“They’re too many to count. But no matter how many dudes come through here, the reasons are always the same: money, pride, or a woman. To keep my sanity, I play a little game where I look at the wounds of every dude I treat and try to guess what category he falls under. I’ve gotten pretty good at it. Your friend was no problem. I guessed him right away. A simple case of trying to hide fear behind foolish pride. But you’re a little more difficult. I haven’t yet figured out what your problem is. Did you really try to take a bottle away from a kid?”

“Yeah, I tried.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I couldn’t stop Otis from getting himself killed. I guess I figured I could stop those kids.”

“Just because they were kids?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“You guess! Don’t you know?”

“Hey, look, Doctor Blue. I really don’t feel like being psychoanalyzed, okay?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get on your case. I get a little carried away with my game sometimes. You can split if you want to.”

I slid down off the bed slowly. On the counter next to the coatrack was a turntable with a stack of records on it. “You play music in here?”

“You better believe it! Those sides keep me from becoming completely numb. Look, Ellington, I don’t want to get in your business, but did you just get out of jail yesterday?”

“Yeah. Who told you?”

“One of the women you were with, named Alice.”

“I guess you know what I was doing time for, too.”

“Yeah, she told me about that. But what I can’t understand is why you didn’t cool out at home your first day out. Couldn’t wait to get some pussy, eh? Yeah, I can dig it.”

“Oh, you can, hunh? Well, tell me about it!”

“Oh, excuse me. I forgot. You’re one of those cats who are willing to go to jail for a principle. And you’d never allow something as counterrevolutionary as pussy to even enter your mind… But tell me, Melvin, why didn’t you go into the service?”

“I didn’t feel I had anything to fight for.”

“Look, don’t tell me what you read in a book. Tell me your own reasons for not going in.”

“I guess I just didn’t understand how the army had a right to decide when I should put my life on the line.”

“Do you always refuse to do something you don’t understand?”

“It depends on what it is. And when it comes to my life, I figure I should have the final say on what I will or won’t do.”

“Well, tell me this, then. Did you think you were putting your life on the line when you grabbed that kid with the bottle?”

“I didn’t really think about it.”