Nobody's Fool

she’d taken it off to examine the extent of the damage to her blouse. The last person on earth she wanted to show her nipples to was Sully.
    â€œHe’s not in,” she sneered.
    â€œThat’s what you always say,” Sully pointed out, plopping down in one of the outer-office chairs and taking a deep drag on his cigarette.
    â€œSometimes it’s true,” Ruby told him.
    â€œDid he leave a message?”
    â€œWhy would he leave you a message?”
    â€œBecause he had a job for me, which I could do, maybe, if he’d tell me what it is and where.”
    â€œYour ash is going to fall on the carpet,” Ruby observed.
    Since this was true, Sully stubbed out the cigarette in a tiny ashtray on the magazine-strewn coffee table. “He’s not worth crying over, you know.”
    â€œHow do you know who I’m crying over?” Ruby said.
    â€œI know Carl has half the female population of Bath in tears at any given moment,” Sully said. “Why is a mystery, I admit.”
    â€œHe understands women, is why,” Ruby said defiantly.
    â€œWell,” Sully said, “if that’s true, he deserves them all. Any idea where he’s at?”
    â€œProbably with his perfect wife that he won’t divorce,” Ruby guessed bitterly. “The one he buys brand-new cars for. The one who lives in the mansion on Glendale while I live in a studio apartment and drive an eight-year-old car I bought secondhand.”
    â€œlife’s unfair,” Sully said to keep from smiling.
    â€œIt’s a blow job is what it is,” Ruby agreed seriously. “I always get the slimy end of the dick, too.”
    â€œThe other end’s attached,” Sully pointed out.
    â€œOh, buzz off, Sully. Can’t you see I’m all upset?”
    â€œOkay, dolly,” Sully said, getting to his feet again. “Tell him I was here and I’ll be at The Horse if he wants me to do that job. And Ruby—”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œDon’t take your love to town.”

    Sully parked Carl’s El Camino outside the OTB in the middle of the diagonally striped no-parking zone. A young cop named Officer Raymer, whom Sully’d had run-ins with before, was bending at the knees in the doorway. “You got two minutes to move that,” he told Sully, not unreasonably. “Or you get a ticket.”
    â€œGo ahead,” Sully said. “It’s not my car.”
    Inside, Otis was among the other yellow windbreaker men, several of whom called out, “Sully!”
    â€œGet away from me, you,” Otis warned. “You gave me a nightmare.”
    â€œGood,” Sully said.
    â€œI dreamed an alligator crawled up the stairs and got in bed with me. Woke up kicking and screaming. My wife’s got a big bruise on her thigh.”
    â€œAnd you believe that’s how she got the bruise, Otis?” Sully said. He considered giving Otis the rubber alligator he’d bought from Mrs. Harold, but decided the occasion was not right.
    Except for Otis, this remark struck the windbreaker men as pretty funny. Several offered other explanations for the bruise. Sully watched Officer Raymer grow impatient through the OTB’s front window.
    â€œI’ll have you know my wife’s been faithful to me for forty years,” Otis said indignantly.
    Sully nodded. “That’s pretty near the whole time you’ve been married, isn’t it?”
    â€œGo bet your sucker triple,” Otis advised. “Before you give me another nightmare.”
    Sully held up his hands in self-defense. “I never meant to give you bad dreams, Otis. In fact, I think Florida’s a good place for you. I just wanted you to be careful of alligators, is all.”
    â€œGet away,” Otis said, swatting at him. “Just get away from me.”
    â€œI think you
should
move to Florida,” Sully went on. “If you’re careful, you’ll probably be safe.”
    â€œGo. Get lost.”
    â€œJust one little word of advice,” Sully insisted. “When you wake up in the morning?”
    â€œHe won’t go away,” Otis said, appealing to the others.
    â€œJust peek under the bed,” Sully said, demonstrating. “A quick peek. If you see teeth, stay in bed.”
    â€œI’ll dream about this all night now,” Otis said miserably.
    Sully bet his triple, shot the breeze for a minute with the ticket seller and sauntered