“I’m waiting for someone before I order. You guys are great. I wish I’d stayed for the show. If I had a fortune, I’d split it among the lot of you.”

Most of the crowd this time of day were regulars, people from the neighborhood who’d been coming in for years on their way to work. They obviously had heard the story already—they kept cutting in with embellishments. At my comment a couple of them gave catcalls. “Easy to promise when you know you’ll die broke, Vic.” “You oughtta give it up and turn your business over to these girls here—they’re the pros.”

The uproar suddenly trailed off. I looked over my shoulder and saw Dick come in. His pearl-gray summer worsted had the glow of wealth to it. The faint hauteur with which he viewed the chipped Formica tables stirred a ripple of resentment. The men in work clothes and shabby jackets busied themselves with their food. When Dick saw me and sketched a wave, a low murmur went through the crowd.

“Who’s the talent?” Barbara whispered, refilling my coffee cup. “You land him and you’ve got that fortune all right. And don’t think I’ll forget your sweet talk.”

When Dick sat down she flicked her rag in front of him. “Okay if he joins you, Vic?”

I felt a bit embarrassed—I hadn’t asked Dick here in the hopes he’d be actively insulted. “He’s my guest, Barbara. Dick Yarborough, Barbara Flannery. Dick used to be married to me, but that was in another country.”

Barbara pursed her mouth in a wise “O,” which indicated understanding that we had confidential business. “Need a menu, Dick?”

Dick lifted frosty eyebrows. The Enterprise Club waiters murmured “Mr. Yarborough” at him deferentially.

“Do you have fresh fruit?”

Barbara rolled her eyes, but held back her favorite retort. “Honeydew, cantaloupe, and strawberries.”

“Strawberries. With yogurt. And granola. Skim milk with the granola.”

“Fruit, nuts and flakes, lean,” Barbara muttered. “Yours, Vic?”

Dick’s ostentatious good health made me feel as perverse as everything else about him did. “Corned beef hash and a poached egg. And fries.”

Barbara winked at me and took off.

“You ever hear of cholesterol, Vic?” Dick inspected his plastic water glass as if it were an unknown life form.

“That what you wanted to talk to me about so urgently? You know you’ve seen plastic before—it’s what we used to drink out of when we lived together down on Ellis.”

He had the grace to look a little ashamed. He drank some water, fiddled with his cuff links, and looked around.

“It’s probably good for me to come to a place like this now and then.”

“Yeah. Kind of like going to the zoo. You can feel superior to the creatures in cages even while you’re sorry for them.”