The Fabulous Clipjoint by Fredric Brown (the reader ebook TXT) š
- Author: Fredric Brown
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Uncle Ambrose said, āIf he came this way, it must have been somebody following him. He could have seen anyone waiting in the alley.ā
I pointed up at the porches. I said, āSomebody up on one of them. A man staggers through the alley below them. They go down the steps, getting down just after he passes, catch up with him near the other end of the alley, andāā
āCould be, kid. Not likely. If they were on the porch, then they live there. A guy doesnāt do something like that in his own back alley. Not that close to home. And I doubt if he was staggering drunk. āCourse you got to discount how sober a bartender says a guy is when he leaves the place. They donāt want to get themselves in trouble.ā
āIt could have been that way,ā I said. āNot likely, but it could have been.ā
āSure. Weāll look into it. Weāll talk to everybody lives in those flats. Weāre not passing up off chances; I didnāt mean that when I said it wasnāt likely.ā
We were talking softly, like you do in an alley at night. We were past the middle of the alley, past the flats. We were at the back of the buildings that fronted on Franklin Street. On both sides they were three-story bricks, with stores on the bottom floor and flats above.
My uncle stopped and bent down. He said, āBeer-bottle glass. This is where it happened.ā
I got a funny feeling, almost a dizziness. This is where it happened. Right where Iām standing now. This is where it happened.
I didnāt want to think about it, that way, so I bent down and started looking, too. It was amber glass, all right, and over an area of a few yards there was enough of it to have come from two or three bottles.
It wouldnāt be just like it fell, of course. It would have been kicked around by people walking through the alley, trucks driving through. It was broken finer now, and scattered more. But right around here, the center of the area where the glass was, would be where the bottles were dropped.
My uncle said, āHereās a piece with part of a label. We can see if itās the brand Kaufman sells.ā
I took it and walked out under the street light at the end of the alley. I said, āItās part of a Topaz label. Iāve seen thousands of āem on beer Popās brought home. Kaufman has a Topaz sign, but itās an awful common beer around here. It wouldnāt prove it for sure.ā
He came over and we stood looking both ways on Franklin Street. An el train went by almost right over our heads. A long one, it must have been a North Shore train. It sounded as loud as the end of the world.
A noise loud enough, I thought, to cover revolver shotsālet alone the noise a man would make falling, even with beer bottles. That might have been why it happened here, near this end of the alley, instead of back in the middle where it was darker. Noise counted, too, along with darkness. When they got here, the killer closing up behind Pop, the el had come by. Even if Pop had yelled for help, the noise of the el would have made it a whisper.
I looked at the store fronts on either side of the alley. One was a plumbing supplies shop. The other was vacant. It seemed to have been vacant a long time; the glass was too dirty to see through.
My uncle said, āWell, Ed.ā
āSure. I guess this isāis all we can do tonight.ā
We walked down Franklin to Erie and across to Wells.
My uncle said, āI just figured whatās wrong with me. Iām hungry as hell. I havenāt eaten since noon and you havenāt eaten since about two oāclock. Letās go over to Clark for some grub.ā
We went to an all-night barbecue place.
I wasnāt hungry until I took a bite out of a pork barbecue sandwich, and then I gobbled it down, the French fries and the slaw too. We each ordered a second one.
My uncle asked, while we waited, āEd, what are you heading for?ā
āWhat do you mean?ā
He said, āI mean what are you going to do with yourself? During the next fifty-odd years.ā
The answer was so obvious I had to think it over. I said, āNothing much, I guess. Iām an apprentice printer. I can take up linotype when Iām a little farther on my apprenticeship. Or I can be a hand-man. Printingās a good trade.ā
āI suppose it is. Going to stay in Chicago?ā
āI havenāt thought about it,ā I told him. āIām not going to leave right away. After I finish my apprenticeship, Iām a journeyman. I can work anywhere.ā
He said, āA tradeās a good thing. But get the trade, donāt let it get you. The same withā Oh, hell, Iām not Dutch. Iām talking like a Dutch uncle.ā
He grinned. Heād been going to say, the same with women. He knew that I knew it and so he didnāt have to say it. I was glad he gave me credit for that much sense.
He asked instead, āWhat do you dream, Ed?ā
I looked at him; he was serious. I asked, āIs this the mitt-camp lay? Or are you psychoanalyzing me?ā
āItās the same difference.ā
I said, āThis morning I dreamed I was reaching through a hockshop window to pick up a trombone. Gardie came skipping rope along the sidewalk and I woke up before I got the trombone. Now I suppose you know all about me, huh?ā
He chuckled. āThat would be shooting a sitting duck, Ed. Two ducks with one bullet. Watch out for one of those ducks. You know which one I mean.ā
āI guess I do.ā
āSheās poison, kid, for a guy like you. Just like Madge was ā Skip it. Whatās about the trom? Ever play one?ā
āNot to speak of. In sophomore year at high I borrowed one of the school boardās. I was going to learn so I could get in the band. But some of the neighbors squawked, and I guess it did make a hell of a noise. When you live in a flatā Mom didnāt like it, either.ā
The guy behind the counter brought our second sandwiches. I wasnāt so hungry now. With the stuff on the side, it looked awfully big. I ate a few of the French fries first.
Then I lifted the lid off the barbecue sandwich and tilted the ketchup bottle and let it gurgle on thick.
It looked likeā
I smacked down the lid of the sandwich and tried to think away from what it looked like. But I was back in the alley. I didnāt even know if thereād been blood; maybe there hadnāt. You can hit to kill without drawing blood.
But I thought of Popās head matted with blood and a blot of blood there on the rough brick of the alley last nightānow soaked in, worn off or washed away. Would they have washed it away? Hell, there probably hadnāt been any blood.
But the thought of that sandwich was making me sick. Unless I could get my mind off it. I closed my eyes and was repeating the first nonsense that came into my mind to keep from thinking. It was one, two, three, OāLeary; four, five, six, OāLearyā
After a few seconds I knew Iād won and I wasnāt going to be sick. But I looked around at Uncle Ambrose and kept my eyes off the counter.
I said, āSay, maybe Momās waiting up for me. We never thought to tell her weād be late. Itās after one.ā
He said, āMy God, I forgot it too. Golly, I hope she isnāt. You better get home fast.ā
I told him I didnāt want the rest of my second barbecue anyway, and heād almost finished his. We parted right outside; he went north to the Wacker and I hurried home to Wells Street.
Mom had left a light on for me in the inner hall, but she hadnāt waited up. The door of her room was dark. I was glad. I didnāt want to have to explain and apologize, and if sheād been waiting up, worried, she might have blamed Uncle Ambrose.
I got to bed quickly and quietly. I must have gone to sleep the first instant I closed my eyes.
*
When I woke up, something was funny in the room. Different. It was morning as usual and again the room was hot and close. It took me a minute or two, lying there, to realize that the difference was that my alarm clock wasnāt ticking. I hadnāt wound or set it.
I donāt know why it mattered much what time it was, but I wanted to know. I got up and walked out to look at the kitchen clock. It was one minute after seven.
Funny, I thought; I waked up at just the usual time. Without even a clock running in my room.
Nobody else was awake. Gardieās door was open and her pajama tops were off again. I hurried past.
I set and wound my alarm clock and lay down again, I might as well sleep another hour or two, I thought, if I can. But I couldnāt go back to sleep; I couldnāt even get sleepy.
The flat was awfully quiet. There didnāt seem to be much noise even outside this morning, except when an el car went by on Franklin every few minutes.
The ticking of the clock got louder and louder.
This morning I donāt have to wake Pop, I thought. Iāll never wake him again. Nobody will.
I got up and dressed.
On my way through to the kitchen I stopped in the doorway of Gardieās room and looked in. I thought, she wants me to look; I want to look, so why shouldnāt I? I knew the answer damn well.
Maybe I was looking for a counter-irritant for the cold feeling about not having to wake up Pop. Maybe a cold feeling and a hot one ought to cancel out. They didnāt, exactly, but after half a minute I got disgusted with myself and went on out to the kitchen.
I made coffee and sat drinking it. I wondered what I was going to do to fill in the morning. Uncle Ambrose would sleep late; being with a carney heād be used to sleeping late. Anyway there wasnāt much to do about the investigation until after the inquest. And then, until after the funeral.
Besides, in the light of morning now, it seemed a bit silly. A fat little man with a moustache and a wet-behind-the-ears kid thinking they could find, out of all Chicago, the heister who had got away with a job.
I thought about the homicide man with the faded red hair and the tired eyes. Weād bought him for a hundred dollars, or Uncle Ambrose thought we had. Heād been partly right anyhow; Bassett had taken the money.
I heard bare feet padding, and Gardie came out into the kitchen in her pajamas. The tops, too. The toenails of her bare feet were painted.
She said, āMorning, Eddie. Cup coffee?ā
She yawned and then stretched like a sleek kitten. Her claws were in.
I got another cup and poured, and she sat down across the table.
She said, āGee, the inquestās today.ā She sounded excited about it. Like she would say, āGee, the football gameās today.ā
I said, āI wonder if theyāll want me to testify. I donāt know to what.ā
āNo, Eddie, I donāt think
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