In a Mist Read Online Free

from his lips he is smiling until he looks around the restaurant and in the back corner sees what cannot be. Beyond the haze of the warmth in Roy’s stomach and the grease in the air sits the Houston Street newsman. The newsman smokes a new cigarillo and has removed his watch cap to reveal his balding head. In front of him there is a steaming bowl and a cup like the one Roy holds in his hand. The newsman pays no attention to these things but looks intently across the room, his gaze fixed in the direction of the booth directly across from Roy and Alice. Roy averts his gaze and watches Alice toy with the packets of milk on his saucer. He leans in and whispers, “The man from the newsstand is sitting in the far corner.”
    â€œHow is that possible?”
    Roy shakes his head and looks again, not because he is unsure of what he has seen, but because he cannot help but look. When Alice goes to the restroom Roy turns in the direction the newsman is looking. The prostitutes sit smoking and laughing, watching the door to see who enters and who leaves. On the wall behind them hangs a photograph of someone who looks like Art Beazley. The black prostitute, Roy decides, is in fact a man. She is better dressed than her companion; from this distance, she is decidedly the more attractive of the two. The shorter woman—a girl, really—wears a white felt hat with a turned-down brim that might have been stylish once but has lost its shape, giving its owner a pitiable, juvenile look.
    The waiter places Alice’s sandwich on the table. “We’re closing in fifteen minutes.”
    â€œIs that Art Beazley in that photo?” Roy asks.
    â€œNone other than.” The waiter fills his cup without asking.
    As Alice returns from the restroom, she scarcely looks at the man sitting in the corner.
    â€œWhat do you think he’s doing here?”
    Alice shrugs her shoulders. “Having dinner.”
    â€œHas he seen us?”
    â€œI don’t think so. He’s got other things on his mind.” Alice nods in the direction of the prostitutes, and demurely swallows a mouthful of her sandwich.
    Roy smiles and says, “I think the tall one’s more your type.”
    Alice places her napkin on her plate and wraps her scarf around her face.
    â€œYou find it cold in here?” asks Roy.
    â€œI’m going. I don’t want to stay here any longer.” Alice puts on her coat. “I’ll meet you at my place afterwards. You can find your way back from here?”
    â€œYou sure you don’t want me to come along? I’d like to see this studio.”
    â€œYou’ll just make me uncomfortable. I’ll let you listen to the recording as soon as I get home. One of us has to stay and settle the tab.”
    Alice leaves and a moment later the prostitutes make their way to the cash. As the shorter woman asks the waiter for a pack of Pall Malls, the newsman approaches, puts his arm around her and tries to kiss her. When she protests he grabs her by the arm and with his other hand he produces his wallet and insists on paying for her. Roy cannot quite make out their conversation, but he sees the waiter point to the newsman, then to the door. The newsman swears and pounds the counter with his fist, and the few remaining customers begin to take notice. Before the waiter can get out from behind the counter, the transvestite steps in and removes the newsman’s hand from the girl’s arm.
    As they walk out together the waiter blocks the newsman’s path and says, “Best wait here until they’re gone.”
    The newsman throws his hands in the air and at that moment from the dimness of the street there is a panicked scream, and then what Roy imagines must be the sound of a gun, and then silence. The newsman runs out the front door and Roy follows. Outside he sees the newsman kneeling beside the girl, who lies motionless on the sidewalk. There is a dark trickle running from her mouth