Page 12 (1/2)

FROM THE EXPRESSION on the face of Mario Gonzalo, it ularly unsatisfactory about this particular banquet of the Black Widowers

There was nothing apparent to account for that The dinner, which revolved about a main course of roast duck, smothered in dark cherries and underpinned by wild rice, with the skin delightfully crisp and the e in pasta that had preceded and the generous chocolate parfait that had succeeded represented the calories - be - da Now the Black Widowers sat over their brandy, grilling their guest, with all in a state of satisfactory repletion

The weather outside was delightful, and the guest was an intelligent and articulate person whose personality fit the general aura of the society Even the terrible - teu in any voice that was a decibel louder than that of ordinary conversation

The guest&039;s name was Haskell Pritchard and he was a civil servant It had already been established that he was in charge of solid waste disposal and so to drive a garbage truck vanished under the undoubted seriousness of the problem

"The fact is," Pritchard had said, "that we are running out of places to put the waste and we&039;re going to need some innovative ideas on the matter"

Rubin said, a bit sardonically, "The waste, sir, was once raw material, and that raw material came from somewhere, certainly not from within this city Wherever it came from it left a hole, whether you call that hole a mine or a quarry or whatever Why not put the waste back in the hole it came from?"

"Actually," said Pritchard, "this has been thought of There are indeed abandoned s in the countryside and there have been atteotiate their use as du to sell rawto accept the residue after the consumer is done with it - even if we pay both ti"

Geoffrey Avalon said, "It&039;s a co down on cri cri more jails to hold those criminals and, even hborhood"

Halsted said, "I don&039;t see the relevance of that, Jeff"

"Don&039;t you?" Avalon&039;s eyebrows rose "I should think it was obvious I anize a problem and to want to solve it, but to balk at any personal inconvenience involved in a solution Might I also say that it is delightful, after a good dinner, to be discussing, in a more or less detached manner, problems that affect the public weal, with no personal puzzle involved I take it, Mr Pritchard, that your work, or your life, for that matter, does not at theyou of sleep and peace of mind?"

Pritchard looked surprised "I can&039;t think of anything, Mr Avalon Ought I to have coer?"

"Not at all, Haskell," said Halsted "It&039;s just that so not to have one"

"I don&039;t," said Gonzalo, with energy, revealing his reason for dissatisfaction, "and I hope I never do I think all of you are getting too old, and I also think that if Mr Pritchard thinks hard he can co"

Halsted bridled at once, and said, with the soft stutter that invaded his voice whenever he was indignant or excited, "If you&039;re trying to say, Mario, that uest is dull - "

Jaer Mario just wants a puzzle - But think a moment, Mario; shouldn&039;t Henry have a rest at a banquet now and then?"

"Sure," said Mario, "and just serve the dishes and take away the e else we ask for He&039;s having a great rest"

Henry, that perfection of a waiter, without whom the Black Widoere unthinkable, stood by the sideboard and, at Gonzalo&039;s words, a small smile played briefly over his unlined, sixtyish face

Avalon said, "Suppose we have a vote on the matter, with the host&039;s permission I move we be permitted, now and then, to have a banquet in which there is nothing more than civilized conversation"

Halsted said, "All in favor of Jeff&039;s o up ( that marked an utterly unprecedented event in the history of the banquets of the Black Widowers There was a violent intrusion of an uninvited person into their in with, the sound of a scuffle on the stairs, so, a muffled cry of "Please, mister, please - "

The Black Widowers froze - astonished - and then a young htly disheveled, and he was breathing hard He looked from face to face and behind hientlemen Shall I call the police?"

"No," said Halsted, who, as host, automatically took the initiative "We&039;ll handle it What do you want, young uys the Black Widowers?"

Halsted said, "This is a private party Please leave"

The intruder raised a hand, placatingly "I&039;ll leave in aBut is this the place where the Black Widowers uys?"

Avalon, his voice as baritone as he could make it, said, "We are the Black Widowers, sir What is it you want?"

"Well, you help guys, don&039;t you?"

"No, we do not As you have been told, this is a privateand we have no other purpose but to meet"

The intruder looked baffled "They told s I have a problem" Suddenly, he did not look in the least forht, with thick dark hair, dark eyes, and dark eyebrows, and he was rather handsome He seemed to be in his mid - twenties and, beneath a rather theatrical affectation of toughness, there was a touch of loss and confusion He said, "They told me you could help me - with my problem"

His shirt collar was open and his Adam&039;s apple, quite visible, "

Gonzalo said, joyously, "What&039;s your problem?"

Trumbull snarled, "Mario" He turned to the intruder, "What&039;s your name?"

"Frank Russo," said the intruder, defiantly, as though expecting sonation

"And where did you hear we solve problems?"

Russo said, "I just heard It don&039;t uys who eat with you talk, oes from one to another So I asked and found out you eat here at the Milano, a good paesano restaurant - if you got the dough for it - and you were gonna be there tonight, and I thought, what the hell, if you help other people,combative, said, "Yes, but just who told you where and ould be ?"

Russo said, "If you don&039;t like people should talk about you, then I&039;onna knoon&039;t is I ain&039;t gonna talk about the guy who told me about you"

Drake h to me"

"Now if you don&039;t want to help h, if I hear people say you help out, I&039;ll deny it"

There was silence at that, and then Russo said, with an authentic note of pleading in his voice, "Can I at least tell you what&039;s bugging me?"

Halsted said, "What&039;s the consensus? Anyone in favor of listening to Russo raise his hand" He raised his, and Gonzalo&039;s hand shot up vigorously

Drake said, "Well, listening can&039;t hurt," and raised his

Halsted waited, but the hands of Avalon, Trumbull, and Rubin remained resolutely down Halsted said, "Three to three I&039; to raise your hand, but you&039;re not a Widower Henry, would you break the tie?"

Henry said, "Well, Mr Halsted, if you insist, thenis that when the Widowers are evenly balanced on soiven to the merciful It is hard to turn away someone in trouble" And he raised his hand

Halsted said, "Good Could you bring a chair, Henry, and put it near the door for the young man? Sit down, Russo"

Russo sat down, put his hands on his knees, and looked about anxiously Now that he had s he found hioing to have to interrupt your grilling to take care of Mr Russo, if we can I hope you don&039;t mind"

"On the contrary," said Pritchard "I wanted to vote in favor of the young lad the waiter tipped the vote in his favor, though I thought only members could vote"

"Henry is a member - And now, Jim, would you do the honors?"

Drake stubbed out his cigarette "Youngyou to justify your existence, but you are not a guest of ours and that question therefore doesn&039;t apply You can just tell us what your problem is, but I must warn you, that any of us can interrupt at any time to ask a question, and that Henry, our waiter, can do so, too In return, you must answer all questions truthfully and fully, and you uarantee that we&039;ll be able to help you"

"Okay, that suits otta proo outside this roooes on in this rooh it does seeuests did not adhere to this rule"

"Okay, then" Russo closed his eyes a in Then he said, firhteen"

"What&039;s her naonna tell you," said Russo, "even if you didn&039;t ask because that&039;s part of the problem Her naot it in her mind she wants to be called Susan and that&039;s what I call her now

"She&039;scare of her for six years now - ever since our ot a job?" asked Avalon

"Course I got a job," said Russo, indignantly "What kind of a question is that? How could I be taking care of her without a job? I been driving a truck for a brewery since I was fifteen and two years ago I got a supervising job I ain&039;t rich, but I uys - some"

Avalon looked uncoo on with your story Is your father also dead?"

Russo said, "I don&039;t knohere one" His aresture "I take care of Susan - The thing is Susan ain&039;t - bright"

Drake said, "Do you mean she&039;s retarded?"

"She&039;s not ht People could take advantage of her and there ain&039;t much she could do in the way of a job"

"With special educational care - " began Avalon

Russo&039;s face twisted "What&039;s the use of saying that? I ain&039;t got money for that"

Avalon reddened and ain People recognize the need and say they want a solution, but if it&039;s a question of public funds, the taxpayer buttons his pocket"

Russo said, "She cooks She takes care of the place She can go shopping, and the guys around the neighborhood know about her and theyhappens to her Any of them step out of line, he&039;ll be taken care of"

His fist clenched and a steely look came into his eyes "They&039;re all careful, you bet, but it&039;s so more and more worried about She&039;s the best - natured kid in the world, alilling to help, always s is, she&039;s getting to be very nice - looking It&039;s so to worry about, you knohat I mean?"

Drake said, "We knohat you mean Does she like men?"

"Sure she does She likes everybody, but she don&039;t know about that sort of thing She don&039;t read and nobody talks dirty to her, you can bet on that But these days, you gotta be careful about what otta be careful about television, you knohat I , she&039;s so good - natured, you knohat I irlfriend of your own?"

Russo said, quickly, "What&039;s that supposed toif you have a girlfriend of your own?"

"Course I do"

"Does she know about Susan?"

"Course she does And e get hitched, she knoe gotta continue taking care of Susan And she&039;s willing She sits with her evenings when I gotta be away Like now"

Avalon cleared his throat and said, as delicately as he could, "Have you ever thought that, with an operation, she ht of that, for he did not allow the sentence to be finished "We ain&039;t gonna cut her up"

Gonzalo said, "Have you talked to your priest?"

Russo said, "Nah I knohat he&039;ll say He&039;ll just say to keep on doing e&039;re doing and to trust in God"

Gonzalo said, "She ood nun"

"No, she don&039;t have the call And I&039;et rid of her I don&039;t wanna get rid of her, see"

Rubin said, "Do you expect she&039;ll get married some day?"

Russo said, defiantly, "Could be She&039;d ood wife; a lot better wife than , clean" He hesitated "Course, whoever otta understand she&039;s not - smart, and he&039;d have to take care of her because anyone could take advantage of her, if you knohat I mean And he&039;d have to take that into account if anyone does, and not take it out on her"

"What if she has children?"

"What if she does? She&039;d take good care of them And they wouldn&039;t have to be like her I&039;m not My ed his spoon against his water glass There was silence and Trumbull said, "Gentle our ti we can do about his sister, if that&039;s his problem If he&039;s come to ask us for advice about what to do with her now that she&039;s eighteen, it seems to ht say, to keep on doing what he&039;s doing and trust in God - I move we end this matter now"

"Hey, hold on," said Russo, anxiously "I ain&039;t told you my problem yet All this stuff so far is just to explain"

Halsted said, "Well, then, Mr Russo, I think we understand about your sister Would you tell us your problem now?"

Russo cleared his throat and there was aalternate beginnings

He said, "Teeks ago, on the tenth, my sister was picked up"

"By the police?" asked Gonzalo

"No, by sohborhood I don&039;t knoho the guy was I was at work, of course, and Susan, she went out to do soot strict instructions never to talk to anybody she don&039;t know Never But I guess she hborhood these last teeks Everybody knows Susan and they were all upset, and frouy says, what it looks like is that she was talking to so kind of, but no one can swear to exactly what he looked like, exceptlike that go on - her talking to a strange guy They all said they thought it was soured Susan wouldn&039;t talk to a stranger

"He took her off in an autoone, and I can tell you I went crazy I ran all around the neighborhood and I had all the guys going all over" He shook his head "I don&039;t knohat I would of done, if she hadn&039;t come home"

Trumbull said, "Then she did co dark Whoever it was, he had put her on a cooodness, and she knew enough to take a taxi She had money She still had her train - ticket stub and I think she came froht?" asked Gonzalo

Russo nodded his head "She wasn&039;t hurt I sort ofat the ti out I was sick, and I got her to tellthat happened I had to know

"Well, she ot around her, you know She said he was very handsoht her an ice - cream soda, and asked if she wanted a drive in his car and it was a very pretty car Well, she couldn&039;t resist; she&039;s always agreeable to everything anyway I figure he&039;s one of these guys frohborhood to pick up so easy for nothing - except an ice - creaan, "Did he - "

Russo cut him off at once "Yeah He did"

"How do you know?"

"Because Susan told me She didn&039;t knohat it was all about, and she told me The dirty - " He checked himself, then said, furiously, "He had to know she didn&039;t knohat it was all about He had to know she wasn&039;t - se of a little kid"

Avalon began "If she had had the proper instruction -" caught Russo&039;s furious eye, halted, and looked the other way

Rubin said, "How did your sister feel about it?"

"She thought it was great That&039;s the worst part She&039;ll want to do it again She&039;ll suggest it to guys"