
Grady straightened, yanked on an earlobe and pinched his cheeks. It was an old trick to see if he was
numb enough yet to go home and sleep without having those damn dreams. He wasn't, but he wasn't
drunk enough to defy a man who could break his back with his pinky, either.
If the truth be known, Noel was good for him. More than once over the past fifteen years, he had
stopped Grady from getting into fights that would have easily turned him into one of his own ghosts. He
didn't know why the guy cared; it had just turned out that way.
He considered the glass carefully, grimaced at the way his stomach lurched with acid, and said with a
resigned sigh, "Ah, the hell with it."
Aaron approved.
Grady slipped off the stool and held onto the bar with his left hand while he waited for his bal-ance to
get it right. When he figured he could walk without looking like he was on a steamer in a hur-ricane, he
saluted the bartender and dropped a bill beside the glass. "Catch you around," he said.
"Whatever," the bartender said. "Just get the hell home and get some sleep."
Grady reached into his hip pocket and pulled out a Yankees cap, snapped it open and jammed it
onto his head, and made his way toward the door.
When he checked over his shoulder, Aaron was already talking with another guy at the bar.
"Good night, gentlemen," he said loudly, and stepped outside, laughing at the way some of them
snapped their heads up, eyes wide, as if he'd just shaken them out of a nap.
As soon as the door closed behind him, the laughter twisted into a spasm of coughing, forcing him to
lean against the brick wall until it passed.
"Jesus," he muttered, wiping his mouth with the back of a hand. "Quit drinking, quit smoking, you old
fart, before they find you in the damn gutter."
He paused at the curb, then crossed over and moved on up the street, keeping close to the closed
shops, the empty shops with plywood for windows, and decided as he did that he'd finally had it with this
burg. As the government kept chipping away at Dix's assignments, folks up and left, and nobody came in
to take their place.
Hell, if he was going to drink himself to death, he might as well do it somewhere pretty, Florida or
something, where at least it stays warm most of the damn year.
He hiccuped, spat on the sidewalk, and belched loudly.
On the other hand, he decided the same thing every damn night, and hadn't moved yet.
Goddamn Army.
Too old, pal, we don't need you anymore. Take your pension and split, you old fart.
He belched again, spat again, and seriously considered going back to Barney's, to have a farewell
drink. That would shake them up, no question about it.
Half a block later he stopped, scowling at himself, and squinted down the street. The tar-mac was a
black mirror, streetlight and neon twisted and shimmering in the puddles. Nothing there but small shops
and offices, a distant traffic light winking amber.
He looked behind him.
The street was deserted there, too.
Nothing moved but small patches of fog.
You're spooking yourself, bud; knock it off.