lefty knew he thought too much, but sometimes hie just could not help it.
he couldn’t sleep on the bus, so what else could he do but think?
he could ”look at the scenery” but he was not sure what “scenery” was. he guessed it was the trees and buildings the bus passed by, but what was so great about that?
he could not sleep because of the way the bus kept stopping at every little hick town in these hayseed hills. towns so small that they did not even seem to be there.
lefty had asked the driver about it a few stops back and the driver explained that when the bus went through west virginia it sort of became a local bus but would get back to normal once it got into pennsylvania.
so lefty thought his thoughts.
he thought about the bag, the bag with the frammis in it. the bag the driver told him could not fit on the rack so he had to let the driver put in the luggage compartment.
the bag duke told him not to let out of his sight until he got to the port authority.
but what could he do? if he made a stink with the driver the driver would not give in, and then the driver would remember him.
it was duke’s fault for not thinking maybe he could not take the bag on the bus with him.
lefty had wanted to steal a car, but duke had been all over him for that! lefty would probably already be safe in new york if he had just stolen a damn car, like he had done hundreds of times in his life.
what were the chances that anything would happen to the bag? lefty just hoped duke - or frankie, or judy - was not waiting for him at the gate at the bus station so he could see lefty retrieving the bag.
no, lefty told himself, duke would be waiting upstairs in the coffee shop. or frankie or judy would be waiting upstairs in the coffee ship and duke would be across the street in a comfortable booth in some bar. and would never suspect that lefty had let the bag out of his sight.
why did he, lefty, worry about things like that? what would duke and frankie and the rest of the gang think if they ever suspected he was so nervous inside sometimes?
and always worrying about stupid things?
like these two clowns who were just getting back on the bus? as soon as lefty saw them get on the bus in gary indiana they gave him a bad feeling. he thought he recognized then from somewhere but was not sure where. they showed no sign that they recognized him.
but he spotted them right away as a couple of lowlife grifters - the lowest of the low, whose names he would never stoop to remember even if he had known them.
was it just a coincidence that they got on the bus lefty was on with the frammis?
of course it was, lefty told himself. the world was full of cheap punks like that.
and what about - what about that dizzy looking dame with the flower in her hair? lefty noticed - watching them all in the reflection in the window glass - the two punks brace her. at first he thought they were laying some two-bit con on her, but… then it looked like she was telling them what to do and it was yes, ma’am.
and then he saw the three of them going into the little coffee shop together, all chummy as could be.
so was she a grifter too? were they all after the frammis?
was the driver in on it? so conveniently telling lefty to give him the bag?
lefty knew it was crazy to think that way, but he just could not help it.
the bus started up. lefty had not seen the dame with the flower in her hair get back on. good, that meant she was nothing, just another hayseed riding the bus. and the two guys tried to put some con on her, and it worked or it did not.
the bus picked up speed when it got out on the street. lefty looked back out the window,
and there was the dizzy dame, the punks’ pal, standing on the sidewalk staring at the bus.
and was that something on the ground beside her?
lefty only got a glimpse as the bus rounded the corner, but it looked like -
it looked like his bag!
no, no, no, no, it couldn’t be!
pull yourself together, brother, lefty told himself, as he tried not to break into a cold sweat….
stop imagining things!
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