Million Dollar Baby Read Online Free PDF Page B

I thought, you know how that goes.”
    “We got a deal or not?”
    “We do, we do gots one. Only, look, I can only come up with three hundred now. Sparrin partners back here tapped me, man, mother’s honor, but you’ll get the rest right after the fight when the promoter pays up, I promise.”
    “Do yourself a favor. Cross my name out of your chump-change address book,” I said, and started for the door.
    “Come on, come on, goddamn it! Don’t be like that, you got to go with the flow.”
    Policarpo said, “Screw it. I’ll be the cut man, save us both fuckin money, ese ”
    I laughed in his face. “You gonna handle cuts on this guy, and give him the right instructions in the corner in the one minute you got, yeah? You got a kit, one that’s ready to go? You got all the shit? You bring adrenaline? Missouri ain’t like California, you got to have a prescription for adrenaline here. And where you go in to find a drugstore that even handles it? We’re dealin with a bleeder, did you miss that? Go ahead, lose the fuckin fight for him, I don’t give a rat’s ass. I’m gonna hang around just to watch the fucker bleed.”
    “Calm down, calm down, ese, be cool,” said Hoolie. He turned to Policarpo. “How much you got on you?”
    “Two hundred, that’s all I got.”
    Hoolie counted out his three hundred, and Policarpo added two hundred more. “Here,” said Hoolie. “Take it, homes, no shit, man, it’s all we got until after the fight. Gimme a break, okay? We’re gonna make big money together, you and me, word of honor.”
    “Gimme an IOU for the five more you owe me,” I said, taking the five hundred. “You stiff me, I go to the commission.”
    “Hey, you write it, I sign it, that’s how much I respect you, homes.”
    I did and he did and I left. On my way out he asked, “When am I gonna see you?” all humble and small and best of friends. “We got to get together before the fight so I know you don’t split, right?”
    “You want your chiselin five hundred back?”
    “I trust you, my brother, I didn’t mean nothin.”
    “Your bout goes off at eleven. I’ll be in your dressing room at nine.”
    “Hey, homes, no hard feelins, right?”
    “Why would there be?”
    The next day I slept late and took a walk down by the Missouri River. It was muddy and dark, and there were patches of foam in the weeds along the snow-covered bank. This was the river that the Lewis and Clark expedition took to open a way to the Pacific. I would love to have been along on that ride. Less than two hundred years ago, where I stood was uncharted Indian land. I wondered what kind of ride Hoolie planned for me.
    I’d had a light breakfast, and the cold air made me hungry. I went back for more Chinese food. I was seated by the same hostess at the same table. The place wasn’t crowded, and I noticed for the first time that the tables were arranged in little booths made up of dividers, with screens between the tables, for privacy. On my way back to my table from the buffet, I saw that Hoolie and Policarpo were bent over hot tea at the table next to mine. I took the long way around. They hadn’t seen me, and when I sat down, I realized they were speaking Spanish. I had nothing to say to them. I’d handle the cuts, I’d collect my money, and I’d go back home and start painting. That was my deal, and I’d do it. I was kicking my own ass for showing up, but now that I was here, I was going to get my other five hundred. It was a rule.
    Hungry as I was, at first I didn’t pay any attention to them. When I heard them scheming on million-dollar fights, I had to smile. Then I heard something about a two-hundred-thousand-dollar fight and realized they were talking about the fight with Big Willie Little. I turned up both my hearing aids.
    “I know they take taxes, but I don’t get what we do with what’s left of the two hundred thousand,” said Hoolie. “The promoter said we could cash his check here if we want to, but then