Page 98 - The Myth and the Moment

Evening

to cool off; going to be hot again, though. What if—is that car
honking at me? Just ignore it; too many weirdos looking for placebos.
Hasn’t stopped; I’ll—hey, it’s Ham!
“Nate! I’ve been looking for you.”
Is there no escape from these people? Just keep walking.
“Hey, man: slow down. I want to talk to you. You deaf?”
Great. He’s going to make a scene, right in front of the least
demanding audience in the world.
“What? What do you want, Ham? Haven’t you done enough to me
for one day?”
He’s pulling over, parking. Well, let him. Nobody’s going to do me
in again.
“Say, that was yesterday, man. You’re not on my schedule for
today. Hey, that was a joke. Listen, Aestheria sent me to look for you.
Said you snuck out of her place and might do something crazy.”
“You lied to me, Ham. You weren’t in that park just to videotape
bits of arcane Americana. Phil sent you down there.”
Let’s see him weasel out of that. And I’m not slowing down for
him; nice to see him huff and puff to keep up with me.
“Yeah, okay, he told me to keep an eye out for you; not many
people remember what you look like. I wasn’t sure, myself, until you
walked up and introduced yourself. But I didn’t know he was going
to rip off your life’s work.”
“You expect me to believe that crap?”
“Naw. You don’t believe anything, anyway. Listen, I can’t get your
papers back, but I can give you a lift. Not safe to walk around here
this time of night.”
“Sure, Ham. I get into your car, and the next stop is the funny
farm.”
“No way, man! Here’s how it went down: Aestheria isn’t hip to all
of Phil’s scams, you dig? She’s so wrapped up in her bag that she
thinks he’s another convert to her mumbo-jumbo. But he does listen
to her; that’s why I took you to her in the first place. That wasn’t in
Phil’s plan; but after I talked to you, and seeing’s how I owed you
one for what you did in the park, I decided to hell with Phil and put
you where you might get in a few licks at the son-of-a-bitch.”
“Nice way to talk about your boss, Mister Jefferson.”

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