Hard Candy

76

Ib DRIFTED BACK to Mama's. White dragons in the window. She told the waiter something. He brought me a plate of fried rice, beef in oyster sauce. No soup.

"Everything okay now?" she asked, leaning forward, watching.

"Sure."

"You wait for something?"

"You mean…here?"

"No. For something, okay?"

"I don't think so."

"I think so."

I didn't answer her. After a while, she went back to the cash register at the front.

I was walking out when the pay phone rang. Mama walked past me. I waited.

"Man say tell you watch the papers tomorrow. Sutton Place."

"Anything else?"

"No."

"He say his name?"

"Man who called before. One time. Dead-man sound when he talk."