An Eighty Percent Solution (CorpGov) by Thomas Gondolfi Read Free Book Online Page A

into the gutters with the rest of the burns and filth .
    “Yeah, and what happened to that frumpy old baggage you helped in the TriMet?” Carmine questioned , deftly changing the subject.
    “I don’t have a clue . No one called, so I might be in the clear.”
    “Good . That scare should teach you not to try to be Mister White Knight . It doesn’t line the credit account.”
    “Probably right, but you wanna hear something even more strange ?” Tony leaned forward over the table . He looked surreptitiously around . The volume of his voice dropped at least in half before he said, “She was carrying a box with a cat in it.”
    “Eww!” Her face wrinkled up in disgust . “Can’t stand the things . Saw one at a zoo once . Filthy creatures . Fur everywhere in its cage . Should grind them all up for sausage . You ran it into the recycle, right ?”
    Carmine’s unexpected reaction stopped Tony . He fully intended to tell her the entire story and now she frightened him . “ U h …r ight .” Perhaps Carmine’s unanticipated trip profited him more than the loss of his bed companion suggested . Certainly tonight, of all nights, he ’d have his hands full with Cinnamon, the name he’d chosen for his new charge .
    For the next two hours he drank sparingly, unusual in and of itself, and listened to the band’s reverberations . Tony took the time to examine Carmine in a new light. Since fifteen she ’d painted his life in some way . She sympathized with him while he lived out the letter of the contract to that bloodsucker , Pricilla . She stuck with him t hrough the six years of his b achelor ’ s d egree, another three for his m aster ’ s, his apprenticeship at Nanogate , and three years of seventy-hour weeks trying to make manager .
    They shared fluids and beds anytime they could manage, but he didn’t love her , and she repeated, as often as he’d listen, that she didn’t love him, either . Tony never considered offering even a temporary marriage contract . They kept each other comfortable in bachelorhood as friends with many privileges .
    Carmine’s prejudice now colored his views of her . Her normal warmth suddenly carried the heat of a n icicle and her jocularity sliced like a knife edge . Tony couldn’t understand how she could even begin to harm anything as cute and loving as Cinnamon . A parsec of space suddenly warped in between them.
    Anyone who paid attention from the outside could easily spot this one-sided gulf . Tony moved with the music without hearing it . He hardly said two words in as many hours . Carmine spent her time too engrossed in the band and watching the antics of the patrons to notice Tony’s lack of banter .
    About eleven , Carmine turned abruptly and planted a bright red kiss on his cheek . The self-heating lipstick stained and warmed his flesh . “Gotta run, honey-bunny . Just enough time to get to Black Field .” Carmine parted the curtain and jumped down from the booth .
    For the first time , Tony realized her beautiful body hid something callous . While she might not know it yet , this time she ’d walked right out of his life . H e grimaced as he wiped the still - warm lipstick from his face.
    The Bananas finished their set . Tony looked around . While several acquaintances danced to canned music, for the first time none of them, male or female , could erase the cold emptiness he felt inside . He climbed down from his booth, to the pleasant surprise of a latecomer that just happened by the choice club real estate.
    “Going home so soon, sir?” Jock asked as Tony exited into the relative quiet of the street .
    “Yeah . Carmine had to run off to Tyc h o.”
    “Yes, sir . I saw her leave. ”
    “Yeah, I’m just not feeling in the party mood tonight.”
    “Well, you be extra careful tonight, Mr. Tony . There ’ s a level three riot just beyond the TriMet stop.”
    “Thanks, Jock .” Absently , Tony wondered if Jock gave Carmine the same information . He gave his head a