to be angry. No one had the courage to ask how it was that this man
happened to look exactly like Sammy Davis Jr. andhave a glass eye
too.
“Sorry to ask you this,” he said, “but I’m late for a gig, see? The
caddy’s junked. Any chance I could commandeer your van?” he
polished off the rest of his drink with a satisfied exhale.
“No way,” said Bennie, “First you almost kill us, then you want to
take our car and leave us alone here in the desert. You’re fucking
crazy.”
“I hear you, baby. Tell you what, I’ll give you ten thousand dollars
for it.”
“Sold,” Colin said. It wasn’t worth three.
“Crazy,” Sammie Davis Jr. said. He took a bag from the Cadillac
and handed a stack of hundred-dollar bills to Colin. Then he walked
over to the van and drove off, leaving them in the dark, halfway
between somewhere and nowhere else. Izzy looked up at the stars,
the only light for miles.
“Let’s walk,” he said, already striding down the lonely highway.
They had no choice but to fall in behind as he lit the way with the
incandescent end of a fresh cigarette.
2. Big Cats
Morris Bidden stared out his panoramic office window and sipped at
his daily cup of warm sweetened milk. He had to keep his door locked
when doing so, in the worry that one of his employees might catch
him in the act. This was his most honest moment of his day, for in
truth he secretly hated the taste of coffee.
Bidden’s parents, poor bumpkins, had supplied it to their family
in lieu of food and he had grown up believing that coffee was no more
than chicken feed for the lowest of the pecking order. As a result of
this nutrient-free diet, the Biddens remained a stunted race, short
and sickly. He alone amongst his siblings managed to prosper by
stealing food from markets, friends and nearby orchards. When he
could not steal food, he stole watches, cars, and wallets. And sold
them to buy high-quality food products. By the time he was a
teenager, he was stealing and hustling his way far from his miserable
beginnings. But he was not a criminal, in his mind he was a
compromised connoisseur.
ABYSSINIA
248
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