Page 6 (1/2)
Part One
The Right Place
at the Wrong Time
One
So a brief wake as thin as spider silk, and by staying low avoids those birds and bats that feed in flight
At six feet three, weighing two hundred ten pounds, with big hands and bigger feet, Timothy Carrier could notmayfly, but he tried
Shod in heavy work boots, with a John Wayne walk that cae, he nevertheless entered the Lahter Tavern and proceeded to the farther end of the roo attention to hith of the “L”-shaped bar, glanced at him Neither did the couples in two of the booths
When he sat on the end stool, in shadows beyond the last of the downlights that polished the hed with contentment From the perspective of the front door, he was the smallest man in the room
If the forward end of the Lahter was the driver’s deck of the locomotive, this was the caboose Those who chose to sit here on a slow Monday evening would most likely be quiet company
Liaht, the only barkeep—drew a draft beer from the tap and put it in front of Tim
“Soht you’ll walk in here with a date,” Rooney said, “and the shock will kill me”
“Why would I bring a date to this dump?”
“What else do you know but this dump?”
“I’ve also got a favorite doughnut shop”
“Yeah After the two of you scarf down a dozen glazed, you could take her to a big expensive restaurant in Newport Beach, sit on the curb, and watch the valets park all the fancy cars”
Tih it was clean, and Ti Michelle They don’t make them like her anymore”
“Michelle’s thirty, sae as us If they don’t make ’em like her anymore, where’d she come from?”
“It’s a mystery”
“To be a winner, you gotta be in the game,” Rooney said
“I’ame”
“Shooting hoops alone isn’t a game”
“Don’t worry abouton my door”
“Yeah,” Rooney said, “but they come in pairs and they want to tell you about Jesus”
“Nothing wrong with that They care about my soul Anybody ever tell you, you’re a sarcastic sonofabitch?”
“You did Like a thousand tiuy was in here earlier, he’s forty, never been married, and now they cut off his testicles”
“Who cut off his testicles?”
“Some doctors”
“You get o to one by accident”
“The guy had cancer Point is, now he can never have kids”
“What’s so great about having kids, the way the world is?”
Rooney looked like a black-belt wannabe who, though never having taken a karate lesson, had tried to break a lot of concrete blocks with his face His eyes, however, were blue s full of warood
“That’s what it’s all about,” Rooney said “A wife, kids, a place you can hold fast to while the rest of the world spins apart”
“Methuselah lived to be nine hundred, and he was begetting kids right to the end”
“Begetting?”
“That’s what they did in those days They begot”
“So you’re going to—what?—wait to start a family till you’re six hundred?”
“You and Michelle don’t have kids”
“We’re workin’ on it” Rooney bent over, folded his arms on the bar, and put himself face-to-face with Tim “What’d you do today, Doorman?”
Tim frowned “Don’t call me that”
“So what’d you do today?”
“The usual Built some wall”
“What’ll you do tomorrow?”
“Build some more wall”
“Who for?”
“For whoever pays me”
“I work this place seventy hours a week, soer, but not for the customers”
“Your customers are aware of that,” Tim assured him
“Who’s the sarcastic sonofabitch now?”
“You still have the crown, but I’m a contender”
“I work for Michelle and for the kids we’re gonna have You need somebody to work for besides who pays you, so with, to share a future with”
“Liam, you sure do have beautiful eyes”
“Me and Michelle—orry about you, bro”
Tim puckered his lips
Rooney said, “Alone doesn’t work for anybody”
Ti noises
Leaning closer, until their faces were mere inches apart, Rooney said, “You want to kiss me?”
“Well, you seem to care about me so much”
“I’ll park my ass on the bar You can kiss that”
“No thanks I don’t want to have to cut off my lips”
“You knohat your problem is, Doorman?”
“There you go again”
“Autophobia”
“Wrong I’m not afraid of cars”
“You’re afraid of yourself No, that isn’t right, either You’re afraid of your potential”
“You’d uidance counselor,” Tiht this place served free pretzels Where’re my pretzels?”
“So them off”
“Okay But I don’t want they”
Rooney fetched a bowl of pretzels from the backbar and put them beside Tim’s beer “Michelle has this cousin, Shaydra, she’s sweet”
“What kind of name is Shaydra? Isn’t anyone named Mary anymore?”
“I’onna set you up with Shaydra for a date”
“No point to it To my testicles cut off”
“Put thereat ice-breaker,” said Rooney, and returned to the other end of the bar, where the three lively custoe tuition for the as-yet-unborn Rooney children