Nobody's Fool

it,” Sully told him. “I’m glad to know that people like you are happy. Of course, I’d be happy too if I’d inherited a fortune, married the prettiest girl in the county and got to bang all the others besides.”
    Carl grinned and leaned even farther back in his swivel chair, hooking his fingers behind his neck. “You’re right,” he admitted, sadly it seemed to Sully. “She is the prettiest girl in the county.”
    â€œI’ve been telling you that for years, if you recall.”
    â€œOkay, you told me so, smart-ass,” Carl conceded. “In which case you’ll be pleased to know I’ve turned over a new leaf.”
    â€œThat’s what she just told me,” Sully told him. “I didn’t have the heart to remind her who she was talking about.”
    â€œMock on, mock on, Voltaire, Rousseau,” Carl said. Whatever it was that Carl was feeling so smug about, he was dying to tell somebody about it. Which meant that the only thing for Sully to do was feign absolute indifference.
    â€œMock on who?”
    Carl ignored this. “You saw Toby over at the office?”
    â€œI did indeed,” Sully told him. And if he hadn’t been taken by surprise, he’d have really seen what he saw. With Carl Roebuck sitting there looking so smug, Sully actually considered for a brief moment telling Carl about what had happened, just to see if maybe that good mood couldn’t be ruined after all. What prevented him was the possibility, however remote, that Toby Roebuck’s flashing him had been some sort of invitation to return when he didn’t have his grandson with him. He’d been flirting with the woman for years, after all. She’d be foolish to take him seriously, but a woman capable of taking Carl Roebuck seriously just might.
    â€œShe didn’t say anything to you?” Carl was still grinning maniacally. “Well, never mind,” he continued. “She’s probably only telling people she likes.”
    Suddenly Sully figured it out. “What?” he said. “Don’t tell me she’s pregnant?”
    â€œKnocked up like a cheerleader,” Carl said. His grin had taken overhis face so completely now that Sully himself couldn’t help grinning through the disappointment.
    Neither man said anything for a long moment.
    â€œSo,” Carl Roebuck said finally. “Now I suppose you’ll want to be the godfather.”
    â€œI can’t be both the father
and
the godfather,” Sully said. “You’re going to have to contribute
some
goddamn thing.”
    â€œAnyhow. No more messing around for the studmeister. I realize now,” he explained, pulling on his heavy coat, gloves, tweed hat, “that I just wanted to be a father. Isn’t it something the way the mind works?”
    â€œIt sure is,” Sully agreed. “You had the rest of us fooled completely. We figured you were just a jerk. How long you figure you can keep this up?”
    Carl took a deep breath. “Except for Toby I’ve been a monk for three days, and I’m not even horny. I’ve never felt better, in fact. You should have told me it was okay to have a limp dick. I’m giving up gambling and drinking and smoking and all of it. Everything but bad companions, which is why I’m still talking to you.”
    Outside, in front of the trailer, Carl let out a Tarzan yell, pounded his chest. “White hunter make baby!” he crowed. “Let’s take two cars. I’ll meet you there.”
    Sully said that was fine with him. He’d taken several steps toward the gate when he realized Will was not at his side. The boy was still on the trailer step, casting about nervously in search of Rasputin, who was not in evidence. “Where is he?” the boy said.
    â€œCome here,” Sully said. “Hold my hand.”
    Will did, warily. “There he is,” he said, spying the dog.
    Rasputin was leaning, cross-legged, against the chain-link fence near the gate, as if he were resting. Had he been a human being, his posture would have suggested that he was about to light a cigarette and take a relaxing five minutes to smoke it.
    â€œIsn’t this a pitiful fucking sight,” Carl said, going over to his once faithful watchdog. Rasputin lurched feebly, unable to right himself. Clearly, he’d lost his equilibrium again and slumped against the fence, which was holding him