“Jesus, Earl Campbell just blasted the shit out of this linebacker…. Okay I see a lot of it. Short of murder and kidnap ifs the worst crime. You should see these weeping, screaming girls and women, even old ladies. A lot of them have torn vaginas and anuses and are beaten black and blue. It’s not a particularly sexual crime but a result of child abuse, urban blight, loneliness, vengeance. A lot of victims end up in the nuthatch and are never okay again…. Jesus, is Bum Phillips pissed. He’s out there yelling at the ref.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Is that good enough? To me it’s the worst crime. I usually kick the shit out of a hot or confirmed suspect when I’m sure. We had a little girl last week that took fifteen stitches in her butt and lost an eye. You find a job?”

“I’m on the verge, Dad.”

“Good luck, son. Turn on the TV and skip the rape shit.”

“I love you, Dad.”

“I love you, too, son. Keep your pecker up.”

He was fair minded enough to hang up the kitchen phone and try to admit to the group that he was wrong, but by then they were discussing the perils facing the ERA vote.

Now Diana emerged from the bathroom in a short cotton nightie with a towel around her head. She sat down on the couch and started rubbing lotion on her legs, drawing one foot up onto the couch. There was something about heat that made a man lustful. One hot summer night years ago they’d drunk a great deal and she had put on a scanty outfit he had ordered from Los Angeles from a small ad in Penthouse magazine. She had added garish makeup and danced in a garter belt. He had worried about his heart.

“I’m sorry, kiddo.” The apology was brisk, and owned a gumshoe definitiveness.

“Are you sorry or just horny? I was trying to help.”

“I’m really sorry. It hurts to not carry your share of the load.” He put his face in his hands in a charade of grief, which easily became real. “Where do I meet him?”

“On the corner of Kolarik and 651. It seems a little mysterious but the meeting is supposed to be a secret.”

“I’ll get there. Somehow.”

“Of course you will. It’s only a few miles away. I’ll have the newspaper and breakfast ready when you get back.”

“I don’t get why it’s so fucking early in the morning.”

“You used to get up at seven, darling. You come here now.”

He collapsed at her knees with an “Oh Diana,” shoving Hudley away with a foot. They embraced and he peeked down at her tits. A troubleshooter. Life was changing. He drew back and looked in her eyes. He was wedged between her legs which smelled like Nivea lotion.

“I think this might be your break, darling.”