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"Sir, do you mind if I smoke?" he asked
"Yes I do mind"
"I understand It’s a filthy habit"
Froram’s and unscrewed the cap His bony hands treht to drink He just took a swig
Apparently, he had sufficient control of his nicotine jones to be polite about it The hooch, on the other hand, told him when he needed it, and he could not disobey its liquid voice
Billy suspected that other pints were tucked in other pockets, plus cigarettes and matches, and possibly a couple of hand-rolled joints This explained why a suit in su but also a porthten the color of his face His skin was already dark from much sun and red from an intricate web of burst capillaries
"How far did you walk?" Billy asked
"Only from the junction I hitched a ride that far" Billy must have looked skeptical, for Cottle added, "A lot of people know me around these parts They know I’m harmless, unkempt but not dirty"
Indeed, his blond hair looked clean, though uncoh to resist nicking even with the razor wielded by such an unsteady hand
His age was difficult to deterht have been forty or sixty, but not thirty or seventy
"He’s a very bad man, Mr Wiles"
"Who?"
"The one who sent me"
"You’re his associate"
"No more than I’m a monkey"
"Associate--that’s what he called you"
"Do I look like a monkey, either?"
"What’s his name?"
"I don’t know I don’t want to know"
"What’s he look like?"
"I haven’t seen his face I hope I never do"
"A skiout of it cold as snake eyes" His voice quavered in sympathy with his hands, and he tipped the bottle to his ain
"What color were his eyes?" Billy asked
"They looked yellow as egg yolks tothe encounter in the church parking lot, Billy said, "There was too little light for me to see color… just a hot shine"
"I’m not such a bad man, Mr Wiles Not like him What I a He paid me one hundred forty dollars, all in tendollar bills"
"One-forty? What--did you bargain him up from a hundred?"
"No, sir That’s the precise sum he offered He said it’s ten dollars for each year of your innocence, Mr Wiles"
In silence, Billy stared at hiht once have been a vibrant blue Maybe all the alcohol had faded them, for they were the palest blue eyes that Billy had ever seen, the faint blue of the sky at high altitude where there is too little atmosphere to provide rich color and where the void beyond is barely concealed
After a moment, Cottle broke eye contact, looked out at the yard, the trees, the road
"Do you knohat that means?" Billy asked "My fourteen years of innocence?"
"No, sir And it’s none ofyou that"
"You saidWhat was the other?"
"He’d kill me if I didn’t come see you"
"That’s what he threatened to do?"
"He doesn’t make threats, Mr Wiles"
"Sounds like one"
"He just says what is, and you know it’s true I come see you or I’m dead And not dead easy, either, but very hard"
"Do you knohat he’s done?" Billy asked
"No, sir And don’t you tell me"
"There’s two of us noho know he’s real We can corroborate each other’s story"
"Don’t even talk that way"
"Don’t you see, he’s made a mistake"
"I wish I could be his mistake," Cottle said, "but I’ot to be stopped," Billy said
"Not by me I’m nobody’s hero Don’t you tell me what he’s done Don’t you dare"
"Why shouldn’t I tell you?"
"That’s your world It isn’t mine"
"There’s just one world"
"No, sir There’s a billion of theonna stay"
"We’re sitting here on the same porch"
"No, sir It looks like one porch, but it’s two, all right You know that’s true I see it in you"
"See what?"
"I see the way you’re a little likeYou won’t even look at ain "Have you seen the woman’s face in the jar like a jellyfish?"
The conversation had suddenly switched froe spur line
"What wo from the pint "He says he’s had her in the jar three years"
"Jar? Better stop pouring down that nose paint, Ralph You’re notmuch sense"