed, made a friend in the process, and capped the experience with an adventure Just a little adventure, I said, but that was about as much exciteo to bed sober, when I woke up the next ot so the break, including Jim, who must have come in toward the end of the qualification Afterward the two of us followed the crowd to the Fla table we took a small one by ourselves He ordered a fullfrom the shop--and I had a cup of coffee

"You didn’t go into detail," he said

"It was a little more draood story We wound up throwing the mattress out the "

"That et to do it I went downstairs to h nahth Step list as it is"

"Good thinking"

"Actually," I said, "Mark did all the thinking He took coh I worked out how to replace the mattress"

"You swiped one froned it," I said "But Jesus, Jim, when I opened the door…"

He let h it When I was done he frowned and said, "It wasn’t a practical joke, was it?"

"It was serious as a heart attack," I said "You couldn’t file charges, but what it was is atteured you’d pick up a drink and it would kill you And it would have, though it ht have taken a couple of years"

"He kneas getting close," I said "And he didn’t want anybody getting close He killed Jack Ellery because he was convinced he’d wind up in the spotlight as a direct result of Jack’s process ofamends He killed Mark Sattenstein to keep hiation He didn’t have to do all that, I’d done all I’d signed on to do, but every tiotto get rid of me was to kill me"

"You know his name?"