Insomnia | Page 9

Heavyset asked, speaking directly to Ed again.

"I ain't Ray joubert or that guy Dahmer after all. How 'bout that!" The
look of confusion was back on Ed's face, and when the thunder cracked
overhead again, he cringed a little. He leaned over, reached a hand
toward the barrel, then looked a question at Heavyset.

The big man nodded to him, almost sympathetically, Ralph thought.

"Sure, touch it, fine by me. But if it rains while you're holdin a
fistful, you'll dance like John Travolta. It burns."

Ed reached into the barrel, grabbed some of the mix, and let it run
through his fingers. He shot Ralph a perplexed look (there was an
element of embarrassment in that look as well, Ralph thought), and then
sank his arm into the barrel all the way to the elbow.

"Hey!" Heavyset cried, startled. "That ain't a box of Cracker Jack!

" For a moment the crafty grin resurfaced on Ed's face-a look that said
I know a trick worth two of that-and then it subsided into puzzlement
again as he found nothing farther down but more fertilizer.

When he drew his arm out of the barrel, it was dusty and aromatic with
the mix. Another flash of lightning exploded above the airport.

The thunder which followed was almost deafening.

"Get that off your skin before it rains, I'm warning you," Heavyset
said. He reached through the Ranger's open passenger window and
produced a McDonald's take-out sack. He rummaged in it, came out with a
couple of napkins, and handed them to Ed, who began to wipe the

fertilizer dust from his forearm like a man in a dream.

While he did this, Heavyset replaced the lid on the barrel, tamping it
into place with one large, freckled fist and taking quick glances up at
the darkening sky. When Ed touched the shoulder of his white shirt, the
man stiffened and pulled away, looking at Ed warily.

"I think I owe you an apology," Ed said, and to Ralph his voice sounded
completely clear and sane for the first time.

"You're damn tooting," Heavyset said, but he sounded relieved.

He stretched the plastic-coated tarpaulin back into place and tied it in
a series of quick, efficient gestures. Watching him, Ralph was struck
by what a sly thief time was. Once he could have tied that same
sheetbend with that same dextrous ease. Today he could still tie it,
but it would take him at least two minutes and maybe three of his best
curse-words.

Heavyset patted the tarp and then turned to them, folding his arms
across the substantial expanse of his chest. "Did you see the
accident?" he asked Ralph.

"No," Ralph said at once. He had no idea why he was lying, but the
decision to do it was instantaneous. "I was watching the plane land.
The United."

To his complete surprise, the flushed patches on Heavyset's cheeks began
to spread. You were watching it, too." Ralph thought suddenly.

And not just watching it land, either, or you wouldn't be blushing like
that ... you were watching it taxi!

This thought was followed by a complete revelation: Heavyset thought the
accident had been his fault, or that the cop or cops who showed up to
investigate might read it that way, He had been watching the plane and
hadn't seen Ed's reckless charge through the service gate and out to the
Extension.

"Look, I'm really sorry," Ed was saying earnestly, but he actually
looked more than sorry; he looked dismayed. Ralph suddenly found
himself wondering how much he trusted that expression, and if he really
had even the slightest idea of (Hey, hey, Susan Day) what had just
happened here . . . and who the hell was Susan Day, anyhow?

"I bumped my head on the steering wheel," Ed was saying, "and I guess it
... you know, it rattled my cage pretty good."

"Yeah, I guess it did," Heavyset said. He scratched his head, looked up
at the dark and convoluted sky, then looked back at Ed again.

"Want to make you a deal, friend."

"Oh? What deal is that?"

"Let's just exchange names and phone numbers instead of going through
all that insurance shit. Then you go your way and I go mine."

Ed looked uncertainly at Ralph, who shrugged, and then back at the man
in the West Side Gardeners cap.

"If we get into it with the cops," Heavyset went on, "I'm in for a
ration of