26

In the morning Whitey wanted to know where the bathroom was. I slipped out through the hole. “Pick any bush you want.”

He laughed. “You guys—” he said, and shook his head. “Come on. I’ll show you something.”

We went into a cafeteria on White Plains Road. We each took a ticket and followed Whitey to the men’s room. He took off his coat and sweater. He had on a collarless shirt with cuff links. There was a rip in the seat of his pants. He washed his hands and his face, and combed his hair back till it lay flat and slick on his head. He brushed his teeth with his finger. Then he put his sweater and coat on again.

When he got done, Bubber and I washed. I looked in the mirror and scrubbed at a line of dirt clean around my neck. Whitey lent us his comb. I wet my hair and flattened it the way he did. Bubber’s hair was a curly tangle that couldn’t be combed.

At the counter, Whitey ordered coffee and a danish. “What do you guys want?”

Bubber ordered the same as Whitey. I felt in my pocket. A nickel was all I had left from yesterday, so I just ordered coffee.

“It’s on me,” Whitey said.

“I’m not that hungry in the morning.” I didn’t want him to think I was a moocher. We sat down. I put lots of sugar in my coffee and nibbled the raisins that Bubber picked out of his pastry.

Whitey ate fast, then said, “Come on,” motioning to us to bring our cups and follow him. “I’ll show you something else.”

We went to the steam table, where you could draw free hot water, and we filled up our cups. Back at our table, we added the free sugar and milk. It tasted watery, but it was sweet and hot. Whitey switched our empty cream pitcher with another table and filled Bubber’s cup. Then he sat back and lit his last cigarette. I sat back and looked around the way he did. Around us, people were eating, reading their papers. Nobody paid attention to us. It was nice sitting there, good to have someone else sitting with us. The cafeteria was warm, and it smelled good. The hot water in my belly made me feel full.

“What are we going to do?” I said. We. That sounded good to me.

“Gotta have some money. Gotta have some money.” Whitey was singing, tapping on the table. Then he looked up, snapped his fingers, and winked at me. “Okay, got it. You guys wait right here. I won’t be long.” He left the cafeteria.

We sat there, waiting for him. “Where’d Whitey go?” Bubber said.

“Probably to talk to Starkey. We’re going to go to Florida.”

“King, too?”

“I don’t know.” I hadn’t thought about that.

“I can’t go without King.”

“Do you know how far Florida is? Do you know what we’re going to do down there? We’re going to live on the beach. You’re going to swim every day, and we’re going to eat more and live better, and not have to wear all these clothes. You’re not going to need shoes down there.”

Bubber was listening with his mouth open. “We’re going to sleep on the beach,” I said. “Maybe we’ll get a tent. Or maybe we’ll rent a room. A real room, right by the ocean, with beds, and a toilet and running water. Whitey and I are going to get jobs and you’re going to school.”

Bubber shook his head.

“No? You want to work, too?”

“I don’t want to go to school in Florida.”

“What do you think, it’s going to be a vacation forever? Well, that’s okay, it doesn’t matter that much. Maybe you don’t have to go to school. You’re going to learn a lot just being around Whitey and me.”

We waited a long time. A girl and a boy came in with their father. They stood at the counter, waiting for their orders. The girl looked around at me a couple of times. I winked at her. I surprised myself. I think she noticed. I’d never winked at a girl before. Maybe I did it because of the way I was sitting, sprawled back like I was Whitey. I only wished I had a cigarette in my hand.

Bubber and I went back and filled up with hot water again. I swaggered a little bit when I went by the girl. The man behind the counter was watching us. I nudged Bubber and we drank up fast and went out.

For a while we stood in the entrance of the cafeteria. The girl came out with her father and brother. I was leaning against the building, my collar up and my hands in my pockets. I felt like Errol Flynn in Captain Blood. I looked after them till they disappeared behind the corner.

“I have to go,” Bubber said.

“Then go.” A car went by, and I thought I saw Whitey. He’d do something interesting and different like that, come back for us in a car. Jump in, Tolman! Come on, Bub. We’re on our way to the sunny climes.

Bubber butted me. “Tolley.”

“Can’t you hold it?” I didn’t want to miss Whitey.

“I’m going to do it in my pants.”

“Go in the cafeteria.” I finally had to go back in with him. “Hurry up,” I said. I was afraid Whitey would come while we were inside. If he was with somebody else, he wouldn’t wait.

Outside, I looked up and down the street. Bubber was counting. “Seven … eight … ten … thirteen …”

“What are you counting?”

“People going in.”

“How many?” I didn’t care. It was just something to say. But I started counting, too. A fat man went in. “How many now?” I said to Bubber.

“Twenty.”

“Wrong. Twenty and a half.” He didn’t get it. “The fat man,” I said. “Twenty and a half.”

“You can’t have a half of a person, Tolley!”

It was a dumb conversation. That was the trouble with hanging around with a six-year-old kid all the time. Not that Bubber was dumb, but if Whitey were here, I wouldn’t be playing counting games.

“Twenty-one,” Bubber said.

“Twenty-two,” I said.

We got up to forty, people were going in for lunch, and still no Whitey.

“When’s Whitey coming?” Bubber said.

“That makes fourteen,” I said.

“Fourteen what?”

“Fourteen times you asked the same dumb question.”

“When’s Whitey coming?”

“Fifteen.”

“When’s Whitey coming?”

“You’ll know he’s arrived when you see him coming.”

We waited and we waited. We waited too long. Four o’clock, we were still waiting. I checked the round clock in the window of the shoe store.

“When’s Whitey coming?”

I went to the corner and came back. I walked past the shoe store. I told myself not to check the time, but then I looked. He could still be coming. He could be coming right now.

The bells on the church chimed five times. I was standing on the corner near the fire alarm box. He wasn’t coming. He’d ditched us. Suddenly I wanted to take the hammer and break the glass and sound the fire alarm. I had to walk away.

Later, we stood outside our house and looked up at the unlit windows. Then I ran in to check the mailbox. It was empty.

That night I dreamed that my father had come back and he was sitting on the cot next to me. He was wearing a long coat like Whitey’s and his shoes were covered with paint. I reached out for him. My hand touched cold iron. Next to me, I heard Bubber breathing.