Divisadero - Michael Ondaatje [48]
On Nevada Inn Road, twenty minutes later. ‘I’m taking you to meet my friend,’ she said. ‘There’s something I want to ask you to do… .’ She began telling him about the hardware store owner on the drive, and how he had recognized Coop that very first night at Jocko’s. His name was Gil. She owed him money, and she worked for him. ‘Is he your lover?’ She’d known him for a long time, she said. He was a card player. There would be his two friends with him, they were all card players. They knew everything about Cooper. They had heard about him before he ever sat down for a meal at Jocko’s. Cooper was silent, whispering to himself, wanting to slam the heel of his hand through the windshield, as if it were her foolishness. She was a part of a setup to bring him to Tahoe.
They parked, and he walked with her into a short-lease condo. Three men sat in the large, almost unfurnished apartment. She introduced Cooper, and right away the men began speaking of his episode with The Brethren, even about his infamous gesture to the eye in the sky that would find no documentary evidence of his cheating; they were impressed he had been that good. He looked over at Bridget, who was staring at her hands, as if she had nothing to do with any of this. Then Gil put forward the plan. It was clever, intricate, and Cooper refused right away. He stood up. There was an exhaustion overtaking him. The men kept giving him more details so that he felt surrounded by talkative demons. He moved away from the light coming through the big windows. Cooper kept replaying the moment in the car when Bridget had admitted her connection with these men so casually. He had no idea who these people were. They were newcomers. They were older than he was, but he had never heard of them. He waved them off when they wouldn’t accept his refusal. He’d made that one mistake in his life; he wouldn’t do it again. He started to walk out of the room. One of the men touched him on the arm, and Cooper wheeled around and almost hit him. They were aware of that. When Cooper got to the door, Bridget came beside him and put her hand on him, exactly where the man had touched him, as if he should understand the difference. He turned and saw the three men, over her shoulder at the far end of the enormous room, watching them.
Cooper, can you help me? This has to work. I need my life back.
This life?
I need money to pay him back… . It’s a lot of money. It’s just a card game.
He laughed at her.
Can you do this? She reached out and he stepped back, would not be touched. He remembered how comfortable she and her friend had been at Jocko’s. Always talking, always interested in each other.
You can step away from here, he said.
You don’t understand, Cooper. You have to help me through this.
Tell me.
There’s this dream. I don’t know. It’s a long-standing dream. You walk into a room and the white lines are laid out, or the crystals are forming, and you think, Just walk out, don’t take a hit, you’re going to feel bad if you take a hit. But an addict never just walks out. You always take the hit. You get the high, even in your dream, and you know at the same time it’s going to hurt. If only you had just walked out.
Why are you whispering?
Why do you think? It’s the truth about me.
I see. He looked back towards the men.
I’ve known him so long. But I’m unsafe now. You have to help me. Do you need more time? He and his friends … they could give you another day to decide. I’m sure. Think about it. Don’t decide against it now.
He drove along the south shore of the lake and found a chalet to rent. Neither anger nor exhaustion had kept him away from Bridget when he arrived in Tahoe. But even in his passion for her, Cooper had refused Gil’s proposal. He could have done everything the three men wanted him to do, but then he would be imprisoned in their world forever. He knew