ace of night, part 4: the wind and the rain

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there were no messages for me when i got inside the hotel. not that i was expecting any, but i always check. just like i always look both ways and behind me when i cross the street. you got to gamble, but you can't be too careful. i walked up the three flights of stairs to my room. i don't like elevators. did i ever tell you what happened to me in an elevator in budapest in 1944? but that is another story. i walked down the corridors. one thing about the place, it was quiet. i stood outside the door of the hotel room. how many doors outside how many rooms in how many hotels in how many cities in how many continents had i stood like this - my sixth sense told me everything was all right. i still wished i had a gun. i needed a lot of things - that was high on the list. i put the key in the door and opened it and went in. i switched on the light. nothing. just like i expected. my powers of prediction were still working pretty good. good enough, anyway. i needed some sleep but i knew i wasn't going to get any. i had gotten pretty wet, so i got my suitcase out and changed my clothes. i could hear the wind and rain outside. i couldn't stop thinking about the dame in the cab - what did she call herself? miss lost lamb. i went and looked out the window, it was raining harder than ever. i hoped miss lost lamb hadn't gotten too wet getting out of the cab. she was right across the street. so close, so close. i could say, she might as well be a million miles away. but i know better. fate has a way of stepping in. especially if you know how to handle it. i got a cigarette out of my pack and started to light it with my lighter. then i remembered the matchbook. davenport 7 - 5297. i went over and sat on the bed and picked up the phone. the line was dead. not too surprising, in a dump like this. but now i was curious. and i wasn't going to sleep anyway. i didn't feel like going back out in the rain. i figured i'd go down to the front desk, use the phone down there. yeah, that is what i'd do. davenport 7 -5297 it had a certain ring to it. part 5: carla

first poem

columbus sailed the ocean blue napoleon met his waterloo nero fiddled while rome burned joan of arc was roasted to a turn george washington cut down the cherry tree patrick henry wanted to be free abraham lincoln freed the slaves blackbeard rests in a watery grave cleopatra was fond of snakes moses was found in the canebrake isaac newton got hit by an apple jacob with the angel all night did grapple delilah cut poor samsons hair solomon sat in a golden chair benedict arnold was a traitor foul old ben franklin was wise as an owl confucius had a lot to say buddha sat in the shade all day friar tuck and robin hood robbed the bad to feed the good methusaleh lived to be very old jesse james was an outlaw bold bob ford shot jesse in the back all pride and manhood he did lack florence nightingale tended the sick the tower of babel was made of brick noah built an ark in the rain goliath by little david was slain all these things i learned in school i am a barely tolerable fool always keep your powder dry and wait until you see the whites of their eyes

lover

you look so fine, baby, coming down the stairs with your eccentric millionaires a mellon and a dupont on each arm how could you ever come to harm? down in the shadows, behind the band that's me with a tray in my hand but you need not be impressed i'm serving the chauffeurs, not the guests i know your new friends would never believe that you could ever plot to deceive with your baby eyes and perfect smile but i have walked with you many a mile on feet of dreams down a highway of lies under burning, black and rainy skies but why speak in symbols, why talk in riddles your hell is real and i'm in the middle remember the gray nevada sand when we walked into vegas hand in hand the bus blasted by with its black exhaust but we never stopped to count the cost vegas - the american vampire night lit by money's undying light 24 hours of non-stop cancer the tunnel of love for two cons without an answer third time unlucky, you always said the third mark we rolled turned up righteously dead you took one look at the sucker's i d your eyes got wide and you said to me this guy's the boss of the whole east coast but, baby, i still love you the most no need to be scared of this dead mother as long as we are true to each other and remember the cafe in laramie when i became you, and you became me and the world was buried in cold and snow it was not so very long ago now that i think of it - yes, whenever i'd wake up from a dream of love forever your eyes were always clear and bright checking out everything, everything in sight when we held up the liquor store in ukiah i thought i heard the heavenly choir but it was the deputy's turn to die you saved me then - now i wonder why and what would mrs purvington-smith say if she knew who you hung out with and the things you did and the things you knew and the jokers and johns you conned - the whole crew and mr and mrs burford jones would shiver in their upholstered bones and cry for their mamas if you ever admitted to all the murders you've committed remember the time on 34th street when you got blisters on both feet we went into larry's sandwich shop the rain began falling, drop by drop and there was that pink cigar smoking god callahan from the vice squad but he just nodded and stirred his tea stirred his tea, so wearily larry's was kind of declasse the american sub was his forte you liked yours so much you ordered two more the rain began to really pour a guy at the counter with a purple face told a sad story about the seventh race the hustlers and losers and shoppers outside went by in a single watery tide at times like that it seemed to me they were all slaves, and only i was free the world wasn't old, the world wasn't new the world wasn't anything, but i had you