Something for Nothing Read Online Free PDF

guy,” he’d said, over and over, sometimes to Ludwig, sometimes just to himself in a mumbled mantra. He remembered the feeling from his days at the car dealership, and he didn’t like it. Some people just got off on acting as if they really were interested in making a big-ticket purchase, as if they really had that kind of money. Not for the first time, Martin wondered if these pretend buyers knew when they woke up in the morning what they were going to do.
    â€œI’ll be back in a while,” a guy might say to his wife in the morning. “I’m going into town to act like I can buy something expensive.”
    â€œOkay, honey,” she might say. “Make sure and get their hopes up.”
    â€œOh, don’t worry,” the guy would answer with a laugh. “I will.”
    Martin had wanted to bail out before lunch, but he and Ludwig had ended up washing a few planes, playing cards, and then working through the listings in the
Racing Form
for Golden Gate Fields. Finally, though, Martin couldn’t stand it anymore, and he’d talked Ludwig into closing up and going to the track with him.
    â€œHey,” Ludwig said as they drove along the freeway. “Guess what I saw over the weekend? What movie, I mean.” He had the passenger window down, and his shaggy hair was blowing in the wind. That washis new look—longish hair, sneakers, and jeans with a dress shirt. It was driving Martin crazy. Who was going to buy something from a slob? Martin always wore slacks, jacket, and nice shoes. You had to look sharp.
    â€œI don’t know,” Martin said, shrugging. “
The Exorcist
.”
    â€œNo,” Ludwig said, shaking his head. “I did see that a while ago, though. It scared the shit out of me.”
    â€œYeah, well,” Martin said. “I saw it last weekend. And the weekend before that. Because I live with my daughter. She’s possessed by the devil, just like the girl in the movie. She spins her head around and everything.” Martin wished he could surprise Ludwig and actually spin his head 360 degrees for effect, but he settled for 90, moving his head right and then left in a simulation of a complete rotation.
    Ludwig laughed and nodded. “You need to hire a priest and do the exorcism thing.”
    Martin shook his head, letting him know the weight of his burden. “No shit I do,” he said.
    Ludwig had listened to Martin complain about Sarah for the past year or so, about the drugs, the sullen anger, the older boyfriends with driver’s licenses. Ludwig was thirty-eight and twice divorced, but he didn’t have any kids. He seemed pretty much thrilled with this fact. He was an okay-looking guy, always had a girlfriend. Martin was glad he had his kids, but he did envy Ludwig’s freedom. Get up in the morning, no one to worry about but yourself. He didn’t necessarily want it, but it sounded all right sometimes. Especially lately.
    â€œAnyway, no,” Ludwig said. “Not
The Exorcist
. I saw
Westworld
. You know . . . the one with Yul Brynner as a robot cowboy? It came out last year, but it was playing in Oakland, at the Grand Lake. It was pretty good. It was great, actually.”
    â€œSure,” Martin said. He signaled, then switched lanes and pulled around some guy creeping along at sixty in his station wagon. “Yul Brynner gets his face blown off, but keeps coming after the main guy anyway, right? I remember that.”
    In fact, he remembered the night he’d seen it. He’d been under the impression that it was going to be a straightforward western. Probably not quite like
The Searchers
or
Red River
(good films, though a little dated), but maybe sort of like
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
(a great film). So he’d taken both kids—a night out with dad. But of course it turned out to be a crazy sci-fi thing, with tourists visiting a futuristic theme park. There were different