@@@@@In the end, I decided not to I didn't know 598
@@@@@In the end, I decided not to
I didn't know if it was the right decision or the
wrong one, but I did know he might have a long
night with Elizabeth Eastlake ahead of himAlso,
that headache was still sitting in the back of my
skullI settled for asking him again if he
wouldn't consider letting me turn my promised
doctor's appointment into a double date
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"I will consider it," he said"And I'll let you
know
"Well don't wait too long, because-"
He raised a hand, stilling me, and for once his
face was unsmilingEnough for one
night, okay?"
"Okay," I saidI watched him go in, then went
back to the van
Jack had the volume up He went
to turn it down and I said, "No, that's okay
"Really?" He turned around and headed back up the
roadYou ever heard em before?"
"Jack," I said, "that's StyxDennis DeYoung?
Tommy Shaw? Where have you been all your life? In
a cave?"
Jack smiled guiltily"I'm into country and even
more into old standards," he said"To tell you
the truth, I'm a Rat Pack kind of guy
The idea of Jack Cantori hanging with Dino and
Frank made me wonder - and not for the first time
that day - if any of this was really happeningI
also wondered how I could remember that Dennis
DeYoung and Tommy Shaw had been in Styx - that
330
Shaw had in fact written the song currently
blasting out of the van's speakers - and sometimes
not be able to remember my own ex-wife's name
xi
Both lights on the answering machine next to the
living room phone were blinking: the one
indicating that I had messages and the one
indicating that the tape for recording messages
was fullBut the number in the MESSAGES WAITING
window was only 1I considered this with
foreboding while the weight with my headache
inside it slid a little closer to the front of my
skullThe only two people I could think of who
might call and leave a message so long it would
use up the whole tape were Pam and Ilse, and in
neither case would hitting PLAY MESSAGES be apt to
bring me good newsIt doesn't take five minutes
of recording-time to say Everything's fine, call
when you get a chance
Leave it until tomorrow, I thought, and a craven
voice I hadn't even known was in my mental
repertoire (maybe it was new) was willing to go
331
furtherIt suggested I simply delete the message
without listening to it at a
