Page 168 - Rainbow County and Other Stories

156 Jack Fritscher

“Not that!” Robert watched the hand slowly advance up his
leg like a giant spider. “Not that!” Robert said.
Lloyd’s heart jumped with a rush of adrenaline. “Then what?”
Lloyd stood straight up. “You said I could have anything for the
picture.”
“Not that. Not here. Not now. Not you.”
“See what I told you about your car and my pianos?” Lloyd
worked the only logic he knew in situations like this. “What if I
pay you?”
“For what?”
He thought to say for sex, but he said, “To take the picture.
I’ll give you money to take the picture,” Lloyd said, “and then you
can leave.”
“Don’t go inverting everything.”
Invert? Invert. Lloyd had psychology books from twenty years
before when invert meant only one thing.
“Then take the picture for godsake and get a move on.”
“I told you, man! I can’t take it for nothing.”
“As far as I’m concerned, you can,” Lloyd said. “This is get-
ting old. I want to close up shop.”
“Wait,” Robert said. “I got it.” He pulled out his wallet and
reached inside. He handed the folded-up paper to Lloyd.
“What’s this?” Lloyd asked. “The number of your Swiss bank
account?”
“No, you asshole,” Robert said. “It’s the combination to my
gym locker.”
“I’ll bet.”
“Go on. Read it!”
Lloyd unfolded the smudged slip of paper. “I need my reading
glasses.”
Robert stared down at the picture of the blond athlete, but he
barked his order at Lloyd, “Read it.”
Lloyd hooked his half-lens bifocals over his ears and read the
word “Post mark.”
“That’s the title,” Robert said. “It’s a poem. A short poem.”
“Good,” Lloyd said. “Short and sweet.” The afternoon had
not gone the seductive way he had hoped and he regretted missing

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