Tales of the City 05 - Significant Others

said Thack. “We were supposed to meet him here.”
    “Ah … well, then he must be up at Lost Angels. He has friends up there.”
    “Lost Angels?”
    “C’mon,” said Father Paddy. “I’ll show you.” He turned to Thack and extended his hand, palm down, as if to be kissed. “I’m Father Paddy … since Michael’s forgotten his manners.”
    Thack shook the cleric’s hand. “Thack Sweeney,” he said.
    “An Irishman! I might have known.”
    Thack pointed to the Hillbillies plaque. “What can you tell me about the artist?”
    “Not a blessed thing,” said Father Paddy, “but isn’t it adorable?”
    As the priest sashayed out, leading the way, Thack spoke to Michael under his breath. “So,” he said. “The straightest place on earth.”

The Escape Plan
    B OOTER HEARD FOOTSTEPS AGAIN, THE TENT FLAP opened, to reveal a Negro girl wearing gym shorts and a bright blue T-shirt. “Hi,” she said, with surprising cheerfulness. “I’m Teejay.”
    He wasn’t about to swap nicknames with her.
    “The water girl,” she added, holding up a canteen.
    “You know,” he said, “you can all be arrested for this.”
    Kneeling in front of him, she lifted him to a sitting position. “Are your wrists uncomfortable?” she asked.
    “What do you think?” he replied.
    She examined his bonds for a moment. “I can’t loosen it without taking the whole thing off.”
    “Then do it,” he said.
    “Sure.” She smiled at him. “And let you bop me on the head.” She lifted the canteen to his lips, tilting it slowly, wiping away the overflow with a blue kerchief.
    When she was done, Booter said: “I don’t bop people on the head.”
    She tightened the top of the canteen. “Rose says you make instruments of war.”
    “I make aluminum honeycomb,” he said.
    “She says you went to Bitburg and laid wreaths on Nazi graves.”
    “That was a reconciliation gesture. Look … what’s going on here? You can’t just hold me indefinitely. I didn’t do anything.”
    The girl used her fingers to comb the hair off his forehead. “We’ve had … some harassment. Rose thinks you’re part of it. She wants to hold a tribunal.”
    “A tribunal? What? Here?”
    She nodded.
    “She’s crazy,” said Booter. “She’s a complete lunatic. If she thinks she can humiliate me …” He collected himself and tried to sound as reasonable as possible. “Look … I don’t have anything against you or anybody here. I’m a man of my word. If you let me go, I promise I won’t lay a finger on you.”
    “No,” she said. “You have to.”
    “What?”
    “We have to make it look that way.”
    “Like what?”
    “Like you overpowered me. Otherwise I’ll catch hell.”
    He grasped her meaning with a rush of relief. “O.K. Fine. However you want to do it.”
    Leaning closer, she said: “The best way out is the way you came. Your canoe is still there.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “I’ve already checked,” she said.
    “Are we near the river?”
    “Oh, God,” she said. “You don’t know where you are?”
    “No. How could I? That … whatshername—”
    “O.K.,” she cut in. “There’s a dirt road just outside the tent here. Down a little and to the right. Follow it until you reach the river. Then …” She fell silent suddenly and cast an uneasy glance over her shoulder.
    “What’s the matter?” he whispered.
    “Nothing,” she said. “I thought I heard something.” She listened a moment longer, then continued: “The canoe is up the river about fifty yards from the point where the road meets the river. Got that?”
    “I think so, but …”
    “What?”
    “Well, I can’t paddle back to … my place. The current’s against me.”
    She pondered the problem, then said: “There’s a Baptist camp about a mile downstream. You’ll be safe there.” She knelt behind him and began to tug at the ropes around his wrists. “Just make it damn quick and don’t look at anybody on your way out. This is women-only space.”
    “If they see me, though …?”
    “You’ll be all right,” she said soothingly. “We’re not all like Rose.”
    “Is that right?” came a voice outside the tent.
    There was no mistaking it, and no mistaking the sculptured scalp which burst into view through the tent flap.
    The girl let go of the ropes and spun around to face her superior. “Rose …”
    “This’ll go on my report,” said Rose.
    “I was just loosening them,” said the girl.
    “I heard what you were