The Autumn Dead

Chapter 34

That afternoon, getting ready for work at the Security company, I went to the back room and found Diaz dropping peanuts into his Pepsi, one of the more arcane rituals he practices, and tossed his knucks on the table to him.

"This some kind of trick?" he said.

"No." A few days ago I'd felt superior to Diaz and his appetites. Now I wasn't so sure.

I turned and started toward the front of the building. "Hey," he said. "I heard all about you on the radio. Shit, man, you wasted those guys."

I didn't say anything. There was nothing to say.

Diaz grinned. "You're a hero, man. You know that?"

"Yeah," I said, "that's what I am, Diaz. A hero."

Then I went back up front and talked to Bobby Lee and asked her if she would please tell me what Elvis had whispered to her on her recent trip to Graceland, the thing that had made her feel a whole lot better.

Because that was just what I needed this soft spring afternoon. I needed to feel a whole lot better.