“Such as?”
“Well, if you asked them, I suppose most of them would say that what they want is to be happy, wouldn’t you think?”
“Uh-huh.”
“A young fella was in earlier. He’s pinned everything on a job that he’s after, and if you want my opinion it’s a scoundrel he’ll be working for.” Corrigan made a brief, emptyhanded gesture. “You see these people chasing after money and success and the like, because those are the things that they think will make them happy. But they’re making their happiness depend on what others have the power to give or take away. So don’t they become slaves to the people who control those things? And can people who are not free be happy? They cannot. So have such people obtained what they set out for? They have not. They’re looking in the wrong places.”
They found a pay booth. Corrigan called a local cab company, giving his name and their location. “I see you’re not listed with us,” the synthesized voice commented. “We have an introductory discount for opening an account tonight.”
“No, thanks.”
“Can I register you for our bonus-mileage club?”
“No.”
“How about the all-in-the-family group scheme? Brand new.”
“We’d just like to go home. Is that all right?”
A baffled pause, then, “A cab will be there in five minutes.” Corrigan shook his head as the call cleared.
“Are you free, then, Joe?” Lilly asked.
“I’d say so, yes,” he replied.
“And why’s that?”
He shrugged and gave her a quick, easy grin. “I’m what you might call a self-unmade man. I didn’t always do what I do now, you know. It took a lot of effort to work my way down to it. But now I’m free to live according to the things I believe in, and nobody can compel me to think or believe anything I choose not to. So the things I do value, nobody can take away.”
“Are all the Irish like that?” Lilly asked. She sounded fascinated.
“Oh, God, not at all. You’ve never met such a crowd of rogues and villains in your life.”
“So how come you’re different?”
“Ah, well, I went through some bad experiences a few years back. Maybe that changed some things, if you know what I mean.”
Lilly hesitated, obviously wanting to be tactful. But for some reason it seemed important to her. “Things?” she repeated. “What kind of things? Do you mean psychologically?”
Corrigan spotted the cab approaching and stepped forward, raising an arm. “Exactly,” he said over his shoulder. “The pieces are coming back together again, but they don’t seem to function the way that most people’s do.”
They climbed in, and Lilly gave the address on North Side. As soon as the door closed, a screen in the rear compartment began running commercials. Corrigan paid an extra dollar to shut it off.
“Being different might not be such a bad thing,” Lilly said. “You said you used to work in computers, but you sound more like a philosopher. What kind of a society lets its philosophers end up working in bars?”
“Believe me, there’s no better place to learn the subject,” Corrigan assured her as the cab pulled away.
Chapter Seven
Lilly lived in a two-bedroom unit in a complex north of the Allegheny Center. It was clean and comfortable, feminine but not cute and lacy, casual without being a mess: all about what Corrigan would have expected. She produced a liter of Californian Chablis to go with the steak sandwiches that they had stopped for on the way.
Now Corrigan was able to give her his full attention for the first time. She was attractive not just physically but in the rarer, more appealing way that comes with the feeling of two minds being in tune. He hoped that his coming back here with her wasn’t going to be interpreted as going along with anything more intimate that she might have in mind. The day had been emotionally fatiguing, and he had worked a hectic shift through to the early hours. Enough was enough. If ever there had been a time when a rain check was in order, this was it.
But such fears proved groundless. Lilly was more interested in hearing about his years in computing and the “bad experiences” that he had mentioned which put an end to them. For anyone to ask was a novel experience in itself. So, although the hour had surpassed ungodliness, he refilled the glasses and settled himself back to regard her across the empty plates on the table.