Dreadful Summit

by Stanley Ellin

Mr Greenspan was drinking some kind of a highball. He shook his head while he was drinking and said, ‘I don’t like any part of this business.’

  I said to Mr Olsen, ‘When do you think?’ and he said, ‘Hell, he’s good for an hour, maybe two hours. An hour sure. Why don’t you go over there now and hang around?’

  That was all right with me. I didn’t know the layout, but if I hung around first, I could find where Al Judge would come out and figure what I had to do. But before I could do anything, Dr Cooper grabbed my arm and said, ‘George, what time is it?’

  There was a big wall clock I could see easy and I said, ‘Quarter after twelve,’ and tried to shake my arm loose, but he hung on so tight I couldn’t without maybe hurting him.

  He said, ‘Oh, my God. Two hours and a quarter late. George, my friend, before you close in for the kill, would you do me a favour? A little favour?’

  I felt like slamming him up against the bar again, but I only said, ‘What favour?’

  ‘I should have been at the Domino Club two hours and a quarter ago, George, but I am afraid I will never make it on my heavy, heavy wings. Could you drop me off there on your way to the kill? It is exactly two blocks north.’

  I didn’t want to do it because I had everything figured out and I didn’t want to take any more chances, but the way Mr Olsen was looking at me, I couldn’t say no. I said, ‘Okay, if you hurry up,’ and right then there was a whole lot of noise and excitement in the back end of the bar.

  I turned to look and there was a bunch of guys pushing around the door into the men’s room, and the door was open, and more people were going back to look every second.

  My stomach turned over because I knew what it was. Peckinpaugh had come to, or maybe somebody found him, and now there was plenty of trouble and I had to get out fast. I grabbed Dr Cooper with one arm around the shoulders and started to hustle him out of the door so that we almost knocked over some people who were coming in.

  When we got outside, he stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and I started to shake him and yell, ‘Where is this place? Where is this place you want to go?’

  It never even struck me that I could have just left him there and gone ahead by myself with what I had to do.

  Chapter Eleven

  THAT was a crazy walk all right. I finally got out of him that the place was on Sixth and Fifty-second, and that meant we had to go up three blocks to Fifty-second, and then all the way over to Sixth. He must have been good and drunk the way he figured it was only two blocks altogether.

  The worst part was when we started crosstown and got around Broadway. It looked like the further away from Eighth Avenue I got, the brighter the lights were, and around Broadway it felt like there was a spotlight in my face no matter how I turned. I was sure now this Peckinpaugh was some kind of plain-clothes cop, maybe a big shot the way he talked with Al Judge, and if he came to and told what I looked like, every cop in New York would be out for me. And if they got me they would beat me up good, because that’s what they did to guys who hit a cop. I didn’t only read that in stories either, because one time Mr Shaw down the block came home drunk and he kicked little Bobby Shaw so the kid kept crying. It must have been a bad kick, because Mr. Shaw had done it before but little Bobby never cried the same way.

  Anyhow, it bothered Mr Shaw the way Bobby was crying, so he pulled his pants down and sat him on the hot stove and the way he screamed and Mrs Shaw was yelling, all the people in the house came running and they called the cops. A couple of radio cops came and Kennealy, and he grabbed Mr Shaw and started pulling him downstairs when all of a sudden Mr Shaw socked him a good one and knocked him down. When the two other cops saw that, they got good and mad and threw Mr Shaw all the way down a flight of stairs so he was hurt pretty bad. But Mr Reardon and the other guys came in the bar next day and they said that was all right. That was what happened to guys who hit a cop.

  So I was in a bad spot all right, with the cops maybe out looking for me, and Dr Cooper pushing and talking so loud everybody turned around to look at us. I had to keep him on my left side too, so he wouldn’t bump up against the gun and maybe start trouble, and that meant he was always pushing into people coming the other way.

  After a while the fresh air got to him and he started to sober up. It was so cold and windy now everybody was walking around with their heads down and guys kept their hands on top of their hats, and every now and then a woman would grab at her skirt between her legs because it would flap around all of a sudden and show plenty. By the time we got to the Domino Club, Dr Cooper was walking all right by himself, and he only had a little trouble going down the two steps to the door.

  The thing I liked about the Domino Club when we got inside was it was so dark. I mean really dark like a movie house when you first go in. I could see it wasn’t like I figured at all. I always thought night clubs were big and fancy, but the Domino Club was only a room with a few dim blue lights along the walls and a little stage at the other end. On the stage were four or five coloured guys and they were playing music so loud it made your ears hurt. After a minute I could see tables along the walls and a row of tables down the middle, and people there listening to the music.

  Right near the door was a tiny little bar, lit better than the rest of the place. There were a couple of people drinking, and Dr Cooper pulled me by the arm over to a girl who was sitting there, and said, ‘Hello.’

  The way she looked and the way she talked I knew she was very sore. She said, ‘Oh, Paul Revere. What did you do? Walk down from Troy?’ and Dr Cooper said, ‘No, I came by dog sled, but one of the dogs threw a shoe outside of Albany.’

  She said, ‘You’re very funny. You slay me,’ and turned around to pick up her drink, but Dr Cooper pushed me up close to her and said, ‘As it happens, I ran into an old friend of mine. George LaMain. He’s in the newspaper game. He’s a man with a mission.’

  She looked at me and said, ‘Hello,’ and I said, ‘Hello.’

  Dr Cooper slapped the girl on the back and said, ‘This is Tanya Rostina. She’s a dancer with a mission. She’ll straighten you out, George, because you’re a terrorist and you have no discipline. Tanya hates people without discipline, don’t you, Tanya?’

  Tanya said, ‘Oh, you slay me,’ and started drinking her beer. All the time I was thinking. If I went over to the Press building and hung around, I would be wide open for the cops. But the way this club was, it was so dark and so full of noise nobody would even know I was around. Al Judge wasn’t at the Press yet when I called, so I figured I had pretty near an hour to wait and the club was a good place.

  The thing I had to watch out for was the time, so I wouldn’t miss him. There was a little clock on the shelf in front of me, and it said twenty to one. In the phone book I saw the Press was some number on East Fortieth Street, so it wouldn’t take me long to get there. If I pulled out at quarter after one, I would hit Al Judge with plenty of time to spare.

  He would come out of the door and I would be right behind him with the gun. Then he would go by some dark place like a doorway and I would steer him into it. Then it would be all over.

  Meanwhile it was all right where I was. The music was so loud you almost had to yell if you wanted to say something, but it was pretty good music. And it was all right being close up against Tanya the way I was. She wasn’t pretty like Frances because her face was kind of thin and she had sort of a big nose. But she had big dark eyes and her hair was black and pulled back tight so it looked smooth and shining.

  For all she was so thin she was all there in the front and it felt soft and good when my elbow bumped her there. The only thing I didn’t like was when I saw her legs, and they were nice legs except when they got up around the calf they were so big it didn’t look natural. It wasn’t fat either, because when she moved her legs you could see the muscles knot up in a bunch. But I didn’t like it anyhow.

  Dr Cooper said, ‘How many ahead are you?’ and she said, ‘Oh, stop it. I could smell you when you came in th
e door.’

  He got up on the stool the other side of her and said to the bartender, ‘Three Martell.’

  Tanya said, ‘You know I don’t touch the stuff,’ and Dr Cooper said, ‘Make that two Martell, general. The lady is in training.’

  Tanya said, ‘You slay me. You really do,’ and Dr. Cooper got a little sore. He said, ‘Now what the hell is wrong. I’ve been late before.’

  ‘Oh, it’s not that. Marion is up in the apartment. She moved back in again this morning.’

  I couldn’t figure what they were talking about, but whatever it was made Dr Cooper so mad he banged his hand on the counter and her beer glass fell over. It was a good thing it was empty. He yelled, ‘For Christ sake! Couldn’t you tell her to get out, or at least wait until the week-end was over!’

  ‘Get out where? She can’t go back to him. He booted her out just the way I warned her he would.’

  ‘Hell, I can’t blame him. She’s enough to drive any man nuts. But why do you have to take the responsibility?’

  ‘Because she’s my sister.’

  ‘The hell you say. Is that the latest slogan? All support, comrades, for our nympho sisters?’

  Tanya said, ‘Oh, you’re a riot. You really are,’ and Dr Cooper grabbed up his drink and took it down in one shot. There was one in front of me too, but I didn’t want to drink it. I still felt sick inside from the other drinks and my mouth had a funny taste, so I figured I would just let it stand unless somebody noticed it, then I would drink it down. Besides, it felt just as good standing up against Tanya the way she felt when I pushed against her and not even caring. It was the kind of feeling you know is bad but you can’t get rid of it. It gets stronger and stronger until you start to think of all crazy things like grabbing her or something. Things you would never do, but you can’t get rid of the feeling anyhow.

  But nobody notices about my drink. Dr Cooper just put down his glass and said, ‘Well, that settles it. I’m getting a hotel room through Sunday night. A double,’ and Tanya shook her head and said, ‘Not for me, you aren’t.’

  She sat there turning her empty beer glass around and around in her hands and looking at it. She looked so sad I wished there was something I could say, only I couldn’t think of anything.

  Dr. Cooper said, ‘You don’t expect me to go over there with you while she sits around and watches like a harpy?’

  ‘You know that isn’t so. We’ll have the other room all to ourselves.’

  ‘Sure. While she scratches at the door and slavers. Why the hell don’t you have her committed?’

  The way Tanya yelled you could hear it easy even over that loud music. She was so mad I don’t think she cared if anybody heard or not. She yelled, ‘Why the hell don’t you go away and leave me alone! You’re not making things any easier!’

  That scared Dr Cooper all right. He grabbed her wrist and said, ‘Listen, I’m sorry. I take it back. But don’t ever talk like that,’ and Tanya said, ‘Well, what do you want me to say?’

  Dr Cooper looked at me, and I moved a little away from Tanya. He said, ‘And we’re dragging George right into the middle of a real bourgeois family quarrel. Is that any way to teach him discipline?’

  Tanya said, ‘Oh, you’re the original Barnum and Bailey all right,’ but then she turned to me and said, ‘I’m sorry, George.’

  I didn’t know what to say. I said, ‘That’s okay,’ and then, because of the way Dr Cooper was looking at me, I picked up my drink and slugged it down.

  Dr Cooper said, ‘Well, how about getting a table? Terry Angelus is on in five minutes, and you wouldn’t want to miss that, would you?’

  I didn’t know who Terry Angelus was anyhow, and the main thing was I didn’t want to get away from that clock. I said, ‘I have to go away at quarter after one,’ and Dr Cooper said, ‘For what?’ Then he said, ‘Oh hell, the mission. Why don’t you forget all about it, George? Save it for a rainy day, and have a good time now.’

  ‘I can’t. I have to be out of here at quarter after one.’

  That one drink must have stirred up the others in me, because I was starting to feel far away, right while I talked to him. I mean his lips were moving, but the words seemed to come from some other place, like before. ‘All right. I’ll tell you what. We’ll sit down and listen to Terry Angelus and then we’ll all pull out. It’s only three numbers anyhow. You’ll have plenty of time.’

  He and Tanya got down from the bar stools, and I think that’s what mixed me up more than anything. I mean the way Tanya was standing next to me so she was almost pressed against me, and I could smell the perfume from her and maybe a little sweat only it smelled wonderful. Like a dream, wonderful I mean, only it was real and I didn’t want to spoil it. I said, ‘Okay,’ and we walked in the dark to a table and sat down.

  I was scared they would tell me to take off my overcoat, but they didn’t. Dr Cooper put his coat and hat on the empty chair that was left, and I put my hat there too, but I kept the overcoat on because of the gun in my pocket I was afraid would show. It was so hot that I felt dizzy and sick from it, but I didn’t want to take any chances.

  I didn’t know who Terry Angelus was because I don’t go in for that kind of stuff like some of the kids on the block. I mean some kids would know all about the bands and the singers and they would talk about it plenty, but I liked to read books better. I liked some music when I heard it on the radio, especially André Kostelanetz, only Terry Angelus wasn’t like that. But I liked her all right. She was wonderful.

  She was a coloured woman, but her face was kind of light-coloured and she was beautiful. She had her hair twisted up with a big flower in it, and when she came out everybody started clapping and yelling, ‘Ladybird! Ladybird!’ like that was a pet name, so it took a long time before she could get started. Then the band started to play, only very quiet, and she sang a song.

  She didn’t sing like other singers, because it was like she didn’t care what the band was playing at all. It was like the band was playing one song and she was singing another but it always came out right. It was a sad song about how she lost her lover, and when she was done everybody started to yell and clap like crazy.

  It was funny how I felt while she was singing. I felt sad, but all the same I felt big, bigger than anything, and I wanted to pull the gun out of my pocket and show it to Tanya and tell her what I was going to do, only that would have really been crazy. I had to hold in the way I felt, and the only thing I could do, there was a bottle on the table, I had a drink fast.

  I had another one while she was singing the other songs and then she went away and everybody was yelling and calling, ‘Ladybird!’ but she didn’t come back. I was clapping louder than anybody and yelling, ‘Ladybird,’ too, but still she wouldn’t come back.

  I felt so sad that I was almost crying, but I knew what I would do. I would kill Al Judge and then I could come back and stand up by the table and tell everybody. And Terry Angelus would have to sing songs for me. Any song I picked she would sing and nobody else could pick one. And when I got done picking, I would go along with her to where she lived and she would give me the works because she wanted to.

  I put my hand on the gun and started pulling, and I thought I would lay it on the table and say to Dr Cooper, get out of here or I’ll kill you. It’s loaded, see. I would show him it was loaded and he would sneak away and then I would grab Tanya but she would like it.

  But there were two bottles on the table in my way so I pushed at them and they went tumbling all over the floor and everybody jumped, so I started laughing. They all jumped so slow it was funny. Like a slow-motion picture.

  I was sweating right through and I could smell it, but that was no good because there was something else I couldn’t remember. Then I thought I remembered what it was because I had to take a leak bad and that must have been it.

  I got up from the table, but I almost fell over it, and Dr Cooper got up too and grabbed me. There was loud music and he was just moving his lips, but I knew he
was my friend and he would help me get to the toilet even if he was a professor.

  He was drunk all right, because he grabbed hold of his chair when he started walking, and Tanya was sitting there and laughing. And when we got out, she still looked like she was happy and that made me feel good.

  Then they both helped me and we all started out, but I pulled away because I couldn’t wait to get outside where there was plenty of fresh air. Anyhow, they stopped and Dr Cooper was figuring out how to pay the waiter and there was no use waiting. But it was lucky too, because when I got outside there was Terry Angelus standing with a big dog on a leash and he was wetting on the lamp-post there.

  Most times I don’t like dogs because maybe they’ll bite you or something. But I liked this dog because Terry Angelus had him on a leash, and I went up and patted his head, and it felt like rubbing your hand on a carpet. He liked me too all right, because he pushed against me and I almost fell down, so I had to grab Terry Angelus and hold her arm.

  She didn’t mind. She was smiling and was even more beautiful than when she was singing. I just had to tell her how I felt because that’s how it was. I knew I had to and I knew she would like it, and I said, ‘You’re the most wonderful singer in the whole world and you’re so beautiful even if you are a nigger,’ and it was hard to say too, because my lips were so stiff I could hardly move them.

  But she was mad the way I was hanging on her arm. She was mad about it all right, because she pulled away all of a sudden so I almost fell down again, and then she spit right where my necktie was showing. I put the back of my hand over it and I could feel the spit, and I felt lik. crying because she was so mad.

  But she would do what I wanted all right, because I had the gun, and I grabbed at it and tried to get my hand on it, but before I could find it, Dr Cooper and Tanya took hold of me and started walking me down to the curb where there was a taxi waiting and we all got in.

  I didn’t want to go. I had to show Terry Angelus what the score was, but Dr Cooper yelled to the taxi-driver about Barrow Street and then he grabbed me so I couldn’t pull loose. But I could look around through the back window and I did, and Terry Angelus was still standing there with the big dog, rubbing her hand on her forehead, and it looked like she was crying.