Persuader

said.
    "Are they?" I said, like I was interested. I wasn't, but I still needed him to talk.
    "Of course lab drugs are fashion items anyway," he said. "Really their customers are just as bad as they are. I can't even keep track of the stuff they sell. Some different weird name every week."
    "What's a lab drug?" I asked.
    "A drug made in a lab," he said. "You know, something manufactured, something chemical. Not the same as something that grows naturally in the ground."
    "Like marijuana."
    "Or heroin. Or cocaine. Those are natural products. Organic. They're refined, obviously, but they aren't created in a beaker." I said nothing. Just fought to keep my eyes open. The car was way too warm. You need cold air when you're tired. I bit my bottom lip to stay awake.
    "The fashion thing infects everything they do," he said. "Every single thing. Shoes, for instance. These guys we're looking for tonight, every time I've seen them they've had different shoes."
    "What, like sneakers?"
    "Sure, like they play basketball for a living. One time they've got two-hundred-dollar Reeboks, brand new out of the box. Next time I see them, Reeboks are completely unacceptable and it's got to be Nikes or something. Air-this, air-that. Or it's suddenly Caterpillar boots, or Timberlands. Leather, then Gore-Tex, then leather again. Black, then that yellow color like a work boot. Always with the laces undone. Then it's back to the running shoes again, only this time it's Adidas, with the little stripes. Two, three hundred dollars a pop. For no reason. It's insane." I said nothing. Just drove, with my eyelids locked open and my eyeballs stinging.
    "You know why it is?" he said. "Because of the money. They've got so much money they don't know what to do with it. Like jackets. Have you seen the jackets they wear? One week it's got to be North Face, all shiny and puffy, full of goose feathers, doesn't matter whether it's winter or summer because these guys are only out at night. The next week, shiny is yesterday's news. Maybe North Face is still OK, but now it's got to be microfiber. Then it's letter jackets, wool with leather sleeves. Two, three hundred dollars a pop. Each style lasts about a week."
    "Crazy," I said, because I had to say something.
    "It's the money," he said again. "They don't know what to do with it, so they get into change for change's sake. It infects everything. Guns, too, of course. Like these particular guys, they liked Heckler and Koch MP5Ks. Now they have Uzis, according to you. You see what I mean? With these guys, even their weapons are fashion items, the same as their sneakers, or their jackets. Or their actual product, which brings everything full circle. Their demands change all the time, in every arena. Cars, even. They like Japanese mostly, which is about fashions coming in from the West Coast, I guess. But one week it's Toyotas, next week it's Hondas. Then it's Nissans. The Nissan Maxima was a big favorite, two, three years ago. Like the one you stole. Then it's Lexuses. It's a mania.
    Watches, too. They're wearing Swatches, then they're wearing Rolexes. They don't see a difference. Complete madness. Of course, being in the market, speaking as a supplier, I'm not complaining. Market obsolescence is what we aim for, but it gets a little rapid at times. Gets hard to keep up."
    "So you're in the market?"
    "What's your guess?" he said. "You thought I was an accountant?"
    "I thought you were a rug importer."
    "I am," he said. "I import a lot of rugs."
    "OK."
    "But that's fundamentally a cover," he said. Then he laughed. "You think you don't have to take precautions these days, selling athletic shoes to people like that?" He kept on laughing. There was a lot of nervous tension in there. I drove on. He calmed down. Looked through the side window, looked through the windshield. Started talking again, like it served his own purpose as much as it served mine.
    "Do you ever wear sneakers?" he asked.
    "No," I said.
    "Because I'm looking for somebody to explain it to me. There's no rational difference between a Reebok and a Nike, is there?"
    "I wouldn't know."
    "I mean, they're probably made in the same factory. Out in Vietnam somewhere. They're probably the same shoe until they put the logo on."
    "Maybe," I said. "I really wouldn't know. I was never an athlete. Never wore that type of footwear."
    "Is there a difference between a Toyota and a Honda?"
    "I wouldn't know."
    "Why not?"
    "Because I never had a POV."
    "What's a POV?"
    "A