Heading South

Harry at Large

FOR ONCE, CHARLIE is on time. Fanfan has been waiting for him in the Rex Café, reading a Carter Brown.

“Sorry, old chum,” Charlie says when he arrives. “But the damn streets are impossible this morning. There’s a traffic jam stretching from the Au Beurre Chaud bakery all the way down to Firestone.”

“That’s not the way you come. .”

“I’m telling you what it’s like out there. Don’t you listen to the radio?”

“Never. In any case, you’re not late.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s eleven o’clock. I told you to be here at nine just to make sure you’d be here at eleven.”

“But it’s not even eleven yet, Fanfan. .”

“Exactly. . It’s five to eleven. So you see, you’re on time.”

Charlie sits down and signals the waiter to bring him his usual (a sandwich and a glass of papaya juice).

“I can’t believe you would do that to me. .” he says. “I cancelled quite a few meetings to be here. .”

“I don’t know what you’re going on about. . We were supposed to meet here at eleven, and you got here at five to. What time were you planning to get here?”

Charlie shakes his head sadly.

“You’ve just screwed up my entire schedule.”

“Since when have you had a schedule?”

“It’s all written down in here,” he says, pointing his index finger to his temple.

The waiter arrives with a cup of steaming coffee and sets it down in front of Fanfan, who takes three large sips from it at the risk of burning his tongue.

“What are we doing now?” Charlie asks.

“We’re waiting. . That’s what happens when you arrive someplace early.”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake. .”

Fanfan laughs quietly.

“What does this guy want, anyway?”

“What do you think he wants?”

“Sex?”

“Are you gassed up?”

“Good, when is he supposed to get here?”

“Don’t worry, he’s an American. . He’ll be on time. Here he is now!”

The man walks into the narrow café and heads straight towards the only two customers sitting at a table. He sits down without introducing himself.

“A friend told me about you.”

“About who?”

“Which one of you is Fanfan?”

“Bingo! I win! Am I allowed to know who my publicist is?”

“A woman you’ve been seeing.”

“So what do you want,” Charlie asks dryly.

“I gather you know a lot of girls. .”

“What makes you think that?”

“I’ve been watching you since. .”

The waiter comes over with a plate that he sets down in front of Charlie.

“Man, I’m starved.”

Harry watches him literally gulp his sandwich and wash it down with long swallows of papaya juice.

“I’ve bought a small house down by the sea,” Harry finally says, “and I want to invite a few friends over.”

“Well, what do you know!” Fanfan says sarcastically. “Who’d have thought you’d come all the way down here to invite us to your little beach party?”

“No,” Harry says deliberately. “I only want girls.”

“So?” Charlie yelps.

“So, if you agree to lend us some of your little friends. .”

“I don’t get it,” Charlie says.

“What don’t you get, Charlie? This gentleman wants us to lend him some girls for his friends. That’s not so hard to understand, is it? Sometimes you lend me your motorbike, don’t you. .”

“That’s not the same thing!”

“Well, we’re not talking about a motorbike, that’s true. We’re talking about that big, black car outside, which I suppose is his.”

“So what do we get in return?”

“I don’t know, Charlie. Why don’t you ask the man yourself. .”

“Right. . So what do we get in return?”

A long silence.

“You’re not about to tell me that you have a little present for us, I hope?” says Charlie.

“You might take that as an insult.”

“Yes, an insult,” Charlie nods. “We might feel deeply offended. .”

“Listen,” says Harry. “I could see that you both get an American visa.”

“And how are you going to do that?”

Harry smiles thinly.

“Don’t you worry about that. I have some friends who could look after it. .”

“Hey, I don’t even know who you are,” says Charlie. “Getting an American visa isn’t easy.”

“Don’t mistake us for a couple of imbeciles,” Fanfan adds.

Harry gives his characteristic laugh once more.

“There won’t be any problem. .”

“Okay,” says Fanfan, “we believe you. . Give us the visas, and we’ll get you the girls. .”

“Now who’s taking who for an imbecile?” Harry slips in.

They all laugh this time.

“Good, okay then. .” says Fanfan.

“Can I ask you a question?” Charlie says.

“Shoot.”

“With your loot you could buy all the girls you want. . Why do you want us to find them for you?”

“I’m not interested in whores! I’m asking only for normal girls. . girls who come from normal families, neither rich nor poor. . Normal girls.”

“What do you mean, normal girls?”

“Your sister, for example! He wants you to bring him your sister, Fanfan.”

Harry’s face clouds over.

“No, no, nothing like that. .” he says quickly.

“I was just joking,” Charlie says. They know what Harry wants.

All the same, Harry finds himself on slippery ground.

“Okay, I’ve got to go. . I’ll let you know as soon as I’ve organized one of my little parties. .”

“What about our visas?” Fanfan asks.

“You’ll get them after there’ve been a few parties. .”

“How many parties?”

“Let’s just say when everyone’s satisfied,” Harry says in parting, heading for the door.

“DOES THAT IDIOT think we fell for his story?” Fanfan says after a while.

“I think he’s serious. .”

“Why do you think that?”

“He works at the American Embassy.”

“Ah, does he?”

“I’ve seen him before, at the Bellevue Circle,” Charlie says. “He’s the father of one of the tennis players. A good-looking girl, June. .”

“Something about him gives me the creeps. . That laugh. .”

“Who set up this meeting?”

“Denz.”

“Denz!” Charlie exclaims.

“He told me there was some guy who wanted to talk to us. .”

“Did you know he was an American?”

“No, all I knew was that he was white.”

“So what do you think?”

“Nothing,” says Fanfan, shrugging his shoulders.