The Passenger (The Passenger, #1)(31)

What time you want to see me in the morning?

Early.

Early it is.

They slung their bags over their shoulders and headed for the parkinglot. You get cold dont you? Red said.

Yeah. My head gets cold.

Yeah. There’s a certain level of cold that after a while it’s hard to get warm again.

Dry suits.

Yeah. They’re a pain in the ass.

Bear suits. Thermal underwear.

I hear you.

When they pulled in at the salvage site the next morning there was a motorboat tethered off the end of the barge and two fairly decent-looking girls in jeans were sitting on the deck of the barge drinking beer.

Red stood and threw a line up onto the deck. He looked at Western. Did you order them?

No. But I’m looking at our crane operator with new eyes.

Women will fool you.

Yes they will.

I always heard they were attracted to heavy equipment.

They waved to the girls and the girls waved back. The tug was half way out of the water and the bilge pumps were slogging away.

You think he really believes he’s going to put that thing back in service?

The tug.

Yeah.

Dont know.

You all want a beer? One of the girls was holding up a bottle.

No thanks. Where’s our guy at?

He’ll be back. We’re fixin to boil up a bunch of shrimp.

Where are you all from?

Biloxi.

It’s a wonderful world.

What?

I love Biloxi.

Biloxi?

Maybe he’s resting up from his labors.

Maybe he’s resting up for his labors.

I think there’s something about the salvage business we aint come to grips with yet.

They motored upriver to Socola and drank beer at a little bar across the road from the docks. Red looked out the sandcrusted window.

You think the boat’s all right?

I think so. They dont steal boats down here. They just steal everything else. It’s a point of honor with them.

Not stealing boats?

No. Stealing everything else.

You think that was in his contract? Pussy for the crane operator?

Could be.

You ever think about some other line of work?

All the time.

Bullshit.

When they went back downriver the tugboat was hanging in the cables and music was coming from the wheelhouse of the barge. They pulled in and tied up. The crane pilot had fired up a gas grill and was frying up a bunch of shrimp in what looked like a garbage can lid.

When are you going to set this thing on the deck?

Whenever your fucked up crew gets here.

To set the chocks.

Yeah. You all want some shrimp?

Sure. You aim to take this thing down to Venice?

If it’s goin I guess I am. Get a plate. There’s some sauce over there.

What’s your name?

Richard.

I’m Red.

How you doin Red.

I’m okay.

Dont call me Dick.

Why? Is your last name Head?

You’re a funny motherfucker.

You got any beer in that cooler?

Sure. Help yourself.

What happened to the girls?

They aint nothin happened to the girls. They’re just waiting on me to whistle.

Yeah, well. These shrimp are pretty good.

What about your buddy there?

Get a plate, Bobby. These are pretty good.



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When he walked into the Seven Seas Janice waved him over. You had a call from Oiler. He said he’d call back tomorrow night around seven your time if he got a chance.

Where was he?

He was on a boat. The call was patched through on a radio-telephone.

Was that all he said?

It’s all I could make out. The line was pretty bad.

Thanks, Janice. How’s Mr Billy Ray?

I think he’ll be happy to see you.

Thanks.

He went upstairs and fed the cat and stretched out on the bed with the cat on his stomach. You are the best cat, he said. I dont think I ever knew a finer cat.

He thought that he would go out and get something to eat. Then he thought he would see what was in the little refrigerator. Then he fell asleep.

He talked to Russell in the morning. The barge had pulled into Venice after dark and they offloaded the tug onto a lowboy and trucked it into the yard and unloaded it with the yard crane and set it up on blocks. He said there were dead fish in the bilge and a fairly large turtle.

He went down in the evening and waited in the bar until after ten oclock but Oiler never called. He went out and ate and came back and Janice handed him a slip of paper with a number on it. Debbie? she said.

Debbie.

He went to the payphone and called.

Darling.

Hi.

I had a dream about you and when I woke up I was worried.

What was the dream?

Are you all right?

I’m all right. What was the dream?

I know you dont believe in dreams.

Debbie.

Yes.

The dream.

Okay. It was very strange. This building was on fire and you had on this special suit. This special firesuit. It looked sort of like a spacesuit and you were going into the building to rescue these people. And you just walked into this enormous fire and disappeared and these firemen were standing there and one of them said: He’s not going to make it. That suit is an R-210 and he would need at least an R-280 for this. Then I woke up.