Bookmaker, The Read Online Free PDF Page B

show you how things used to be, how they should be.”
    This was his final attempt to sell me on something he already sold, but it sounded nice. In my head I was already there. But I had to take care of a few things on the home front first.
     
     
    Otto was pissed.
    “Who the fuck is gonna answer the phones, let alone collect the shit we got coming to us? You know this is when the money trickles in!”
    “Look , man, I can still take all the calls,” I said, trying to calm him down from my seat at the end of the bar. “I can do the phones from anywhere, and I can still hound for the money. I’m gonna have Jay do some collecting for me while I’m gone. It should only be a week or two. You gotta chill out.”
    “Yeah, whatever, make sure you’re back by September. You gotta be here for opening day kickoff.”
    “No problem. Plus, I’m doing this for us, we’re gonna get twice the money Marcus owes. That was dead money, we never thought we’d see that cash.”
    “Fine , just hurry back, and as far as the money for writing the old man’s memoirs, of course that’s all yours,” Otto said, then turned and went over to the taps and poured two schooners, slid one to me, and we bumped our glasses.
    “You know T …I remember when your scrawny ass first came in this place. I had to throw you out. What, were you seventeen, with that cheesy fake Iowa driver’s license?”
    I lit up a Camel. “Yeah, not only did you throw me out, but you cut up that fake ID I paid a hundred bucks for. But I kept coming back.”
    “Yes you did…yes, you did, like a turd that don’t flush, and I kept throwing you out.”
    “Eventually I wore you down .”
    “That you did. I didn’t have the energy, so I just let you stick around.”
    “And the rest , as they say…is history.”
    “One week …and don’t fuck around down there. I’ve been to the South, it ain’t like here.”
    We went back to sipping our beers in silence.
     
     
    Jay came into my room puffing on a joint and sat at the edge of my bed as I was packing up the limited amount of clothing I owned. When most people travel, they pack for the climate of their destination, but all I had was warm weather clothes, which I imagined would work well for the depths of the south in the summer. I didn’t even own a heavy coat and had never known weather below 40 degrees.
    “Good for you , man, you’re really doing it,” he said, exhaling smoke, trying not to cough.
    “Yeah , and you gotta feed Wade, just make sure his food and his water bowl are always full. I put three bags of Whiskas on the counter—that’s the only stuff he likes, and that should be more than enough.”
    “Yeah , yeah, I’m gonna feed the little shit.”
    Jay pretended he didn’t like Wade , but at moments when he thought no one was looking, I caught him talking to Wade and even saw him scratching his head once or twice. I handed him $500 for rent just in case I wasn’t around on the first and a list of names, numbers, and amounts owed for people who might come by to drop off money.
    “Remember,” I said, “we got to leave here at 7:00 sharp. I don’t wanna miss my flight.”
    “Goddamn, I ain’t seen the world that early in ten years. You owe me.”
    “I’ll bring you back a souvenir.”
    “How about one of them Confederate flags? I bet they got a shitload of them down there.”
    My flig ht was set to leave at 9:00 am—Continental Flight #1388 from John Wayne with a connection in Houston and then on to Memphis International Airport. The flight would take nearly seven hours with the stop. I was told Matador would be there to pick me up at 5:00. I was curious what this Matador business was all about. Jay dropped me off just in time to make the flight, and I was about to get on an airplane for the first time at age twenty-five.

5
    The flight was rather uneventful. I had never flown before, first class or not, so I had no basis for comparison. The in-flight movie was Out of Sight with