“Okay,” I said. “I buy that.”
“Your casual acceptance of the situation causes me to believe that it was not wholly unexpected.”
“Exactly.”
“Does it involve anything I might be able to help you with?”
“Not in terms of the headache’s causes. But possibly the immediate symptoms … ”
“Like getting you away from here without his noting it?”
“That is what I had in mind.”
He gestured with a bandaged hand.
“No problem. Take your time with your drink. Relax. Consider it done. Pretend to study the merchandise.”
“Why?”
“Why not?”
“What happened to your hand?”
“Accident, sort of, with a butcher knife. Have they graduated you yet?”
“No. They’re still working on it.”
A waiter came-by, deposited a napkin and a drink before him, took his money, glanced at the photos, gave me a wink and moved back toward the bar.
“I thought I had you cornered in History when I left,” he said, raising the drink, taking a sip, pursing his lips, taking another. “What happened?”
“I escaped into Archaeology.”
“Shaky. You had too many of the Anthro and Ancient History requirements for that to last long.”
“True. But it provided a resting place for the second semester, which was all I needed. In the fall they started a Geology program. I mined that for a year and a half. By then, several new areas had opened up.”
He shook his head.
“Exceptionally absurd,” he said.
“Thank you.”
I took a big, cold swallow.
He cleared his throat.
“How serious is this situation, anyway?”
“Offhand, I’d say it’s fairly serious-though it seems to be based on a misunderstanding.”
“I mean, does it involve the authorities-or private individuals?”
“Both, it seems. Why? You having second thoughts about helping me?”
“No, of course not! I was trying to estimate the opposition.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I guess I do owe you an appraisal of the risk … ”
He raised a hand as if to stop me, but I went on anyway.
“I have no idea who that is outside. But at least a couple people involved in the whole business seem to be dangerous.”
“All right, that is sufficient,” he said. “I am, as always, totally responsible for my own actions, and I choose to assist you. Enough!”
We drank on it. He rearranged the pictures, smiling.
“I really could fix you up for tonight with one of them,” he said, “if you wanted.”
“Thanks. But tonight’s my night for getting drunk.”
“They are not mutually exclusive pastimes.”
“They are tonight.”
“Well,” he said, shrugging, “I’d no intention to force anything on you. It is just that you aroused my hospitality. Success often does that.”
“Success?”
“You are one of the few successful persons I know.”
“Me? Why?”
“You know precisely what you are doing and you do it well.”
“But I don’t really do much of anything.”
“And of course the quantity means nothing to you, nor the weight others place upon your actions. In my eyes, that makes you a success.”
“By not giving a damn? But I do, you know.”
“Of course you do, of course you do! But it is a matter of style, an awareness of choice-“
“Okay,” I said. “Observation acknowledged and accepted in the proper spirit. Now-“
“-and that makes us kindred souls,” he went on. “For I am just that way myself.”
“Naturally. I knew it all along. Now about getting me out of here … ”
“There is a kitchen with a back door to it,” he said. “They serve meals here during the day. We will go out that way. The barman is a friend of mine. No problem there. Then I will take you a roundabout way to my place. There is a party should be going on there now. Enjoy as much as you want of it and sleep wherever you find a warm corner.”
“Sounds very inviting, especially the corner. Thanks.”
We finished our drinks and he put the ladies back in his pocket. He went to talk with the bartender and I saw the man nodding. Then he turned and gestured with his eyes toward the rear. I met him at the door to the kitchen.