From Here to Eternity_ The Restored Edit - Jones, James [115]
“So whats the difference? I use to be a Junior G Man onct. Its the same difference. Me and J Edgar was like that. Them drawings really look like old Tom, dont they?”
“I wonder what happened to him? You never see him any more.”
“His horse died,” Maggio said, “and he had to retire.”
“Tony,” Readall Treadwell said, coming in from the latrine, a towel wrapped around his big, fat, but heavily muscled under the fat, belly with its navel like a dimple and the hair on it thick enough to comb. “His name was Tony.”
“Remember Buck Jones’s horse Silver?” Prew said. “There was a real horse.”
“Yes, man,” Maggio said. “Between Buck and his horse they had the two biggest chests in creation.”
“He was a deep sea diver,” Readall Treadwell said, sitting down, “before he got in the movies. I read it in a movie magazine. Our Lucky Stars, it was.”
“He was a sailor,” Maggio said scornfully. “You dont want to believe the crap in them magazines. Its propaganda. He was a sailor and he bummed around some, like Jack London.”
“Well anyway,” Readall Treadwell said, “when Buck Jones hit them they stayed hit. Deal me in.”
“Dont get my goddam blanket wet,” Maggio said, “or I’ll hit you so you’ll stay hit.”
“Remember Bob Steele?” Prew said, as Reedy moved to put a paper under him. “He was the one could hit. He was a natural hooker. He was good to watch when he fought, you could tell he been a fighter.”
“I seen him in Mice and Men,” Maggio said. “He was Curly, the boss’s brother-in-law. Boy, he was a mean son of a bitch in that one.”
“But he was a good guy in his own pictures though,” Readall Treadwell said.
“Sure he was, you jerk,” Maggio said disgustedly. “You dont think he’d be the villain when he was the star, do you? I wonder,” he said, “what ever happened to old Hoot Gibson? I can just barely remember him. My god, he had grey hair when I was just a kid.”
“I think he’s dead now,” Prew said.
“I guess so,” Maggio said.
“Tim McCoy was a good one,” Readall Treadwell said.
“I think he’s dead too,” Maggio said. “At least you never see him any more.”
“Remember Hopalong Cassidy?” Prew said. “He’s still playin. He’s the one for hair, his is pure white. Must be all of sixty-five.”
“And still a one-punch man,” Maggio said.
“Who’s the guy awys played with him?” Readall Treadwell said. “The one with a stubble beard.”
“Gabby Hayes,” Maggio said. “I hadnt thought of him in years. George (Gabby) Hayes. They always put it like that on the bill. In parenthesis.”
“He’s the one,” Prew said, “who was always tryin to roll a cigaret with one hand. Then when he dies in the end, just before he dies he rolls it.”
“That’s it,” Maggio said excitedly. “And then it falls out of his hand and old Hopalong just looks at it.” After a pause he said, “I wonder what old Hopalong’s real name is.”
“Bill Boyd,” Readall Treadwell said. “But nobody ever calls him that.”
“Jesus,” Maggio said. “I wish I had some popcorn.”
“Me too,” Prew said. “I been wantin some the last ten minutes.”
“They got a machine over to the Main PX,” Readall Treadwell said hopefully.
“We’re broke,” Maggio said.
“So’m I,” Treadwell said. “If thats what you mean.”
“I use to go regular,” Maggio said, “every Sataday afternoon and eat popcorn. Remember Johnny Mack Brown?”
“Had a southern accent?” Prew said. “And a rawhide hatcord? Let his hat hang down his back half the time?”
“Thats the one,” Maggio said. “I always liked that hatcord. I even cut holes in my hat to make one like it but it ruint the hat.”
“He played halfback in the Rose Bowl onct,” Readall Treadwell said. “For U S C. I read it.”
“I wonder what ever happened to him?” Maggio said. “You never see him any more either.”
“You said it a while ago,” Prew said, laying down his hand. “They die. Or graduate. Or retire. What do you say we talk about something else?”
“We gettin old, men,” said Angelo Maggio, aged nineteen and a half. “I never realized it.”
“Tom Tyler,” Readall Treadwell said. “He was another one.”
“I never liked him,” Maggio said. “Too handsome. But I remember him. He plays villains now,