29

AN HOUR LATER Stony was walking naked through the sleeping apartment. His fingers still smelled of Comet. To him it smelled like cunt, but he knew what it was and why it was on his skin. Leaving the light off, he washed his hands in the bathroom, rubbed some after shave on his palms. He shuffled into the living room, sat down on the overstuffed couch and listened to the distant grinding of the electric wall clock in the kitchen. The brocade material of the couch felt scratchy on his ass. He got up. squatted next to a tall stack of records. In the darkness he pulled out a James Brown album, slipped it onto the turntable, adjusted the volume to the lowest audible level and sat cross-legged on the rug. Before the arm hit the record the phone rang with a shrill heart-freezing suddenness.

Stony leapt to his feet, ran into the kitchen and grabbed the receiver before the second ring. The clock read two-fifteen.

"Hello?" he whispered.

"Stony?" Chubby's voice sounded childlike and alien. Stony covered his crotch with a dishtowel.

"Chubby?"

"Yeah, it's me. Stony, did your dad go up to my place tonight?"

"Yeah, we cleaned it all up."

"You went too? Oh, Stony, it was a mess, hah?"

Stony shrugged but didn't answer.

"Stony, I'm so ashamed. I can't tell you," Chubby whined. The tone of his voice made Stony want to cry.

"It's O.K. now, Chub, it's clean, you wouldn't even know that..." Stony cut himself short.

"Stony, you're a good boy. You look after your own people like a man. You help me, Stony. I need you."

For the first time in his life, Stony felt like he was bigger than Chubby and that frightened him.

"I need you, Stony." Chubby sounded like a midnight lover. A woman. "I'm gonna be home tomorrow."

"I'll come up tomorrow night, keep you company." Stony wanted to be a little kid again.

"Maybe we can watch TV or go to the movies, hah?"

"Sure." Stony pinched the flesh between his eyes, fought back tears. "I gotta go, Chubby."

"You come up tomorrow night."

"Sure. I gotta go, Chubby."

"I can lean on you, Stony."

"You can lean on me."

"You're a man, Stony."

"I'm a man."

"You're one of us."

"I'll come up tomorrow."

Stony listened to the dial tone for a long time before hanging up the receiver. He walked back to the living room. James Brown screamed with insect tinniness on the barely audible stereo. He sat down in the middle of "King Heroin." "You're hooked ... your ... foot ... is ... in ... the stir-rup! So mount the steed ... and ride ... him ... well..." Stony got up, padded back into his bedroom, sat down at the desk, lifted the blotter and slipped out the piece of paper with Doctor Harris' phone number, lifted it into the moonlight and dialed in the darkness. Albert mumbled something in his sleep. One ring, two, three, four ... Stony slammed down the receiver. Albert jumped upright in bed and whimpered in a half-sleep.