The Adventures of Augie March - Saul Bellow [250]
if it's true. Chrissake, use your head!" Moulton was going backwards while I dragged Iggy on my arm. "Don't be a foolish bastard, Boling," said Moulton. "It's true all right. You think I want trouble with you? I only did it to help, so you wouldn't get hurt. It's dangerous down there. Talavera will kill you." "Look what a favor you done him!" said Iggy. "Look at his face!" "Is it true he went down there with her, Iggy?" I said, stopping. I was so clawed and bit inside I could hardly get out this question. "He was her boy friend here before," Iggy said. "A guy told me yesterday that Talavera took off for Chilpanzingo right after Thea." "When was he--?" "A few years ago. Why, he was living at Casa Descuitada, just about," said Moulton. I couldn't any longer stay on my feet and slumped down against the bandstand. I covered my head with my hands and shivered, my face on my knees. Moulton was severe toward me. "I'm surprised the way you take it, . March," he said. "How do you want him to take it? Stop layin' it on him," said Iggy- "He acts like a kid and you encourage him," Moulton said. "This has happened to me, it's happened to you. It happened to Talavera when she showed up with Smitty and then with him." "No, it didn't. Talavera knew she was married." "What's the difference? Even if Talavera is a chorus-boy horse-rider he has his feelings. Well, shouldn't a man find out when this happens to him? Shouldn't I have found out? Shouldn't you have found out? This is one of those damn facts that have got to be known." "But the guy still loves her. You got mad when somebody put the blocks to your wife, but not because you loved her." "Well, does she love him?" said Moulton. "Then what was she doing in the mountains with Talavera after March got knocked on the dome and was laid up?" "She was doing nothing in the mountains with him," I cried out, raging again. "If he's in Chilpanzingo now, he's just in Chilpanzingo and not with Thea." He stared at me, acting full of curiosity. He said, "Brother, I bet you see exactly what everybody else sees, but you just stick by your opinions. Why didn't she tell you he was her old boy friend? And what were they doing, just having a debate of yes or no, and she didn't get off her horse for him?"; "Nothing went on. Nothing! If you don't stop talking I'll ram one of these stones down your throat!" But he was terribly roused too and bound to go on; he wasn't just trifling but intended something. His eyes were open large and fixed on me. "Too bad, friend, but women have no judgment. They aren't just for happy young fellows like you. What do you want to bet her britches came down for him, and she didn't save all her sweet little things for you?" I jumped at him. Iggy held me from the back, and I picked him off the ground and tried to get rid of him by dashing him against the bandstand, but he clung, and when I threw my weight backwards and crushed him so he'd let go, he gasped, "Christ, you lost your mind? I'm keepin' you outa trouble." Moulton had already gotten away, down the busy street that led to the market. I yelled after him, "Okay, you filthy slob sonofabitch. You wait. I'll kill you!".. "Quit that, Boling, there's a cop with his eye on you." An Indian policeman sat on the running board of a nearby car. He probably was used to drunken gringos wrangling and scrapping. Iggy had forced me down on my knee; he still clutched my arms. "Can I let you loose now? You won't run after him?" I uttered a kind of sob and shook my head. He helped me to stand up. "Look at you covered with muck. You'll have to change your clothes." "No, I haven't got time." "Come on to my room. I'll get this stuff off you at least with a brush." "I'm not going to miss that bus." "You mean to say you're going down there anyway? You must be cracked." But I had decided I'd go, I washed my face at Louie's and got into the bus; my place was taken there, and all the early birds who had watched me by the bandstand appeared to have understood what it was about, that I was a poor cabron who had lost his woman. Iggy entered the bus with