Part 27 (1/2)
”Fine, I'm fine, come in”
”That's the lowest, you know”
”What is?”
”Brigadier It's the lowest grade of general they make”
”That must chafe”
”Eats him away Wow” Bacon looked around the cool ht to cut down on reflection and perreat dark s, and he squinted a little as he peered off into the glints and shadows of the bar on one hand and the long bank of s on the other ”Wow!”
”Yeah, ,” Sa less exhilarated than aard, even slightly afraid What had he done? What was Bacon up to? What was the faintly acrid but not unpleasant s froreat!” Bacon said He strode toward the s that looked out over the Hudson River, toward the black cliffs and neon billboards of New Jersey There was soait, and Saot broken Bacon pressed his face to the , sainst it with a vehemence that made Salass, but Tracy Bacon possessed that brand of glamorous stupidity-or so it would coainst such technological safeguards He would wriggle his way out onto a theater balcony that had been closed because it was on the verge of collapse, enter any stairway marked No Admittance, and, as Sammy would later learn, Bacon especially liked, when there was no one looking, to sneak fro soarette lighter It had been a terrible ht ”I ht n himself up for this kind of workunpaidbut nowyou have all this to yourself, every night?”
”Three nights a week Are you drunk?”
”What kind of question is that?” Bacon said, without elaborating whether he found the question offensive or merely superfluous, or both ”I came up here ing up the glass ”It was a lot different in the daylight Kids running around All that blue sky and steas”
”I've actually never been up here in the daytione long before they let the people in”
Bacon stepped back A ghostly print of his skull lingered aThen he slid down along the s to the southeast corner, where, as at the three other corners of the observation floor, there was a coin-operated telescope He stooped to peer through it The shopping bags otten he was carrying the into the eyepiece ”You can see the Statue of Liberty” Unless you fed it a di at all ”How about that, she sleeps in a hair net” He whirled around, the expression on his face at once innocent and reckless, for all the world like a toddler searching the nursery for so new to break
”Mind if I look around?”
”Well”
”This where you sit?”
Still carrying the bags, trailing a now-unus, Bacon walked over behind the broad podiuuards who took tickets and gave informal tours of the celebrated panorama This here the Interceptor Command had installed the telephone that would, in the event of an aerial attack, connect Sammy immediately to Cortlandt Street Saarettes, and extra log forms
”I don't really sit Bacon, maybe you'd better not no!”
Bacon had set down one of the bags and lifted the receiver of the e Listen, sweetheart-hey It's ringing”
Sauard station, snatched the phone from his hand, and slammed it back into place
”Sorry”
”Can I ask you so, I etting his shoulder into it, and dislodged his?”
Bacon looked down at his left hand, a little surprised, then at the bag he had set beside his in Sa buttery and winy and green, shallots maybe
”Dinner!” Bacon said
They went into the dark cafe, bristling with the upturned legs of chairs The polished stone floor whispered against their feet The chrolinted at one end in the light froerators hummed softly to themselves The muted atmosphere of the bar seemed to dampen, or at least to still, Bacon's spirits somewhat He spun two chairs floorward, and then, without a word, began to unpack his shopping bags One bag, it turned out, contained three lidded silver platters, of the type that hotel waiters in thein on linen-draped carts The other bag held two reen soup After Bacon had arranged the platters and tureen on the table, he took out a somewhat random fistful of forks, knives, and spoons, an ornate, heavy pattern, and a pair of cloth napkins somewhat soiled by juices and liquids that had escaped the various platters He also took out a bottle of wine, a corkscrew, and two glasses, one of which had broken along the way
”We'll have to share,” he said ”Or I can just drink from the bottle”
”What, no baked Alaska?” said Saesture, he lifted the lid on one of the platters, revealing a sad little puddle of brown-streaked white sugary ooze ”What do you take me for?”
”Sorry,” Sammy said They sat down to eat There were quails stuffed with oysters, steaus in sauce hollandaise, a Macedonian salad, and dauphin potatoes The pale soup was crea himself to dismember one of the little bird bodies, but he picked out the stuffing and found it quite delicious ”What did you do?” said Sao?” Bacon lived well beyond histo hiood Could be hotter”
”Salt?” Bacon reached into the shopping bag once n even more ornate than the flatware, and set it on the table It was e, then lifted it up and tipped it, dipping one corner to the mouth of the salt cellar A thin strea ”There Good as new So,” he continued, gesturing to Sae ”You just wanted to do your part, is that it? Help the Escapist in his unending fight against the Iron Chain and their Axis stooges?”
”A lot of people askhis potatoes with salt ”That's usually what I say”
”But you'll tell , but with just the slightest hint of an earnest plea
”Well,” Saht to I-I did soot back froroup of these volunteer spotters in the lobby, they were being given a tour, and I just kind of blended in with the” to I-I did soot back froroup of these volunteer spotters in the lobby, they were being given a tour, and I just kind of blended in with the”
”A guilty conscience”
Sah it was true that his stint as a plane spotter had also roughly coincided with the period when Joe began to spendSaht ”And don't askI did, because I can't tell you”
”Okay, I won't,” Bacon said with a shrug He shoved a forkful of asparagus into his ht,” said Saled his eyebrows ”Is it sohed ”No, I-I coal deposition I told the lawyers for Superman that Shelly Anapol never asked me to copy their character When he really just out-and-out had” Saal deposition I told the lawyers for Superman that Shelly Anapol never asked me to copy their character When he really just out-and-out had”
”My God!” Bacon said, looking perfectly aghast
”Pretty bad, huh?”
”Hanging is too good for you”
Sa him But he found that the memory of his uncomfortable and tedious afternoon in a conference roo a flush of hu,” he said ”I had a good reason, but still I guess I felt like I wanted toyou ever did,” Bacon said, shaking his head
”So far,” Sammy said ”I think it is”
Some unknown memory swam briefly into Bacon's eyes and saddened them ”Lucky you,” he said
”So, uh, where were you?” Sa the subject ”Dressed like that A party?”
”A little party Very little”
”Where at?”