“Jesus, Bobo,” exclaimed Carter, “don’t be so uptight.” He said to Amy, “Al Martin—maybe you remember him from last year—got fired and Mrs. Dowling gave his busboy job to Bobo. Then Connie Wells found out she was pregnant and her husband didn’t want her to work, and that opened up a waiter’s job. Bobo got it, and that’s fine with me. I don’t mind being his busboy. Jesus, who wants to be a waiter, anyway? People always yelling at you, giving you grief. Jesus. I didn’t even think I was going to be here this summer, but I changed my mind. My car needs a new motor. Anyway, Harry Burger taught him the ropes, and you know Harry. He pulls some weight— most of it in silver dollars.”

“Mr. Burger?” Amy said. “He’s back?”

“Did he ever leave?” Carter said. “He’s like your folks. They couldn’t live without this place.”

Amy smiled patiently, ignoring Carter. She said to me, “I’m glad to meet you, Bobo. Will you keep something warm for me in the morning? Sometimes I sleep late.”

Carter laughed.

“I’m sure we’ll find something,” I said.

“Don’t y’all know it,” Carter drawled, mocking me.

Later, in The Cave, Carter strolled from the bathroom after his shower. A towel was wrapped around his waist and an amused smile was lodged at a crooked angle in his face. He took a cigarette from the night table and lit it, then he sat on the edge of my lower bunk bed and gazed at me through a veil of smoke that steamed from his nose. I closed the writing pad that I had balanced against my knees.

“Bobo,” he said.

“Yeah.”

“What color are her eyes?”

“Who?”

“You know damn well who: Amy.”

“I don’t know.”

“Bullshit,” he snorted. “You’re the artist. Artists see things like that. What color, Bobo?”

“Aqua. Violet. Something like that.”

Carter laughed. “Are they the prettiest eyes you’ve ever seen?”

“I don’t know,” I mumbled. “They’re pretty.”

“What color is her hair?”

“Brunette,” I said.

“No, Bobo, black-gold,” whispered Carter. “You’ve never seen hair like that, have you?”

“Sure, I have.”

There was a pause. Carter drew from his cigarette and nudged a smoke ring from his lips. The ring twirled over my head and scrubbed against the mattress of the top bunk.