“What’s the matter, Eddie? You look like hell!” Sam hollered at
the sullen Edward Coyle.
Eddie was on the verge of a monstrous rage. His face was
pulsating.
“Damn you, Sam! You shouldn’t be here! You don’t belong down
here!!!” he bawled.
Eddie swung at Sam’s jaw but collapsed onto the table next to the
old man’s. Sam looked upon Eddie with considerable pity.
“Look at all of you,” Sam sighed. “You think this happens every
day? You know how unlikely this is? This is the rarest of all things on
Heaven and Earth!”
Frank loosened his fists around Joe’s collar and he fell to the floor
in anguish. Joe writhed around on the bar, holding his stomach and
cursing the late Sam Taylor.
Sam stood directly over Eddie and reached down to drag him up
to his feet.
“I’m not here to take you, Eddie,” Sam confessed with some
sympathy. “You’re a sorry sight, but I didn’t come here to get you.”
Frank grasped the bar and pulled himself up, exhausted and
alarmed.
“Frank, you aren’t going anywhere for awhile,” Sam stated.
Joe whimpered as he sat up on the bar, his balance shaky.
“Joe, you’re probably going to be in pain for a long time, unless
you go to the doctor,” Sam added.
Eddie grabbed Sam’s arm. It felt just like anybody else’s arm.
“Merle?” Eddie asked Sam. “Are you here for Merle?”
“No,” Sam stated adamantly.
The men gathered around Sam as if he was the almighty prophet.
“I’m here for Virgil,” Sam admitted reluctantly.
At that moment, Virgil re-entered the bar.
“Mr. Early’s awake now,” Virgil said to the men as he straightened
a wrinkle in his apron.
Joe was suddenly strong enough to berate Sam.
“Now hold on!” Joe cried. “You can’t do that!”
“For God’s sake, Sam! The kid?” Frank roared.
Eddie was rendered silent again.
Sam’s demeanor turned assured and rather assertive.
145