Gus had no love for tourists, but he didn't even think before coming up behind the guy and hook-arming him in a headlock. He choked back on him strong, the guy's neck surprisingly muscular beneath the loose folds of flesh. Gus had the advantage, though, and the guy released the mother, falling against her husband in front of her screaming kids.
Now Gus was stuck. He had the naked man locked up, the big bear's arms pinwheeling. Felix came up in front to help...but then stopped. He was staring at the naked guy's face as if there was something really wrong there. A few people behind him reacted the same, others turned away in horror, but Gus couldn't see why. He did feel the guy's neck undulate under his forearm, very unnaturally-almost as though he were swallowing sideways. Felix's look of disgust made him think the fat guy was maybe suffocating under his choke hold, so Gus relaxed his grip a bit-
-just enough for the guy, with the animal strength of the insane, to hurl Gus off with a hairy elbow.
Gus fell to the sidewalk hard and his hat popped off. He turned in time to see it roll off the curb and into traffic. Gus jumped up and started after his hat and his money-but Felix's yell spun him back. The guy had Felix wrapped up in some kind of maniacal embrace, the big man's mouth going at Felix's neck. Gus saw Felix's hand pull something from his back pocket, flicking it open with a wrist flip.
Gus ran toward Felix before Felix could use the knife, dropping a shoulder into the fat man's side, feeling ribs crack, sending the tub of flesh sprawling. Felix fell too, Gus seeing blood spilling down the front of Felix's neck, and-more shockingly-a look of outright terror on his compadre's face. Felix sat up, dropping the knife in order to grip his neck, and Gus had never seen Felix look that way. Gus knew then that something bizarre had happened-was happening-he just didn't know what. All he knew was that he had to act in order to make his friend right again.
Gus reached for the knife, taking its burled black grip in his hand as the naked man got to his feet. The guy stood with his hand covering his mouth, almost as though trying to contain something in there. Something squirming. Blood rimmed his fat cheeks and stained his chin-Felix's blood-as he started toward Gus with his free hand outstretched.
He came fast-faster than a man of his size should have-shoving Gus down backward, before he could react. Gus's bare head smacked against the sidewalk-and for a moment everything was silent. He saw the Times Square billboards flashing above him in a kind of liquid slow motion...a young model staring down at him, wearing only a bra and panties...then the big man. Looming over him. Something undulating inside his mouth as he stared at Gus with empty, dark eyes...
The man dropped to one knee, choking out this thing in his throat. Pinkish and hungry, it shot out at Gus with the greedy speed of a frog's darting tongue. Gus slashed at the thing with his knife, cutting and stabbing like a dreamer fighting some creature in a nightmare. He didn't know what it was-only that he wanted it away from him, wanted to kill it. The fat man reeled back, making a noise like squealing. Gus kept up his slashing, cutting the man's neck, slicing his throat to ribbons.
Gus kicked away and the guy got to his feet, hands over his mouth and throat. He was bleeding white-not red-a creamy substance thicker and brighter than milk. He stumbled backward off the curb and fell into the moving traffic.
The truck tried to stop in time. That was the worst of it. After rolling over his face with the front tires, the rear set stopped right on the fat man's crushed skull.
Gus staggered to his feet. Still dizzy from his fall, he looked down at the blade of Felix's knife in his hand. It was stained white.
He was hit from behind then, his arms wrapped up, his shoulder driven into the pavement. He reacted as though it were the fat man still attacking him, writhing and kicking.
"Drop the knife! Drop it!"
He got his head around and saw three red-faced cops on him, two more behind him aiming guns.
Gus released the knife. He allowed his arms to be wrenched behind him, where they were cuffed. His adrenaline exploded. He said, "Fucking now you're here?"
"Stop resisting!" said the cop, cracking Gus's face into the pavement.
"He was attacking this family here-ask them!"
Gus turned.
The tourists were gone.
Most of the crowd was gone. Only Felix remained, seated on the edge of the island in a daze, gripping his throat-as a blue-gloved cop shoved him down, dropping a knee into his side.
Beyond Felix, Gus saw a small black thing rolling farther out into traffic. His hat, with all his dirty money still inside the brim-a slow-rolling taxi crushing it flat, Gus thinking, This was America for you.
Gary Gilbarton poured himself a whiskey. The family-the extended family, both sides-and friends were all gone finally, leaving behind stacks of take-out food cartons in the refrigerator and wastebaskets full of tissues. Tomorrow they'd be back to their lives, and with a story to tell.
My twelve-year-old niece was on that plane...
My twelve-year-old cousin was on that plane...
My neighbor's twelve-year-old daughter was on that plane...
Gary felt like a ghost walking through his nine-room home in the leafy suburb of Freeburg. He touched things-a chair, a wall-and felt nothing. Nothing mattered anymore. Memories could console him, but were more likely to drive him mad.
He had disconnected all the telephones after reporters started calling, wanting to know about the youngest casualty on board. To humanize the story. Who was she? they asked him. It would take Gary the rest of his life to work on a paragraph about his daughter, Emma. It would be the longest paragraph in history.
He was more focused on Emma than he was Berwyn, his wife, because children are our second selves. He loved Berwyn, and she was gone. But his mind kept circling around his lost little girl like water circling an ever-emptying drain.
That afternoon, a lawyer friend-a guy Gary hadn't had over to the house in maybe a year-pulled him aside in the study. He sat Gary down and told him that he was going to be a very rich man. A young victim like Em, with a much longer timeline of life lost, guaranteed a huge settlement payout.
Gary did not respond. He did not see dollar signs. He did not throw the guy out. He truly did not care. He felt nothing.
He had spurned all the offers from family and friends to spend the night so that he would not be alone. Gary had convinced one and all that he was fine, though thoughts of suicide had already occurred to him. Not just thoughts: a silent determination; a certainty. But later. Not now. Its inevitability was like a balm. The only sort of "settlement" that would mean anything to him. The only way he was getting through all this now was knowing that there would be an end. After all the formalities. After the memorial playground was erected in Emma's honor. After the scholarship was funded. But before he sold this now-haunted house.