Jimmy the Kid

Kelp, the only one in the room with a Mickey Mouse mask on, said, "You people don't seem to understand. If you don't do a thing right, how do you expect to get away with anything?"

"Be quiet," Murch's Mom said. "I'm watching the movie."

May said to Jimmy, "Come here, sit with me.",

I m a little old for sitting on people s laps, Jimmy said.

"Okay," May said. "Then I'll sit on yours."

Jimmy laughed. "You win," he said. "I'll sit on your lap."

They all arranged themselves in their chairs before the television set again, as they had been before Jimmy had come back. Kelp looked at them all., looked at the kid, looked at the TV, shook his Mickey Mouse-masked head, shrugged, pulled the mask off, flipped it away, and sat down to watch the movie.

The hermit and the monster ate dinner together. "Food good," said the monster. The hermit gave him a cigar.

20

When Dortmunder woke up he was stiff as board. He sat up, creaking in every joint, and discovered that his air mattress had developed a leak during the night. In order to have something for them to sleep on, without having to cart half a dozen beds out here from New York, Murch and his Mom had bought a bunch of inflatable air mattresses, the kind that people use in their swimming pools. And Dortmunder's had sprung a leak during the night, lowering him slowly to the dining room floor, on which he had done the rest of his sleeping. The result being that he was now so stiff he could barely move.

Gray-white daylight crept through the boarded windows, showing him the empty room, the black hole in the center of the ceiling where a chandelier had been removed, and the other two air mattresses. Murch's was empty, but a blanketed mound breathed slowly and evenly on the other one; Dortmunder felt fatalistic irritation at that. Kelp's air mattress had not leaked, he was over there sleeping like a baby.

Last night, after the movie, the kid had been put back up in his room with the door locked, for whatever good it might do. But he'd been asleep by then-Dortmunder had had to carry him upstairs-so maybe he was still around. In any event, mattresses had been blown up for the ladies in the living room and for the gentlemen next door in the dining room, and to the pity-pat of rain on the floor-the roof leaked-they had all gone off to sleep.

Speaking of pitter-pat, there wasn't any. Dortmunder frowned at the windows, but the boards were too close together for him to see out or even to tell what kind of day it was; though this light did seem too pale to be direct sunshine. Anyway. the rain had apparently stopped.

Well, there was nothing for it but to get up, or at least to make the attempt. Also, there was the smell of coffee in the air, which made Dortmunder's stomach growl softly to itself in anticipation. Last night's Lurps had been better than nothing, but they weren't exactly the kind of meal he was used to.

"Urn," he said, when he leaned forward, and, "Oof," when he stretched one hand out on the floor and shifted his weight over onto it. "Aggghh," he said, when he heaved his body heavily over onto one knee, and, "Oh, Jee-sus," when at last he struggled to his feet.

What a back. It felt as though somebody had pounded a lot of finishing nails into it last night. He bent, twisted, arched his back, and listened to his body creak and snap and complain. Moving a lot like Boris Karloff in that movie last night-in fact, he looked a bit like that character-he staggered out of the dining room and into the living room, where he found May, Murch's Mom and the kid sitting at the card table, playing hearts. May said, "Good morning. There's hot water on the hibachi, if you want to make yourself some coffee."

"I don't want to make myself some coffee," Dortmunder said. "My mattress leaked, I slept on the floor, I'm too stiff to bend over."

"In other words," May said, "you want me to make it."

"That's right," Dortmunder said.

"After this hand," May said.

Dortmunder grunted, and went over to open the door and look out at the world. The sky was very gray and the ground was very wet and there was still a damp chill in the air.

"Shut that door," Murch's Mom called. "It's nice and warm in here, let's keep it that way."

Dortmunder shut the door. "Where's Stan?" he said.

Murch's Mom said, "He went to get some groceries."

"Groceries?"

May said, "Jimmy says he's an expert at scrambled eggs."

"I always make my own breakfast," Jimmy said. "Mrs. Engelberg is hopeless." Looking slyly at Murch's Mom he said, "You wouldn't be shooting the moon, would you?"

"Of course not," Murch's Mom said. "With this hand?" Dortmunder walked slowly around the room, bending this way and that, shrugging his shoulders, twisting his head around. Everything hurt. His wrists hurt. He said, "Isn't that hand over?"

"Not quite," Murch's Mom said.