Read Fiddlers for Free Online Page B

pounds is all,� Ollie said.
    �That�s a lot. She must have some grip on you, this girl.�
    �Naw, come on, whattya mean, grip. Come on. We just see each other every now and then.�
    �So long as it�s just that,� Parker said, and nodded emphatically. �You drinking beer cause of the diet?�
    �Well, hard liquor has a lot of empty calories,� Ollie explained.
    �You want another beer?�
    �I�m okay with this,� Ollie said.
    �I�ll have another scotch, if it won�t offend you, that is.�
    �Why should it offend me?� Ollie said.
    �Who knows, these days?� Parker said, and signaled for a refill and then gulped it down in almost a single swallow. �You hear the one about the Caddys?� he asked.
    �Which one is that?�
    �If a white man driving a white Caddy is white power,� Parker said, �and two black men driving a black Caddy is black power�� He grinned in anticipation. �What�s three Puerto Ricans driving a maroon Caddy?�
    �Puerto Rican power?� Ollie guessed.
    �Grand Theft, Auto,� Parker said, and burst out laughing.
    Ollie nodded, sipped at his beer.
    �What�sa matter?� Parker asked.
    �Nothing. Why? What�sa matter?�
    �You din�t think that was funny?�
    �Not very.�
    �Grand Theft, Auto? You din�t think that was funny?�
    �I thought it was Grand Theft, Auto, is what I thought it was. It coulda been any three guys driving the car, that woulda been Grand Theft, Auto, if they stole the car.�
    �Yeah, but these were three spics, which is what made it Grand Theft, Auto, which is what makes the joke funny.�
    �Okay, so it�s funny,� Ollie said. �Ha ha.�
    �You know what�s wrong with you all at once?� Parker said, and jabbed his finger across the table at him.
    �I didn�t realize anything was wrong with me all at once,� Ollie said.
    �Yes, all at once you are losing your you-ness.�
    �My what?�
    �Your essential Ollie-ness.�
    �And what is that, my essential Ollie-ness?�
    �Your capacity to laugh at niggers and spies and wops and kikes��
    �I told you �ha ha,� didn�t I?�
    �Yes, but you didn�t mean it. You are losing your ris de veau.�
    �My what?�
    �Your ris de veau. That�s French for �joy of living.� When the French say a person has ris de veau, it means he enjoys life.�
    �Too bad I ain�t French.�
    �I got another story to tell you,� Parker said.
    �What�s this one?� Ollie said. �Four Jews in a blue Caddy?�
    �No, it�s about this puppy dog walking along the railroad tracks��
    �Is he white, black, or Puerto Rican?�
    �He is a little white puppy dog, and this train comes along, and the wheels run over his tail, and he loses the end of his tail. And he�s very sad about this. So he puts his head down on the tracks and he begins crying his heart out, and not paying any attention. And just then another train comes along, and runs him over again, cutting off his head this time. You know the moral of that story, Ollie?�
    �No, what�s the moral?�
    �Never lose your head over a piece of tail.�
    The table went silent.
    �You understand me?� Parker said.
    Ollie figured maybe this hadn�t been such a good idea, after all.
    * * * *
    3.
    THEY FOUND THE first of Alicia�s husbands in a salsa club called Loco Tapas y Vargas on Verglas Street, downtown on the edge of the city�s Garment District. Ricky Montero was playing trumpet in one of the club�s two �top-name Big Band Orchestras�; neither Parker nor Genero had ever heard of either of them.
    Montero�s band was rehearsing when they came in at ten thirty that Tuesday morning, the twenty-second day of June. He explained that both bands played mambo, cha-cha, rumba, son, merengue, guaracha, timba, and songo. He told them each of the bands played both �On Two� and �On One� music�
    �On Two is a mambo style where the break step��
    �The what step?�
    �The first long step, the break