The Heart is a Lonely Hunter Read Online Free PDF

the radio in the corner, whirring fans on the ceiling--all seemed to become very faint and still. He must have dozed. A hand was shaking his elbow. His wits came back to him slowly and he looked up to see what was wanted.
    Willie, the colored boy in the kitchen, stood before him dressed in his cap and his long white apron. Willie stammered because he was excited about whatever he was trying to say. ‘And so he were l-l-lamming his fist against this here brick w-w-wall.’
    ‘What’s that? ’
    ‘Right down one of them alleys two d-d-doors away.’
    Biff straightened his slumped shoulders and arranged his tie. ‘What?’
    ‘And they means to bring him in here and they liable to pile in any minute--’
    ‘Willie,’ Biff said patiently. ‘Start at the beginning and let me get this straight.’
    ‘It this here short white man with the m-m-mustache.’
    ‘Mr. Blount. Yes.’
    ‘Well--I didn’t see how it commenced. I were standing in the back door when I heard this here commotion. Sound like a big fight in the alley. So I r-r-run to see. And this here white man had just gone hog wild. He were butting his head against the side of this brick wall and hitting with his fists. He were cussing and fighting like I never seen a white man fight before. With just this here wall. He liable to broken his own head the way he were carrying on. Then two white mens who had heard the commotion come up and stand around and look--’
    ‘So what happened?’
    ‘Well--you know this here dumb gentleman--hands in pockets--this here--’
    ‘Mr. Singer.’
    ‘And he come along and just stood looking around to see what it were all about. And Mr. B-B-Blount seen him and commenced to talk and holler. And then all of a sudden he fallen down on the ground. Maybe he done really busted his head open. A p-p-p-police come up and somebody done told him Mr. Blount been staying here.’
    Biff bowed his head and organized the story he had just heard into a neat pattern. He rubbed his nose and thought for a minute.
    ‘They liable to pile in here any minute.’ Willie went to the door and looked down the street ‘Here they all come now. They having to drag him.’
    A dozen onlookers and a policeman all tried to crowd into the restaurant. Outside a couple of whores stood looking in through the front window. It was always funny how many people could crowd in from nowhere when anything out of the ordinary happened.
    ‘No use creating any more disturbance than necessary,’ Biff said. He looked at the policeman who supported the drunk.
    ‘The rest of them might as well clear out.’
    The policeman put the drunk in a chair and hustled the little crowd into the street again. Then he turned to Biff: ‘Somebody said he was staying here with you.’
    ‘No. But he might as well be,’ Biff said.
    ‘Want me to take him with me?’
    Biff considered. ‘He won’t get into any more trouble tonight.
    Of course I can’t be responsible--but I think this will calm him down.’
    ‘O.K. I’ll drop back in again before I knock off.’
    Biff, Singer, and Jake Blount were left alone. For the first time since he had been brought in, Biff turned his attention to the drunk man. It seemed that Blount had hurt his jaw very badly. He was slumped down on the table with his big hand over his mouth, swaying backward and forward. There was a gash in his head and the blood ran from his temple. His knuckles were skinned raw, and he was so filthy that he looked as if he had been pulled by the scruff of the neck from a sewer. All the juice had spurted out of him and he was completely collapsed. The mute sat at the table across from him, taking it all in with his gray eyes.
    Then Biff saw that Blount had not hurt his jaw, but he was holding his hand over his mouth because his lips were trembling. The tears began to roll down his grimy face. Now and then he glanced sideways at Biff and Singer, angry that they should see him cry. It was embarrassing. Biff shrugged his shoulders at