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chess match, where the morality of right or wrong, or the sense of right and wrong, never mattered, but the idea of winning or losing was paramount. In this way, all things were simply business to him.
    While maintaining his friend’s innocence, he casually mentioned that the rape victim was deaf and dumb, aged twenty-two, and had a four-year-old son. They had been hitchhiking, and her son witnessed the entire assault. The man had been sure he would get off, because the woman could not speak to defend herself, or to say no.
    But Laura McNair had got enough clinical evidence to support the case against him, and the man was no longer sure, so he had gone to Everette. And Everette, as a matter of course, had come to his new friend, Michael Skid, who was “a good guy.”
    “Could you please put in a good word for him with your dad? He is the best of lads,” Everette said, and his face looked touching and reflective. “I know your father — I hold nothing against someone doing their job. As you know, he put me in jail and it was fair and square. I was reckless and did a reckless thing that I is — is ashamed of. But this man is a friend of mine. He never did nothin to that woman — she was beggin for it. He just took her back to the lane and give it to her as she wanted.”
    “I’ll try,” Michael said.
    Everette came over to him and squeezed his arm. There was a seductive quality about this. He remembered how Silver had squeezed his arm trying to get him to leave the shack the first night he had met this man.
    The case was odious to Michael, but to have Everette’s friendship was a certain valuable plus.
    Then Everette lit a huge chunk of hash and put it to Michael and Madonna’s nose.
    “Here you go.”
    Madonna began to giggle, but moved away when Everette tried to hold her around the waist.
    In May, Michael decided to go home to Newcastle. He wanted to do more research for the article on the private school he was committed to write. There was a certain moment when it became clear to him that he should take this no further. His father wanted him to take a job collecting soil samples for a mining operation in Labrador. It was far away, and it paid well, and there were no temptations. Michael knew this. His friend Professor Becker asked him to go back to university in September to begin his master’s. But Michael knew Professor Becker liked having students around because he wanted to be seen as youthful and boyish.
    Still it was time to go.
    When he told his friends, Madonna said nothing. She only tore paper from a cigarette box and then set it afire, so the smoke came up in front of her brilliant eyes.
    “So I think I will go back up to town,” he said finally.
    “Well, I’ll come visit you, okay?“
    “Sure,” Michael said. “Anytime.”
    However, when he went down to say goodbye to Everette he got a different reaction. Everette looked disturbed, even irritated. And it pleased Michael to see such a reaction.
    “You’re a friend of mine — what are you doing? Summer is just starting and you’re thinking of leaving — wait until the summer is over — you know I’d love a trip on that sailboat of yours — just once.” Then he looked at him, and smiled, “Well, if you have to go — I wish you could wait — but I understand important things — always important things keep friends apart. Look, if you don’t have the money, we could pool our money and booze and drugs together so everyone would get a share.” And here he lifted up a pickle jar, poured a tiny bit of moonshine out, wiped the jar clean, and took twenty dollars from his pocket.
    “Now, that’s the pickle jar — and that’s the money, and it’s your money- so you don’t have to spend the summer up in Labrador, working for that mining company your father wants you to. Anytime we have something well just pool it together!”
    Michael smiled, and was happy he was so well thought-of. But he didn’t know how Everette would have heard