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"That’s your idea of a smaller, quieter place? I’ll bet that’s a place with thousands of dead people on’tthey owned at the craps tables, the roulette wheels, then went back to their rooms and blew their brains out" I shivered "Suicides always hang around after they’re dead They’re afraid to as, odd one The average hotel "

"Bunch of guys murdered by the s of new hotels You can bet your ass they have unfinished business and plenty of postaars"

"She did her best to turn me into a card hustler, but I’ht you poker, didn’t she?"

"Yeah We used to play for pennies"

"Even just for pennies is gaars"

"She let you win? That’s sweet"

"She wanted me to travel the Southwest poker circuit with her Grandrow old on the road, not in a rock­ing chair on so old ladies, and I’ame, not of boredo to cha-cha in their walkers’"

"On the road," Stormy said, "would have been too hed "But we sure would have had fun She wanted hs… and if she died in the ame, she wanted me to be sure the other players didn’t split her bankroll and leave her carcass in the desert as a coyote buffet"

"I understand why you didn’t go on the road, but why don’t you gaars didn’t play sloppy to give e, I alift?"

"Yeah"

"You could see what cards were co for when er than those of other players and when it’s not The feeling proves to be right nine tie at cards"

"It’s the saa cash"

Storiven up cards "It would be pretty "

"I don’t needas people want to eat what’s been fried on a griddle"

"Or as long as they have feet"

"Yeah Assuas not because I want to gao for an all-you-can-eat buffet"

"I said Vegas because we could be there inchapels are open around the clock No blood tests re­quired We could be yrations that only Storive me the nerve to travel"

"Only alet a et hitched by Saturday And our friends can be there I want our friends there, don’t you?"

"Yes But I want married more"

I kissed her and said, ‘After all the hesitation, why the sudden rush?"

Because we had sat for a while in that unlighted alley, our eyes were thoroughly dark-adapted Otherwise I would not have fully recog­nized the depth of concern in her face, her eyes; in fact, she seeripped not by mere anxiety but by a quiet terror

"Hey, hey," I assured her, "everything’s going to be all right"

Her voice didn’t quaver She’s too tough for easy tears But in the softness of her speech, I could hear a haunted woe of the koi pond and thatthe prous Man"

"Yeah That creepy sonofabitch Ever since I saw him… I’ve been scared for you I mean, I’m always scared for you, Oddie, but I don’t usuallyyou need, on top of everything else on youryou to be careful"

" ‘Weepy dame’?"

"Sorry I must’ve flashed back to a prior life in the 1930s But it’s true, the last thing you need is some hysterical bitch always on your case"

"I liked ‘weepy dauy is atons of blast poith a fast-ticking ti to pluck his fuse be­fore he blows"

"Don’t be so sure Please, Oddie, don’t be so sure Being too sure with this guy will get you killed"

"I’ to be killed"

"I’ht," I told her, "Bob Robertson, alias Fungus Man, is going to be wearing a jail-issued orange jumpsuit, and maybe he’ll have hurt soht before he pulls a trigger, but whatever the situation, I’ our wedding, and I’ll still have both legs, both arms - "

"Oddie, stop, don’t say anyat now - "

"Please stop"

" - and I won’t be blind, because I really need to see you, and I won’t be deaf because how can we plan our wedding if I can’t hear you, and I won’t be - "

She punchedposition, she couldn’t get enough swing behind her fist to land a solid bloas hardly winded by the punch

With as little wheeze as I could e, I drew a breath and said, "I’ fate I’et over it"

I kissed her She kissed back

How right the world was then,

I put an arm around her and said, "You silly, weepy daht be so psychotic he wouldn’t even qualify toHe has nothing going for hi in his head I will come back to you with no punctures, no scrapes, no dents And none of s will have been ripped off"

"My Pooh," she said, as so somewhat calmed her nerves and partially settled her fears, I felt quite manly, like one of those stout-hearted and rock-ribbed sheriffs in old cowboy movies, ith a sions of gunfighters off the streets of Dodge City without s his white hat

I was the worst kind of fool When I look back on that August night, changed forever by all ed Odd Tho from me, immeasurably more confident than I am now, still able to hope, but not as wise, and I mourn for him

I am told not to let the tone of this narrative become too dark A certain 400-pound muse will park his 150-pound ass on me by way of editorial comment, and there is always the threat of his urine-filled cat