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problem.”
    “I can’t do that,” he said. “He’ll kill me. He told me to take them home at noon.” He looked at his watch. “It’s now eight o’clock. He’ll know I was out with them all day.”
    “So what do you want me to do?” I asked.
    “I thought maybe you could take them home.”
    “You’re out of your fucking mind,” I said. “What will keep him from killing me?”
    “You’re a white boy,” he said. “The reverend won’t kill a white boy. He’ll figure that you’re straight.”
    “No way,” I said.
    “Jesus,” he said. “I’m really in trouble now. Man, you got to do this one thing for me. I’m too young to die.”
    Kitty began laughing.
    “What’s so funny?” I snapped.
    “Maybe I can help the girls out,” she said.
    “How?” Buddy asked.
    Kitty turned to the girls. “You both go to school?”
    Arietta nodded. “We both go to George Washington High School. I’m graduating this year, and Diana will graduate next year.”
    “Good,” Kitty said. “I can tell the reverend that I had told them they would have a very good chance to get into Hunter College, and that I asked them to come for a school enrollment seminar.”
    “That’s brilliant.” Buddy’s smile reached clear across his face. “I’ll get the cab fare for you.”
    “How much is cab fare?” Kitty asked quietly.
    “About ten dollars up and back,” he said.
    She smiled. “That’s for cab fare. My service is worth fifty bucks.”
    “You’re out of your mind,” Buddy said.
    “It’s cheaper than getting yourself killed,” Kitty answered.
    Buddy shook his head. “That’s a lot of money.”
    “I know what you do,” Kitty said. “You make a lot of money.”
    “Okay,” Buddy said. “I quit. You’ll get your money.”
    Kitty held out her hand very politely. “Now.”
    Buddy looked at me. “Your girlfriend’s really a ball breaker.” He took out a roll of bills from his pocket and peeled out the fifty and one tenner.

15
    Buddy sat down at the kitchen table again after the girls had left. He looked down and sighed. I took one of his cigarettes from the Lucky Strikes package. I dragged the smoke into my lungs. They tasted better than the Twenty Grands I smoked. I looked over at Buddy again. He still had his head.
    “You gotta be tired after all that fucking,” I said, and laughed.
    “Nah, not really,” he said.
    “If you’re worried about the girls, Kitty will work it all out. She’s very smart,” I said.
    “For fifty bucks, she better be smart,” Buddy said, and leaned back in his chair. “I’m gonna have to get another job.”
    “What do you mean? I thought everything was fine now,” I said.
    “It is, but I have another problem. I’ve got to get something that will keep me out of the draft,” he said.
    “What are you worried about? They’re not after you, are they?” I asked.
    “I’m twenty years old and I’ve been one-A for over a year now,” he said. “They’re cleaning up in my neighborhood. The local draft board is pulling in us niggers like flies.”
    “So what? There’s no war and I think it’s going to be a long way off, if ever.”
    “Maybe,” he said. “Sooner or later, either way, it ain’t good for me. Twenty-one dollars a month won’t even keep me in cigarettes.” He stood up and looked down at me. “I’m going to quit the job over at Harry’s.”
    “Wait a minute,” I said, shocked. “Do the guys know that you’re leaving the numbers route?”
    “They okayed it already,” he said. “They’ve got me a job over at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. I’ll have a numbers route over there.”
    “Harry will go off the wall. He won’t have anybody to stay with me till closing time.”
    “Fuck him,” Buddy said. “Let him give you some more money. Kid, you can handle the whole thing yourself. You’ve got no problem, I showed you how to use the blade.”
    I looked at him. I was eighteen and I had just got my notice to show up at the draft board. I was