The Studs Lonigan Trilogy - James T. Farrell [118]
“He’s down for the count, huh,” said Slug.
“Let’s get a coke and take a little walk,” Studs said, as they walked out.
V
“And was I blind last night!” reiterated eighteen-year-old Ellsworth Lyman.
“You were soused to the gills,” Wils Gillen said, causing Lyman to smile with the pride of achievement.
“Ellsworth was so drunk he went around with tears in his eyes, sobbing the blues, because he couldn’t stop breathing,” said Darby Dan Drennan; they guffawed.
“I don’t remember that, but I do remember a guy getting tough with me around Sixty-third, and I was all set to knock his teeth down his throat. But he was so yellow, I didn’t have the heart to lay one on him.”
“When Lyman called him, he folded up like an umbrella,” Gillen said.
“I can’t stand a guy with a yellow streak down his back,” Lyman said.
“Well, by God, Ellsworth, you were snaky last night,” said Wils.
“I guess I was,” Ellsworth proudly said.
VI
“Jeff, you’re falling away to a ton!” Red Kelly said.
“Yeah, don’t fool yourself! I just dropped seventy-five pounds,” Jeff replied, handfuls of fat on his cheek, chin, and neck wiggling into a smile.
He rolled along the poolroom, a lumbrous, slightly limping, waddling barracks of flesh.
“Hi, boys!” he said with excessive good-nature.
“Boys, here’s Jeff, the baby elephant!” yelled Pochon.
“Say, Jeff, I thought you’d already joined a freak show,” Young Rocky said.
“Say, Hippo, Man Bleu is gunning for you, and promises that he won’t do anything at all but lose his fists in your god-damn fat puss,” Lyman yelled.
“I ain’t done nothing to him,” Jeff protested.
“What, another chump you took in?” asked Kelly.
“Man gave him five bucks to get him some punch boards. He ain’t seen the elephant since,” Lyman said.
“He’s not gettin gypped. He’ll get them. They were just delayed at the factory. Just got ‘em yesterday. In fact, I came around to see if he was here now.”
“B.S.,” Young Rocky said, lip-farting.
“Jeff, you ain’t got the heart of a snake, have you?” said Kelly.
“Commere, Red. I got a funny story to tell you,” Jeff said.
“Jeff, the first ton is the hardest, ain’t it?” said Gillen.
VII
“Arnold, where’d you get the shiner?” Stan Simonsky, nephew of a baseball magnate, asked.
“Oh, a fight last night,” Arnold replied.
Stan, plump and medium-sized, stretched on his toes to examine Arnold Sheehan’s black eye. Arnold was taller, and well built; his face was crude in features, with heavy dark brows, and a long nose. He wore a loosely-cut black suit with flashy pin-stripes, a checkered gray topcoat, an almost pearly gray fedora, and black tie.
“Drunk again?” asked Stan.
Arnold nodded.
“Every time you get snozzled, you get a break, don’t you! Two weeks ago you were maggoty and got your dose, and you’re still limping from getting shoved down those elevated steps last week. You better stick to malted milks, Arnold.”
“Just hard luck! I was dancing at the Bourbon Palace, and got in a scrap over a broad I was trying to make. I wasn’t so drunk, though. You should have seen Weary Reilley. He was tossing sugar bowls all around Kling’s Restaurant.”
“Some day that guy’s gonna get worse than you’ll ever get.”
“Say, Arnold, what’ll you take for your shiner?” Kelly hollered over to him.
VIII
“You were pretty gone last night,” beefy Tommy Doyle said to his cousin Les.
“Yes, I was,” Les modestly said.
“Your old man should have seen you.”
“Don’t worry. He’s tipped many a bottle himself,” Les said, smiling like a cherub.
Tommy shook his head in expression of indefinite amusement.
“Hell, I might just as well get drunk. I don’t see why I got to rot away in that rut, working on an electric for the Continental Express Company. Gee, I’m never going to amount to anything, and I might as well have a little fun.”
“Say, Tommy, I sure do wish I’d gone to school and gotten an education,” Les whined.
“You don’t know when you’re well off. I’d like to have a job paying the dough you get.”
“Well, I wish I had an education. Look at where Joe O’Reilley and Dinny Gorman are. Now if I was a lawyer, I might be getting somewheres.