‘Well, yeh.’ To end it, he admitted, ‘I got a Fritz once.’

‘How was it?’ Fred’s attention was abrupt and whole. ‘How’d you get him?’ His voice was breathful and his body became still.

Newman tried laughing, ‘The usual way,’ then looked ahead again, wondering why he should feel this fright at Fred’s sudden fascination with his killing.

‘Did you go up to see where you’d hit him?’

‘I don’t like to talk about it, Fred,’ he said solemnly and with finality. It was as though the killing had consequences for him now and he did not understand what they were.

‘Well, was it one shot?’ Fred asked, as though it would be the last question which he insisted be answered.

Newman heard the ice truck’s engine starting and turned with relief toward the corner to see it driving away. Finkelstein and his young son were standing on the curb watching it. Mr Newman looked at Fred who had turned to observe them. Fred’s cheekbones seemed swollen. He turned again to Newman and fixed upon him with his blue slit eyes.

‘You know what we’re planning on doing. You do, don’t ya?’ he said, his voice gruff and quiet.

‘I … yeh, you’ve been telling me.’

‘You with us?’

Newman wished they were sitting a little further apart so he would have room to move. He did not want to. avoid Fred’s eyes, which he would appear to be doing should he move now.

‘Well, what do you want to do?’

‘Drive them to hell out of the neighborhood.’

‘How?’

‘Put the fear a God into them.’

‘You mean …’ Newman broke off.

‘Fix it so they don’t like it here.’

‘How you going to go about it?’

‘There’s an organization. You know about it.’

‘Yes.’

‘We’re getting new people in every day. When enough gets enrolled we start moving.’

Neither of them stirred. Their voices had lowered to a whisper. Newman found himself deeply regretting having ever told Fred that he had killed a man.

‘How do you mean, get moving?’ he asked innocently, as though thereby to regain his old character in Fred’s eyes.

‘You know, so they won’t want to live here,’ Fred said, showing his first impatience.

Newman – leisurely, it seemed – took his eyeglasses off. Inwardly his body leaped when Fred nudged his thigh with a stony index finger.

‘The thing is this. When the boys come home they’re going to look for an organization that gives them what they want. They ain’t standing for a lotta kikes takin’ up all the jobs and the businesses. You know that,’ he added. Newman could not deny it and nodded. ‘We’re getting that meeting up pretty soon. Should I let you know ? You want to come?’

‘All right. Sure.’ Newman said, after a breath of hesitation.

‘You’ll join then, heh? Everybody be glad to have you.’

‘Youmean …’

‘On the block.’

‘Carlson one of you?’

‘Sure. Been in since the beginning. We got a big priest from Boston coming to the meeting. We work with the priests, you know,’ he said, half in apology, ‘as long as they stay in line. The thing is, if we all get together we can clean up the situation; knock them over’ – he nodded sideways toward the corner – ‘like tenpins. What do you say?’