The Road To Ruin

65

“LITTLE IS KNOWN OF US,” Mac said. “You hear that?”

“We’re royally screwed,” Ace insisted. “That guy Faulk was right. What we gotta do is flee the country.”

“To where?” Mac wanted to know. “And using what for cash? We wouldn’t last a week, Ace, in some foreign country, and once they look at us and start to wonder how come we’re on the lam, then we are screwed.”

The television had moved on to commercials. “More beer,” Buddy said, offed the set, and got heavily to his feet. So far, he hadn’t come down on one side or the other in the current dispute over whether, in the current crisis, they should (1) vamoose, or (2) do nothing.

They were in Buddy’s rec room again, and with some trepidation they’d been watching CNN on the old rabbit-ears antenna television set against the unfinished wall under the big silk banner that lived here when it wasn’t being used at union rallies or on picket lines. Against a royal blue background, the bright yellow words curved above and below the initials:

Amalgamated Conglomerated Workers

ACWFFA

Factory Floor Alliance

As Buddy went to the World War II refrigerator for some up-to-date beer, Ace said, “If that guy Faulk thinks he oughta run, we oughta listen. Those were smart guys, educated guys, remember? Harvard, or maybe Buddy’s right, Dartmouth, but not dummies.”

Passing right over the blatant attempt to suck up to the uncommitted Buddy, “One of them’s arrested,” Mac pointed out, “which is how smart he is. And the other one skipped because Mark knows him and can identify him, and according to the TV, Mark even gave the cops Osbourne Faulk’s name.”

Buddy, distributing cans of beer and resuming his seat, said, “Not a good way to treat a pal.”

“And the point is,” Mac said, “if he’d give them Faulk, he’d give them us twice as fast but he didn’t. And you know why?”

“They didn’t get around to it yet,” Ace said.

“Oh, they got around to it,” Mac said. “Little is known of us, that’s what the guy said, except we’re in the same union together.”

“Which means,” Ace said, “they know enough that they’re probably already on the way. Canada, Mac, we could disappear in Canada.”

“They’re not on the way,” Mac insisted, “because Mark doesn’t know our names.”

“Sure he does,” Ace said.

Pointing at each of them, and then at himself, Mac said, “Ace, Buddy, Mac. That’s not name enough to lead anybody to us.”

Buddy said, “Mac, they knew my name, from the registration on the car.”

“Faulk did,” Mac said, “and he’s fled. Ace, if you make a move, you’ll just draw attention to us.”

Looking around, Buddy said, “Come to think of it, you know, I can’t go anywhere until I finish this room.”

“Exactly,” Mac said, and that took care of that.