Noam pulled the gun out slowly, pointing the barrel at Hersh’s feet. He forced himself to breathe in slowly. Then the words came gushing out.

“It’s still loaded. With everything such a mess at the motel I must have forgotten to take the clip out. I thought I did, but I must have forgotten.” Noam hugged the butt tightly and took a deep breath. God was still with him. “I think I’ll hold it until right before we’re ready to go. Just in case, you know?”

Noam watched as Hersh rocked forward, then rocked back into place. He could tell that Hersh was really mad. Really, really mad! Hersh wanted to kill him, cut him up. Hersh just loved cutting that poor man up. He was a monster from the other world, the yetzer harah in a man’s body.

But Noam also realized that he had the power. He was the one with the gun in his hand. Hersh was stuck! Stuck, stuck, stuck!

Hersh shrugged. “Sure, whatever you want.” He returned to his spot and sat down on the ground. “You can stand guard for the next hour. Then we’d better head out.”

“You gonna sleep?” Noam asked.

Too much hope in the voice.

Hersh gave him another big, lopsided smile. Gently, he began to trace images in the ground with the point of the blade. “Nah, way too worked up to sleep. If you want to—”

“I don’t.”

“So we’ll both stay awake.”

“Okay,” Noam said.

Hersh kept tracing designs. “We’ll sleep on the plane.”

“Okay.”

“I got it all planned out.” He was doing a neat pattern of concentric circles. “We’ll go business class. We’ll check into an A-one hotel, we’ll do it all up first rate. We deserve a little fun, Nick-O. Hey, I didn’t mean for it to go this messy, but sometimes that hap—” He flung his head upward.

“What is it?” Noam asked. His knuckles were white from clenching the gun.

“You hear that?” Hersh whispered.

“Hear what?”

“That noise?”

“What noise—”

“Shut up and listen,” Hersh whispered.

Noam didn’t hear anything. Get a grip on yourself!

Hersh said, “Someone’s out there.”

“I can’t hear—”

“Shut up!” Hersh whispered furiously. “It may be nothin’, it may be somethin’. Give me the gun!”

“No,” Noam said, backing away. “Leave me alone!”

Hersh whispered, “Lower your fuckin’ voice!”

Noam felt his knees shake. “You’re trying to trick me. You’re planning to kill me. You’re making all this up—”

“Shut up!”

“You’re making all this up so you can kill me!” Noam screamed. “I’m not going to give you the gun! Ever! And if you come any closer, if you move, I’ll shoot you! I’ll shoot you dead!”

Hersh stared at him. “You’re crazy, Nick-O! Flip city! Someone’s gettin’ close and you’re gonna get us both killed!”

“You’re lying!”