horses?â
âUh-huh.â
âAnd they found him a little Shetland pony and let him ride it and he loved it. Â He wasnât afraid at all.â Â She laughed. Â âIn fact, we could barely drag him home.â Â She paused. Â âYouâre probably not in the mood for this, are you? Â Iâm sorry, hon. Â Maybe you should go do something to take your mind off things. Â Is there a good movie on?â
âI guess I could check.â
âSomething light, thatâs what you need.â
âSounds good,â I said. Â âIâll go get the newspaper and see whatâs on.â
âLove you.â
âLove you, too, sweetheart,â I said.
I spent the rest of the afternoon going through my various savings accounts and investments. Â I had no idea what the creep would want to leave us alone. Â We could always threaten him with going to the police, though he might rightly point out that if we really wanted to do that, we would already have done it.
I settled in the five-thousand-dollar range. Â That was the maximum cash I had to play with. Â And even then Iâd have to borrow a little from one of the mutual funds we had earmarked for the kids and college.
Five thousand dollars. Â To me, it sounded like an enormous amount of money, probably because I knew how hard Iâd had to work to get it.
But would it be enough for our friend the vampire?
Â
N eil was there just at dark. Â He parked in the drive and came in. Â Meaning he wanted to talk.
We went in the kitchen. Â I made us a couple of highballs and we sat there and discussed finances.
âI came up with six thousand,â he said.
âI got five.â
âThatâs eleven grand,â he said. Â âItâs got to be more cash than this creep has ever seen.â
âWhat if he takes it and comes back for more?â
âWe make it absolutely clear,â Neil said, âthat there is no more. Â That this is it. Â Period.â
âAnd if not?â
Neil nodded. Â âIâve thought this through. Â You know the kind of lowlife weâre dealing with? Â A) Heâs a burglar which means, these days, that heâs a junkie. Â B) If heâs a junkie then that means heâs very susceptible to AIDS. Â So between being a burglar and shooting up, this guy is probably going to have a very short lifespan.â
âI guess Iâd agree.â
âEven if he wants to make our lives miserable, he probably wonât live long enough to do it. Â So I think weâll be making just the one payment. Â Weâll buy enough time to let nature take its courseâhis nature.â
âWhat if he wants more than the eleven grand?â
âHe wonât. Â His eyesâll pop out when he sees this.â
I looked at the kitchen clock. Â It was going on nine now.
âI guess we could drive over there.â
âIt may be a long night,â Neil said.
âI know.â
âBut I guess we donât have a hell of a lot of choice, do we?â
Â
A s weâd done the last time weâd been here, we split up the duties. Â I took the backyard, Neil the apartment door. Â We waited until midnight. Â The rap music had died by now. Â Babies cried and mothers screamed; couples fought. Â TV screens flickered in dark windows.
I went up the fire escape slowly and carefully. Â Weâd talked about bringing guns then decided against it. Â We werenât exactly marksmen and if a cop stopped us for some reason, we could be arrested for carrying unlicensed firearms. Â All I carried was a flashlight in my back pocket.
As I grabbed the rungs of the ladder, powdery rust dusted my hands. Â I was chilly with sweat. Â My bowels felt sick. Â I was scared. Â I just wanted it to be over with. Â I wanted him to say yes heâd take the money and then