Chapters (51)
- TITLE PAGE
- DEDICATION
- EPIGRAPH
- CHAPTER 1
- CHAPTER 2
- CHAPTER 3
- CHAPTER 4
- CHAPTER 5
- CHAPTER 6
- CHAPTER 7
- CHAPTER 8
- CHAPTER 9
- CHAPTER 10
- CHAPTER 11
- CHAPTER 12
- CHAPTER 13
- CHAPTER 14
- CHAPTER 15
- CHAPTER 16
- CHAPTER 17
- CHAPTER 18
- CHAPTER 19
- CHAPTER 20
- CHAPTER 21
- CHAPTER 22
- CHAPTER 23
- CHAPTER 24
- CHAPTER 25
- CHAPTER 26
- CHAPTER 27
- CHAPTER 28
- CHAPTER 29
- CHAPTER 30
- CHAPTER 31
- CHAPTER 32
- CHAPTER 33
- CHAPTER 34
- CHAPTER 35
- CHAPTER 36
- CHAPTER 37
- CHAPTER 38
- CHAPTER 39
- CHAPTER 40
- CHAPTER 41
- CHAPTER 42
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- NO TIME FOR GOODBYE
- MAY 1983
- ALSO BY LINWOOD BARCLAY
- COPYRIGHT
Ellinger: In Russia or Kanuckistan or Fuckistan or wherever the bejesus they come from, they’d be beauty contest winners. Over here, they look like they should be wearing an Amana box.
Sandler: Yeah, well. They’re strong, no doubt about that. Anyway, I just want to check with you, that we’re okay with them.
Ellinger: Sure, yeah, we’re okay. What are you talking about? Everything’s fine.
Sandler: I mean, I wonder if maybe I should be getting a little more than I’m getting. Like, I’m not really taking anything right now. I just, you know, I look the other way because I don’t want them, I don’t know, hurting my family or anything.
Ellinger: Jesus, Brian. Don’t be such a pussy. They’ve got money. How you think I got my fucking hot tub?
Sandler: Well sure, that’s what I was thinking. I mean, how much did they give you anyway? If I start hinting around, what should I be looking at, for them to give me?
Ellinger: Shit, they usually gave me a hundred any time I dropped by. They’d get pissed, right, thinking I was dropping by too often, but I explained, hey, if I don’t come by, it’s gonna be someone else, and just how many people do you want to put on the payroll? So once, every couple of weeks, I do a walk-through, tell them some things maybe they should clean up, stuff anybody could see, but the stuff you can’t see, that’s not a big problem.
Sandler: Okay. So, I go in, I say, you know, I want the same deal you had when you inspected Burger Crisp, before you got shifted.
Ellinger: You want, I can make a call to them. Pave the way, you know? I mean, they got the money, they’re doing a lot more on the side than selling burgers. You want me to do that?
Sandler: You don’t mind?
Ellinger: Fuck no, no big deal. You ever eat there?
Sandler: No, never.
Ellinger: Yeah, well, that’s a plan to stick with.
Sandler: So, Frank, you don’t mind my asking, how much, you figure, they paid you altogether?
Ellinger: I don’t know. Seven, eight grand maybe. But that was over a couple of years. Can’t buy a hot tub that way. Got to have a few Burger Crisps, you understand.
Sandler: Eight, ten grand. That’s great. Really helps out, right? We all got a lot of bills. So, how many other places you got an arrangement with?
Ellinger: Brian, what is this? You want to know whether I’m declaring this on my income tax?
Sandler: (laughs) No, shit, no.
Ellinger: It’s just, you’ve got a lot of questions.
Sandler: This whole thing, it still makes me nervous, you know? And those twins, they did hold my finger in the fryer, remember.