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Back Just Thieves Save as PDF
Chapters (42)
  1. Cover
  2. Other Titles
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. 1
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 2
  18. 12
  19. 13
  20. 14
  21. 15
  22. 16
  23. 17
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. 21
  28. 22
  29. 23
  30. 24
  31. 25
  32. 26
  33. 3
  34. 27
  35. 28
  36. 29
  37. 30
  38. 31
  39. 32
  40. 33
  41. 34
  42. ACCOMPLICES AND EASY MARKS

I texted Frank, knowing he wouldn’t reply. “Call me. Let me know everything’s all right.” I called and left a message. I texted again. I called again. And the more I did it the more distance I could feel between us. After a while I got dressed and packed my bag but didn’t go anywhere. Maybe he’d still come back. I knew it wasn’t true. I stood in the room for a long time, not knowing what to do; I stood still going a hundred miles an hour, like an engine with the gas and the brakes both pushed to the floor, frantically trying to figure out what to do. I had to do something. So, against my better judgment, I left the room and went to the lobby. That was worse, the bright empty space made me feel like I was on stage, being watched. It was starting to get light outside. I went out to the sidewalk, the last place where I waited for Frank and he had come. So I went out. Frank wasn’t there, but the fucking horse was back, lying there in the street as if it had never left. I had walked out of the room and stepped into a nightmare.

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12

FRANK

“PEOPLE THINK THE WORLD DOESN’T MAKE SENSE,” FRANK TOLD ME NOT LONG AFTER WE MET, “ONLY BECAUSE IT ISN’T THE WORLD THEY WANT. If you’re looking for fairness or justice, then it might seem to make no sense, but if you look at it as an indifferent machine, then it makes complete sense. It’s an indifferent, cruel, fucked-up world, but it makes perfect sense. It’s like a slot machine. You sit there and plug money into it for hours, coin after coin, and get nothing back. You give up and some guy comes right up to the same machine and puts one coin in and hits the jackpot. Is that fair? No one expects it to be. It’s not bad luck or good luck or fate; it’s just random action and no one questions the randomness of it, the unfairness of it. Everyone knows it’s not fair. But everybody has to play, and everybody has to keep on playing, and the more you play, even if you hit a jackpot or two, even if you go on an amazing winning streak, the more you play, the more you lose. And in the end, the machine has taken everything you have. That’s the way the universe works.”