Chapter 47 - At the Hotel
As we entered the lobby I checked the time and saw it was 1:50pm, so I said let’s skip the check in, the dining room closes in ten minutes and I’m hungry.
Tommy said, “Shooting people give you an appetite?”
Afterwards we sat on the huge wraparound porch, looking out at the river that separated the island from the mainland. Tommy had wanted to order wine with lunch but I convinced him to wait for cocktails at sunset, telling him Sidecars were a tradition with me. Most guys would’ve harped on the shooting thing, but he didn’t; just the one innocuous and humorous comment. It was interesting sitting there with someone other than Roger, relaxing and planning the next day and a half, which would be different than a stay with Roger because sex was in the mix with him, and so far my Plato was on duty and awake. What do you do for that period of time with a person you’re massively attracted to but can’t touch?
It was three o’clock when I said, “How about we check in, go for a long walk, and resume our vigil here at five with Sidecars?”
He said, “How many Sidecars we going to drink?”
“As many as it takes to knock our Platos off their perches.”
“And with them out cold?”
“Then the character test begins.”
“You like to play dangerous games, don’t you?”
“Sometimes, but only when the other person is equal to it.”
“The guy back there, the one half-way between the skinny guy and the fat guy, was he equal to it?”
“He had a large piece of pipe in his hand, about equal in mass to the lump of iron inside his skull.”
“You could have given him the keys.”
“I could have. You think they might have asked for something else after that?”
He knew what I meant, and said, “You could have pulled on them then?”
“I could’ve. But the goal of stealing a car is different than the goal of sex, even if it’s rape sex, which I’ve never understood how that could be satisfying. They would’ve had more motivation for the sex goal, I think, and with that would come a stronger inclination to violence, and dealing with that would require a higher level of resistance, which would mean a deadly response. At least in my book.”
“All that, we’ll never know.”
“That’s part of the paradox of life; we make a choice, and there’s no way to know about the other choices.”
“Kind of like what we’re doing. Making choices, not knowing what the other ways would be.”
“Just like it, Tommy.”
“When we check in we’re going to have a choice to make, aren’t we?”
“We are. And it’s not going to be just my choice. This isn’t the girl deciding yes or no. Not one person deciding for the two of them. That’s for others; that’s not for us. We’re different than the others, Tommy.” He looked out at the river, two pelicans floating there, heads tucked under wings, asleep. “I shot the guy. Others wouldn’t have. They’d have waited for the guys to act first.” I paused. “I’ve done other things too, things most people haven’t done and won’t do. You know something about that; at least I think you do. And you’re here with me.”
“I do, and I am.” He looked at me and said, “I do have one important question though, maybe you won’t want to answer; too personal.” I nodded. “How come you only shot the one guy?”