18th Emergency Read Online Free PDF Page A

he felt that he could not bear the suspense any longer. He knew that Hammerman would be coming around the corner at any second—it was the instinct that comes to the hunted occasionally. He knew that Marv Hammerman was at this moment ready to round the corner of Fourth Street and catch sight of him and Mr. Casino making their endless way home. Then he would be lost. Mr. Casino, too.
    He said, “Come in here, Mr. Casino. Quick!” Mouse went in the first door he came to and found himself in the dark entrance hall of an apartment. He put Mr. Casino back against the wall where the mailboxes were. He said, “Stand there.” Then he opened the door a crack and looked out.
    The street was still empty. Mouse waited at the door with his hands in his jacket pockets. He said without looking around, “We’ll go in just a minute, Mr. Casino. This won’t take but a minute.” He opened the door again. There was no one in sight, and he opened the door wider. He stuck his head out this time, and at that moment Marv Hammerman and the boy in the black sweat shirt came around the corner.
    Mouse drew back quickly against Mr. Casino, clutching Mr. Casino’s coat. He felt Mr. Casino’s huge body stirring beneath the cloth and he took his hand. “We’ll go in a minute.” He wondered if Hammerman had seen him glance out the door. If so, all was lost.
    Mouse reached around Mr. Casino and tried the door that led to the apartments. As he had feared, it was locked. He and Mr. Casino were trapped in this musty smelly entrance hall. A person could be beaten and left for dead in a hall like this, Mouse thought. No one would even come out of his apartment to see what all the yelling was about.
    Mr. Casino took a step toward the front door and Mouse said, “No, no, Mr. Casino. Wait a minute.” He held Mr. Casino’s arm with both hands and drew him back against the mailboxes. Mr. Casino remained beside him for a moment and then made a movement toward the door again.
    “Just a minute, Mr. Casino.” Mouse dared not lean forward and look out the door for fear Marv Hammerman would be glancing at the door at the same moment. “We’ll be all right, Mr. Casino. Don’t worry. We’re just going to wait here a minute.”
    Mr. Casino’s overcoat smelled of dry tobacco even though he had not smoked his pipe for years. It was a smell that Mouse associated with his own father. He lost the smell suddenly in the musty odor of the cold hall and he put his face against the overcoat.
    Mr. Casino started toward the door again. Mouse said, “Not yet, Mr. Casino, please.” He held his arm, trying to draw him back. This time Mr. Casino was determined and there was no stopping him. “Mr. Casino, please.” Mouse tugged his arm. “Please!” He remembered Mrs. Casino telling about a time during their courtship when ten men had tried to keep Mr. Casino from entering a dance hall where she was doing the polka with another man, and Mr. Casino had toppled all ten men as easily as if they had been bowling pins.
    Mr. Casino pushed open the door and started out. Mouse hesitated. He remained against the wall. He was sick. He thought that he shouldn’t have eaten those beans for supper. Even four lima beans could be a terrible burden for a stomach under conditions like these.
    He swallowed and waited a minute more in the dark hall. He pressed his face against the cold metal mailboxes to see if that would keep him from being sick. Then in a rush he tore himself away from the wall and went out the door after Mr. Casino.
    As he came through the door, he had a moment of dizziness. It was as if he had just stepped off one of those rides at the amusement park that Ezzie was so fond of and that made Mouse sick. “You want to get your money’s worth, don’t you?” Ezzie would say. Mouse wished that Ezzie was there to stumble around with him, moaning with pleasure at his dizziness. “Where am I, Mouse, where am I?”
    The world was spinning so rapidly that for a minute