Executioner's Song, The - Norman Mailer [54]
Of course, the grip put a great deal of pressure on Pete's ribs. His glasses broke in his breast pocket. Next day Pete would even have to go to the chiropractor for his neck and his chest. But right now, he had him. Pete could see Vern standing right over them and observing.
If Gary had waited to stand up and punch nose to nose, Vern thought he could have whipped the fellow. But here Pete had the hold and was using all his 240 pounds. That hold was the luckiest thing in the world for Pete. Pete would thump Gary's head on the floor and say, "Had enough?" Gary could hardly breathe. "Oh, ohhh, ahh, ahh," Gary would answer. Mumbling was about all he could manage. Vern waited a minute, because he wanted Gary to get all of what he was getting, then said, "Okay, he's had enough, let him up." Pete undid his grip.
Gary was white in the face and bleeding a lot from the mouth. He had a look in his eye about as mean as anything Vern had seen.
Vern cussed him out. "You asked for it," he said. "That was a rotten thing to do. Hit somebody from behind."
"Think it was?"
"Call yourself a man?" Vern got him by the arm. "Get in the bathroom. Clean yourself up." When Gary just stood there, Vern pushed him directly in. He didn't go too easily, but Vern pushed him anyway. Then Gary turned around and said, "That's the way I fight. First hit counts."
"First hit," said Vern. "But not from the back. You're no man. Get yourself clean and go back to work."
Pete started collecting himself. Felt shook up more than ever now. So soon as Gary came out of the bathroom, however, he was still asking for an apology. Looked ready to fight again. In fact, Gary's face looked ready to do anything. So Pete picked up the telephone and said, "If you don't leave right now, I'll call the police."
There was a long pause. After that, Gary certainly left.
Pete made the call anyway. He didn't like the feeling Gary left behind. A cop came over to the store and told Pete to come to the station and file a report.
Vern and Ida weren't altogether opposed to this. They told Pete that Gary was getting more out of line every day, Pete even got the name of Gary's parole officer, Mont Court, and gave him a call as well, but Mont Court said Gary came from another state, and he wasn't sure he could send him back to jail that routinely. Pete had a feeling the buck was being passed. Gary wouldn't be arrested unless he really worked at it.
That night, Pete went to visit his ex-wife, Elizabeth. "The next time it happens," he said to her, "Gary is going to kill me." Elizabeth was tiny and blond and voluptuous and had a fiery disposition and was very wise as far as Pete was concerned for she had kept her happy spirits through a hundred personal disasters. Now she told him to ignore it.
Pete said no. "It's a certainty," he said. "He's going to kill me or somebody else." He told her he was sensitive to Gary's agitation right now. It was part of the equipment God had given Pete to be sensitive. But he also knew that when he got too responsive to things he got a breakdown. He tried not to have them anymore. So he said to Elizabeth, "I want Gary where he won't harm anybody. Jail is where he belongs, and I'm going to press charges."
3
Next day at work, Gary's mouth was swollen and his face discolored. "What happened?" Spence asked.
"I was drinking beer," Gary said, "and a guy said something didn't like. So I took a swing at him."
"Looks like the guy got the best