"It's something personal between me and Bubba, Cecil. I'm going to ask you to respect that."
"He's a pimp. He don't deserve no slack."
"Maybe not, partner. But it's my collar." I winked at him and grinned.
He didn't like it, but he walked away through the trees toward the concession stand by the swimming pool. I could see kids springing off the diving board into the sunlit blue water.
"Do you really think I was messing around with your wife?" I asked Bubba through the wire-mesh screen.
"What the fuck do you call it?"
"Clean the shit out of your mouth and answer me straight."
"She knows how to get a guy on the bone."
"You're talking about your wife."
"So? She's human."
"Don't you know when you're being jerked around? You're supposed to be a smart man."
"You thought about it when she was in your truck, though, didn't you?" he said, and smiled. His teeth were still pink with his blood. His arms were pulled behind him by the handcuffs, and his chest looked as round and hard as a small barrel. "She just likes to flash her bread around sometimes. They all do. That doesn't mean you get to unzip your pants.
"Hey, tell me the truth, I really shook your peaches with that first shot, didn't I?"
"I'm going to tell you something, Bubba. I don't want you to take it the wrong way, either. Go to a psychiatrist. You're a rich man, you can afford it. You'll understand people better, you'll learn about yourself."
"I bet I pay my gardener more than you make. Does that say something?"
"You're not a good listener. You never were. That's why one day you're going to take a big fall."
I got out of the car and opened his door.
"What are you doing?" he said.
"Step out."
I put one hand under his arm and helped him off the seat.
"Turn around," I said.
"What's the game?"
"No game. I'm cutting you loose."
&n
bsp; I unlocked the cuffs. He rubbed his wrists with his hands. In the shade, the pupils of his gray-blue eyes stared at me like burnt cinders.
"I figure what happened at Tee Neg's was personal. So this time you walk. If you come at me again, you're going up the road."
"Sounds like a Dick Tracy routine to me."
"I don't know why, but I have a strong feeling you're a man without a future."
"Yeah?"
"They're going to eat your lunch."