Part 46 (1/2)
”Yes, of course”
”They are not doing kid stuff over there They have the top artists They have Crandall I know you always liked him”
”Crandall is the top, no doubt”
”And the stuff they are doing, grown-ups are reading it Adults It's dark It's also e we're living in Have you seen the Heap?”
”I love the Heap”
”The Heap, I mean, come on, that's a comic book character? He's basically, what, a sentient pile of mud and weeds and, I don't know, sedis But he's supposed to be a hero” hero”
”I see what you're saying”
”This is what I' around, the kids think that's adine what they'll think of the Golem”
”You want to publish this”
”Maybe not quite like it is here”
”Ah”
”It is awfully Jewish”
”True”
”Who knew you knew all that stuff? Kabbalah, is that what it's called? All those angels andand, is that what they are, angels?”
”Mostly”
”This is what I' to all this Not just the Goleels-do they have names?”
”There's Metatron Uriel Michael Raphael Samael He's the bad one”
”With the tusks?”
Joe nodded
”I like that one You know, your angels look a little like superheroes”
”Well, it's a co”
”Jewish superheroes?”
”What, they're all Jewish, superheroes Super over fro his name like that Clark Rent, only a Jeould pick a name like that for hi portfolios on the ground between them ”But half the characters in there are rabbis, Saht, so we tone it down”
”You want us to work together again?”
”Well actuallyI don't know, I'ood It makes ain Soain So I can be just a little bit proud of”
”You can can be proud, Sa you this all along” be proud, Sa you this all along”
”What do you one since Pearl Harbor”
”In e”
Then, startling both of the on the frame of the open door to the corridor
”Anyone here?” said an oboe voice, tentative and oddly faet Radio,” Saht find you boys up here,” said Sheldon Anapol He came into the room and shook hands with Sammy, then shambled over and stood in front of Joe He had lost alh none of his bulk, and his jaw, htily jowled than ever, was set in a defiant scowl But his eyes, it seeret, as if he were seeing not Joe but the twelve years that had passed since their last encounter ”Mr Kavalier”
”Mr Anapol”
They shook hands, and then Joe felt hi man's fierce and sour embrace
”You crazy son of a bitch,” he said after he let Joe loose
”Yes,” Joe said
”You look good, how are you?”
”I'm not bad”
”What was all that narrishkeit narrishkeit the other day, eh? You made me look very bad I should be furious with you” He turned to Sammy ”I should be furious with him, don't you think?” the other day, eh? You made me look very bad I should be furious with you” He turned to Sammy ”I should be furious with him, don't you think?”
Sammy cleared his throat ”No comment,” he said
”How are you?” Joe asked him ”How is business?”
”A pointed question, as ever, from the ood In fact, it's very, very bad As if television was not probleh Noe have hordes of Baptist lunatics down in Alaba piles of co them on fire because they are an offense to Jesus or the US flag Setting theht the war for, if when it's over they're going to be burning books in the streets of Alabama? Then this Dr Fredric Stick-Up-His-ass Wertham, with that book of his Noe have the Senate co to townyou heard about that?”
”I heard”
”They served ot subpoenaed?” Anapol stuck out his lip ”I didn't get subpoenaed”