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it was a flat statement.
    “I sure can. You want to keep having liquor served to you? Go to another bar.”
    “I can’t do that.”
    “Why the hell not? There’s plenty of other bars around.”
    Logan paused, his jaw twitching, and then he admitted in a low voice, “They
all
cut me off.”
    Clancy didn’t understand. “What? You mean today?”
    “Yeah.”
    Clancy took in what Logan was saying, and then called over to the bruiser that Logan had just threatened. “Jerry. Take over the bar for a minute, will ya?”
    “Yeah, sure.”
    Clancy came around the bar as Jerry slipped in behind. He gestured 33 for Logan to follow him, and Logan did so.
    Clancy brought him around back to a storage area and turned to face him. “You telling me you’ve been drinking all day?”
    “Yeah.”
    “How the hell are you even standing up? I mean, I figured you were drunk, trying to pick a fight—”
    “I ain’t drunk.”
    “That’s ridiculous. You’d have to be—”
    “Wanna hook me up to a breathalyzer? I’m stone-cold sober, Clancy.”
    Clancy looked him in the eyes. He stared for quite some time, then said, “Holy God, you are. How is that possible? Back in the bar, you were slurring your words, you were kind of wobbling…”
    “Wishful thinking. My…metabolism…it fights me when it comes to getting hammered.” It seemed a less complicated explanation than a mutant healing power that repaired any damage to his system so quickly that it was practically impossible for him to get drunk. He saw the way Clancy was looking at him. “You got something to say? Spit it out.”
    Clearing his throat, Clancy said, “Look…Logan…I’ve known you for a while. And I always known you’re not, y’know…”
    “I’m not what?”
    “You’re different. Okay? I dunno what your deal is, and you know what? I don’t care. It’s none o’ my beeswax. You pay as you go, never run up a tab, which is more than I can say for some of these characters, including Jerry who’s probably single-handedly gone through a quarter of my stock by now. You usually keep to yourself, and you’re decent 34 company when you’re in a talkative mood. Whatever else you are, whatever else you do…
zei gezunt
, you get what I’m saying?”
    “Yeah. Yeah, I get it.”
    “But now you’re picking fights with guys? Why the hell are you doing that?”
    “That’s not the question,” Logan said irritably. “The question is, why won’t they fight? Them and the guys in other bars. I used to get into some pretty good scraps in bars. Now I insult them to their faces and they won’t even defend themselves.”
    It was all Clancy could do not to laugh. “Of course not! Word’s gotten around about you, Logan. Hell, a couple of places I know keep a picture of you behind the bar just to warn people off. Word’s out that you don’t mess with the short Canadian guy with the mutton chops. No offense.”
    Logan considered it. “Nah. That’s a fair description.” He looked almost forlorn. “Nobody?”
    “Nobody,” he said firmly. “I mean, jeez, man, you’ve sent guys to the emergency room and you walk away without a mark on you. Guys have pride, sure, but they’re not suicidal. They figure you can call them all the names you want, but at least they’ll come out of the evening in one piece, and their egos don’t wind up needing a full-body cast and a hundred stitches if they get banged around. So you can go around saying what you want to pretty much anyone you want, but nobody’s gonna take a swing at you because Thanksgiving’s not that far off, and they don’t feel like having their turkey fed to them through a tube. You get it now?”
    “Yeah, I get it, okay? This has been real great, Clancy.” There was 35 a door with an exit sign on the other side of the room. “I’ll just be on my way, okay?”
    He headed toward the door, but stopped when Clancy said, “It’s a woman, ain’t it?”
    He didn’t look back at Clancy, keeping his