Bandits (1987) Read Online Free Page B
Author: Elmore Leonard
tonight.
You still worried about me?
You see your old pal on the table, the next thing I know you ' re eighty proof. Who drank the Sazeracs, Buddy or Helene?
Jack smiled, feeling relaxed, wise, confident, in his favorite place to drink at the end of the day; rainy outside and growing dark, ideal conditions. He said, You want me to tell you about Helene, don ' t you? What it was like seeing her again. You ' re dying to know, aren ' t you?
I told you, Leo said, I was somewhat apprehensive when I heard.
Then you ' ll be glad to know my heart didn ' t leap.
How about any other area on your person?
Jack shook his head. The thrill is gone. She ' s got curly hair now and it makes her look different. Hey, but, Leo? Jack smiled. Mmmmm, did she smell good. Had on a kind of perfume I know is expensive ' cause I picked up a bottle off a dresser one night in the Peabody Hotel, in Memphis, and gave it to Maureen.
Guilty conscience, Leo said.
Maybe. Maureen goes, ' yJack, this costs a hundred and fifty dollars an ounce. You bought this? Tell me the truth. ' You know how Maureen looks you right in the eye? It was after I ' d left Uncle Brother and Emile After they fired you.
And everybody thought I was on the road selling coffee. There was a friend of mine did that, sold La Louisianne. I ' d say good-bye to Maureen Sunday night and not see her again till Friday. I ' m back in New Orleans or at the Bay while some conventioneer in Nashville is asking hotel security, ' yBut how could anybody get in the room when the chain ' s still on the door, when we woke up this morning? '
How did you? Leo said.
Jack heard the clink of silverware Henry the waiter setting a table and in that pause realized he had never talked to Leo about details. Or told anyone before how he ' d met Buddy Jeannette. Well, Buddy was dead. It was okay to tell about that night. But was he talking too much? He said to Leo, The point I was making, I always felt Maureen suspected I was into some other line of work. I didn ' t know shit about coffee other than you drink it. But I know she never said a word to anybody.
Leo said, Unlike another girl we could mention that we happen to be talking about, as a matter of fact.
You get something in your head, Leo, that ' s it.
Leo said, Jack, you ' ve always been a little crazy, but you were never dumb. The Jesuits taught you how to think to some degree, put things in their proper order. What I ' ll never understand is how you could let that redheaded broad lead you around by your privates It wasn ' t like that.
When you had a wonderful girl like Maureen dying to marry you. A girl that has everything, looks, intelligence, a good Catholic upbringing, she even cooks better than your mother or Raejeanne.
Jack said, I saw you working for your dad and her dad, Leo. I saw if I married her I ' d become a Mullen and Sons son-in-law, and I wouldn ' t need a Jesuit education to tell me I ' d be stuck for good, committed. Like doing time.
Leo said, Maureen wouldn ' t a cared what you did for a living. She was crazy about you.
Maureen wants security and everything to be nice. That ' s why she married the doctor, that little asshole with his bow tie, his little mustache. But that ' s beside the point, Jack said. You want to know why I didn ' t marry Maureen? It wasn ' t ' cause she was so sweet and nice. Hell, I could ' ve changed that, got her to lay back and recognize the difference between bullshit and real life. You want to hear the real reason? Since I ' m telling you my innermost secrets?
You mean since you ' re shitfaced, Leo said, and won ' t remember it anyway.
Jack glanced around before leaning in close to the table. I had the feeling Maureen, once she married and settled down, would have a tendency to get fat in her later years. I felt I could change her attitude about life, but not her metabolism.
Leo stared at him. You serious?
I say that knowing my sister, Raejeanne, is no lightweight. She ' d get me pissed off about
You still worried about me?
You see your old pal on the table, the next thing I know you ' re eighty proof. Who drank the Sazeracs, Buddy or Helene?
Jack smiled, feeling relaxed, wise, confident, in his favorite place to drink at the end of the day; rainy outside and growing dark, ideal conditions. He said, You want me to tell you about Helene, don ' t you? What it was like seeing her again. You ' re dying to know, aren ' t you?
I told you, Leo said, I was somewhat apprehensive when I heard.
Then you ' ll be glad to know my heart didn ' t leap.
How about any other area on your person?
Jack shook his head. The thrill is gone. She ' s got curly hair now and it makes her look different. Hey, but, Leo? Jack smiled. Mmmmm, did she smell good. Had on a kind of perfume I know is expensive ' cause I picked up a bottle off a dresser one night in the Peabody Hotel, in Memphis, and gave it to Maureen.
Guilty conscience, Leo said.
Maybe. Maureen goes, ' yJack, this costs a hundred and fifty dollars an ounce. You bought this? Tell me the truth. ' You know how Maureen looks you right in the eye? It was after I ' d left Uncle Brother and Emile After they fired you.
And everybody thought I was on the road selling coffee. There was a friend of mine did that, sold La Louisianne. I ' d say good-bye to Maureen Sunday night and not see her again till Friday. I ' m back in New Orleans or at the Bay while some conventioneer in Nashville is asking hotel security, ' yBut how could anybody get in the room when the chain ' s still on the door, when we woke up this morning? '
How did you? Leo said.
Jack heard the clink of silverware Henry the waiter setting a table and in that pause realized he had never talked to Leo about details. Or told anyone before how he ' d met Buddy Jeannette. Well, Buddy was dead. It was okay to tell about that night. But was he talking too much? He said to Leo, The point I was making, I always felt Maureen suspected I was into some other line of work. I didn ' t know shit about coffee other than you drink it. But I know she never said a word to anybody.
Leo said, Unlike another girl we could mention that we happen to be talking about, as a matter of fact.
You get something in your head, Leo, that ' s it.
Leo said, Jack, you ' ve always been a little crazy, but you were never dumb. The Jesuits taught you how to think to some degree, put things in their proper order. What I ' ll never understand is how you could let that redheaded broad lead you around by your privates It wasn ' t like that.
When you had a wonderful girl like Maureen dying to marry you. A girl that has everything, looks, intelligence, a good Catholic upbringing, she even cooks better than your mother or Raejeanne.
Jack said, I saw you working for your dad and her dad, Leo. I saw if I married her I ' d become a Mullen and Sons son-in-law, and I wouldn ' t need a Jesuit education to tell me I ' d be stuck for good, committed. Like doing time.
Leo said, Maureen wouldn ' t a cared what you did for a living. She was crazy about you.
Maureen wants security and everything to be nice. That ' s why she married the doctor, that little asshole with his bow tie, his little mustache. But that ' s beside the point, Jack said. You want to know why I didn ' t marry Maureen? It wasn ' t ' cause she was so sweet and nice. Hell, I could ' ve changed that, got her to lay back and recognize the difference between bullshit and real life. You want to hear the real reason? Since I ' m telling you my innermost secrets?
You mean since you ' re shitfaced, Leo said, and won ' t remember it anyway.
Jack glanced around before leaning in close to the table. I had the feeling Maureen, once she married and settled down, would have a tendency to get fat in her later years. I felt I could change her attitude about life, but not her metabolism.
Leo stared at him. You serious?
I say that knowing my sister, Raejeanne, is no lightweight. She ' d get me pissed off about
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