To Have and Have Not, Page 2

  i0I

  HARRY MORGAN--WINTER That's too much.' 'No, it isn't,' Harry told him. 'I don't know who you arc. I don't know wht your business is and 1 don't know who shoots at you. I got to cross the Gulf twice in the winter time. Anyway I'm risking my bot. I'll carry you for two hundred and you can put up a thousand for a guarantee nothing happens to the boat.' 'That's reasonable,' Bee-lips told them. =That's more than reasonable.' The Cubans started talking in Spanish. I couldn't understand them but I knew Harry could. 'All right,' the big one, Roberto, said. 'When can you start?' 'Any time to-morrow night.' 'Maybe we don't want to go until the night after,' one of them said. 'That's O.K. with me,' Harry said. 'Only let me know in time.' 'Is your boat in good shape?' 'Sure,' said Harry. 'She is a nice looking boat,' the young one ofthem said. 'Where did you see her?' 'Mr. Simmons, the lawyer here, showed her to me.' 'Oh,' said Harry. 'Have a drink,' said another oft.he Cubans. 'I'Iave you been to Cuba much?' 'A few times.' 'Speak Spanish?' o8

  TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT scull in and drive out to the bridge and pick me up. I'll be on the road there in about two hours. I'll |eave her and come out to the road.' 'I'll pick you up,' Bee-lips told him, and Harry with the motors throttled down so that she moved quietly through the water, swung her around and towed the skiff close in to where the riding light of the cable schooner showed. He threw th,." clutches out and held the skiff while Bee-lips got in. '-In about two hours,' le said. 'All right,' said Bee-lips. Sitting on the steering seat, moving ahead slo. zly in the dark, keeping well out from the lights at the head of the docks, Harry thought, Bee-lips is doing some work for his money all right. Wonder how much he thinks he is going to get? I wonder how he ever hooked up with those guys. There's a smart lid who had a good chance once. He's a good lawyer, too. But it made me cold to hear him say it himself. He put his mouth on his own self all right. It's funny how a man can mouth something. When I heard him mouth himself it scared me.

  TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT 'You're silly. I like it. Any that's you I like. Put it across there. Putit along there. Go on. I like it, true.' 'It's like a Ripper on a loggerhead.' 'You ain't no loggerhead. Do they really do it three days? Coot for three days?' 'Sure. Listen, be quiet. We'll wake the girls.' 'They don't know what I've got. They won't never know what I've got. Ah, Harry. That's it. Ah, you honey.' 'Wait.' 'I don't want no wait. Come on. That's it. That's where. Listen, did you ever do i with a nigger wench?' 'Sure.' 'What's it like?' 'Like nurse shark.' 'You're funny. Harry, I wish you didn't have to go. I wish you didn't ever have to go. Who's the best you ever did it with?' Wol.1. 'You lie. You always lie m me. There. There. There.' 'No. You're the best.' 'I'm old.' . 'You'll never be old.' 'I've had that thing.' 'That don't make no difference when a woman's any good.' 'Go ahead. Go ahead now. Put the stump there. I'Iold it there. Hold it. Hold it now. Hold it.'

  HARRY MORGAN--WINTER ing they drove out the county road through the mist that hung heavy over the flat. 'What you worried about, Harry?' 'I don't know. I'm just worried. _Listen, are you letting your hair grow out?' 'I thought I would. The girls have been after me.' 'The hell with them. You keep it like it is.' 'Do you really want me to?' 'Yes,' he said. 'That's the way I like it.' 'You don't think I look too old?' 'You look better than any of them.' 'I'll fix it up then. I can make it blonder if you like it.' 'What have the girls got to say about what you do?' Harry said. 'They got no business to bother you. 'You know how they are. You know young girls are that way. Listen, if you make a good trip, we'll go to New Orleans, should we?' 'Miami.' 'Well, Miami anyway. And we'll leave them here.' 'I got some trip to make first.' 'You aren't worHed are you?' 'You know I lay awake almost four hours just thinking about you.' " 'You're some old woman. 'I can think about you any time and get excited.' 'Well, we got to fill this gas now Harry told her. I 7

  TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT

  I've done is think one thing out and I got it thought. out and now I got to think out something else.' 'Why don't you let me help you?' 'You come here at twelve o'clock and bring that money to put up for the boat.'

  As they came out Albert came up to the place and went up to Harry. 'I'm sorry, Albert, I can't use you,' Harry said. He had thought it out that far already. 'I'd go cheap,' Albert said. 'I'm sorry,' Harry said. 'I got no need for you OW. 'You won't get a good man for what I'll go for,' Albert said. 'i'm going b yself.' 'You don't . to make a trip like that alone,' Albert said. 'Shut up,' said, -,. 'What do you know about it? Do they teach yii,my business on the relie.' 'Go to hell,' said AlX0ert. 'Maybe I will,' said Hary. Anybody looking at him could tell he was thinking plenty fast and he did not want to be botherS: 'I'd like to go,' Albert said. 'I can't use you,' Harry said. 'Let me alone, will you?' Albert went out and Harry stood there at the bar looking at the nickel machine, the two dime machines and the quarter machine and at the

  HARRY MORGAN--WINTER

  'Sure, Honey.' She cut the meat as for a small boy. 'Thanks,' Harry said. 'I'm a hell of a goddamn nuisance, ain't I? Those girls aren't much, are they?' 'No, Hon.' 'Funny we couldn't get no boys.' 'That's because you're such a man. That way it always comes out girls.' 'I ain't no hell of a man,' Harry said. 'But listen, I'm going on a hell of a trip.' 'Tell me about the boat.' 'They saw it from a truck. A high thick.' 'Shucks.' 'Worse than that. S--.' 'Awi Harry, don't talk like that in the house." 'You talk worse than that in bed sometimes.' 'That's different. I don't like to hear s-- at my own table.' 'Oh, s--.' 'Aw, Honey, you feel bad,' Marie said. 'No,' said Harry. 'Im just thinking.' 'Well, you think it out. I got confidence in you.' 'i got confidence. That's the only thing I have got.' 'Do you want to tell me about it?' 'No. Only don't worry no matter what you hear.' I won't worry.' 'Listen, Marie. Go on up to the upstairs trap and bring me the Thompson gun and look in that

  HARRY MORGAN--WINTER 'I got to go,' Harry said. He lifted the chunky. weight of the dismounted gun in its oil-stained, canvas-web case. 'Put it under the front seat of the Caro 'Good-bye,' Marie said. 'Good-bye, old woman.' 'I won't worry. But please take care of yourself.' 'Be good.' 'Aw, Harry,' she said and held him fight against her. 'Let me go. I ain't got no time.' He patted her on the back with his arm stump. 'You and your loggerhead flipper,' she said. 'Oh, Harry. Be careful.' 'I got to go. Good-bye, old woman.' 'Good-bye, Harry.' She watched him go out of the house, tall, wide- shouldered, flat-backed, his. hips narrow, mo .ving, still, she thought, like some kind of animal, easy and swift and not old yet, he moves so light and smooth-like, she thought, and when he got in the car she saw him blond, with the sunburned hair, his face with the broad mongol cheek bones, and the narrow eyes, the nose broken at the bridge, the wide mouth and the round jaw, and getting in the car he grinned at her and she began to cry. 'His goddamn face,' she thought. 'Every time I see hi goddamn face it makes me want to cry.'

  HARRY MORGAN--WINTER 'Oh, hefts to him and double hefts to meeting him,' said the wife. 'How do you do?' 'Not so badly,' the green-visored man said. 'How do .you do?' 'She does marvellously,' the tall one said. 'You ought to see her.' Just then Harry came in and the tall tourist's wife said, 'Isn't he wonderful? That's what I want. Buy me that, Papa.' 'Can I speak to you?' Harry said to Freddy. 'Certainly. Go fight ahead and say anything you like,' the tall tourist's wife said. 'Shut up, you whore,' Harry said. 'Come in the back, Freddy.' In the back was Bee-lips, waiting at the table. 'Hello, Big Boy,' he said to Harry. 'Shut up,' said Harry. 'Listen,' Freddy said. 'Cut it out. You can't get away with that. You can't call my trade names like that. You can't call a lady a whore in a decent place like this.' 'A whore,' said Harry. 'Hear what she said to me?' 'Well, anyway, don't call her a name like that to her face.' "All right. You got the money?' 'Of course,' said Bee.lips. 'Why wouldn't I have the money? Didn't I say I'd have the money?' 'Let's see it.' Bee-lips handed it over. Harry counted ten hundred-dollar bills and four twenties.

  TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT

  during the war. Twice I've been partners with hin and we never had trouble. You know how mucl stuff I've handled for him. He's the only son-of-a bitch in this tow
n I would trust.' 'I wouldn't trust anybody.' 'l"ou shouldn't. Not after the experiences Fou'w hsd with yourself.' 'Lay off me.' 'All right. Go out and see your friends. What': your out?' 'They're Cubans. met them out at the road. house. One of them wants to cash a certified cheque. What's wrong with that?' 'And you don't notice anything?' 'No. I tell them to meet me at the bank.' 'Who drives them?' 'Some taxi.' 'What's he supposed to think they are, violinists?' 'We'll get one that don't think. There's plenty oI them that can't think in this town. Look at Hayzooz.' Hayzooz is smart. He just talks funny.' Tll have them call a stupid one.' 'Get one hasn't any kids.' 'They alI got kids. Ever see a taxi driver without kids?' 'You are a goddamn rat.' 'W611, I never killed anybody,' Bee-lips told him. 'Nor you never will. Come on, let's get out of here. Just being with you makes me feel crummy.'

  HARRY MORCAN--WINTER wearing a striped fisherman's shirt and khaki shorts came in with a very pretty girl who wore a thin, white wool sweater and dark blue slacks. 'If it isn't Richard Gordon,' said Laughton, standing up, 'with the lovely Miss Helen.' 'Hello, Laughton,' said Richard Gordon. 'Did you see anything of a rummy professor around here?' 'He just went out,' said Freddy. 'Do you want a vermouth, sweetheart?' Richard Gordon asked his wife. 'If you do,' she said. Then said, 'Hello,' to the two Laughtons. 'Make mine two parts of French to one Italian, Freddy.' She sat on a high stool with her legs tucked under her and looked out at the street. Freddy looked at her admiringly. He thought she was the prettiest stranger in Key West that winter. Prettier even than the famous beautiful Mrs. Bradley. Mrs. Bradley was getting a little big. This girl had a lovely Irish face, dark hair that curled almost to her shoulders and smooth clear skin. Freddy looked at her brown hand holding the glass. 'How's the work?' Laughton asked Richard Gordon. 'I'm going all right,' Gordon said. 'How are you doing?' 'James won't work,' Mrs. Laughton said. 'He just drinks.' 'Say, who is this Professor MacWalsey?' Laughton asked.

  HARRY MORGAN--WINTER

  gun out of the other loop. He tried it and it came easily one-handed. He pushed the little lever all the way over from semi-automatic to automatic and made sure the safety was on. Then he fastened it up again. He could not figure out where to put the extra clips; so he shoved the case under a gas tank below, where he could reach it, with the butts of the clips lying toward his hand. If I go down a time first after we're under way, I can put a couple in my pocket, he thought. Be better not to have it on for something might jar the damn thing off. He stood up. It was a fine clear afternoon, pleasant, not cold, with a light north breeze. It was a nice afternoon all right. The tide was running out and there were two pelicans sitting on the piling at the edge of the channel. A grunt fishing boat, painted dark green, chugged past on the way around to the fish market, the negro fisherman sitting in the stern holding the filler. Harry looked out across the water, smooth with the wind blowing with the tide, grey blue in the afternoon sun, out to the sandy island formed when the channel was dredged where the shark camp had been located. There were white gulls flying over the island. 'Be a pretty night,' Harry thought. 'Be a nice night to cross.' He was sweating a little from being down around the engines, and he straightened up and wiped his face with a piece of waste. There was Albert on the dock.

  HARRY MORGAN-WINTER 'The party says no,' Harry told him. 'Hadn't I better get a dozen mullets?' Albert asked. 'In case the jacks tear 'em up? There's plenty jacks now in those channels.' 'Well, make it a dozen. But get back inside an hour and have the gas filled.' 'Why you want to put in so much gas?' 'We may be running early and late and not have time to fill.' 'What's become of those Cubam that wanted to be carried?' 'Haven't heard anything more from them.' 'That was a good job.' 'This is a good job too. Come on, get going.' 'What am I going to be working for?' 'Five bucks a day,' said Harry. 'If you don't want it don't take it.' 'All right,' said Albert. 'Which plugs was it?' 'The number two and the number four counting back from the flywheel,' Harry told him. Albert nodded his head. 'I guess I can remember,' he said. He got into the car and made a turn in it and went off up the street. From where Harry stood in the boat he could see the brick and stone building and the front entrance of the First State Trust and Savings Bank. It was just a block down at the foot of the street. He couldn't see the side entrance. He looked at his watch. It was a little after two o'clock. He shut the engine hatch and climbed up on the dock. Well, x43

  TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT now it comes off or it doesn't, he thought, l've done what I can now. i'll go up and see Freddy and then I'll come back and wait. He turned to the right as he left the dock and walked down a back street so that he would not pass the bank.

  TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT

  I could sell the house and we could rent until I got some kind of work. What kind of work? No kind of work. I could go down to the bank and squeal now and what would I get? Thanks. Sure. Thanks. One bunch of Cuban government bastards cost me my arm shooting at me with a load when they had no need to and another bunch of U.S. ones took my boat. Now I can give up my home and get thanks. No thanks. The hell with it, he thought. I got. no choice in it. He wanted to tell Freddy so there would be some one knew what he was doing. But he couldn't tell him because. Freddy wouldn't stand for it. He was making good money now. There was nobody much in the daytime, but every night the place was full until two o'clock. Freddy wasn't in a jam. He knew he wouldn't stand for it. i have to do it alone, he thought, with that poor bloody Albert. Christ, he looked hungrier than ever down at the dock. There were Conchs that would starve to death before they'd steal all right. Plenty in this town with their bellies hollering right now. But they'd never make a move. They'd just starve a little every day. They started starving when they were born; some of them. 'Listen, Fredd$, quarts.' 'Of what?' 'Bacardi.' 'O.K.'

  ' he said. 'I want a couple of

  TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT 'You're comical,' Harry said to her and he went out. Down the street Richard Gordon was on his way to the Bradlcys' big winter home. Hc was hoping Mrs. Bradley would bc alone. She would be. Mrs. Bradley collected writers as well as their books but Richard Gordon did not know this yet. His own wife was on her way home walking along the beach. She had not run into john MacWalscy. Perhaps he would come by the house.

  TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT

  A long way back, so far you could hardly see it a little spout rose in the water. 'They're shooting at us,' the pleasant-speakin one said. 'It's silly.' 'For Christ's sake,' the big-faced one said. 'AI three miles.' 'Four,' thought Harry. 'All of four.' Harry could see the tiny spouts rise on the calm surface but he could not hear the shots. 'Those Conchs are pitiful,' he thought. 'They're worse. They're comical.' 'What government boat is there, Cappie?' asked the big-faced one looking away from the stem. 'Coast guard.' 'What can she make?' 'Maybe twelve.' 'Then we're O.K. now?' Harry did not answer. 'Aren't we O.K. then?' Harry said nothing. He was keeping the rising, widening spire of Sand Key on his left and the stake on little Sand Key shoals showed almost abeam to starboard. In ten more minutes they would be past the reef. 'What's the matter with you? Can't you talk?' 'What did you ask me?' 'is there anything can catch us now?' 'Coast-guard plane,' said Harry. 'We cut the telephone wire before we came in town,' the pleasant-speaking one said.

  xs

  TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT

  kill. He kills in a good cause, of course. The best cause.' He looked back at Roberto who sat now in one of the fishing chairs in the stern, the Thompson gun across his lap, looking back at the white boats which were, Harry saw, much smaller now. 'What you got to drink?' Roberto called from the stern. 'Nothing,' Harry said. 'I drink my own, then,' Roberto said. One of the other Cubans lay on one of the seats built over the gas tanks. He looked seasick already. The other was obviously seasick too, but still sitting up. Looking back, Harry saw a lead-coloured boat, now clear of the fort, coming up on the two white boats. 'There's the coast guard-boat,' he thought. 'She's pitiful too.' 'You think the seaplane will come?' the pleasant- spoken boy asked. 'Be dark in half an hour,' Harry said. He settled on the steering seat. 'What you figure
on doing? Killing me?' 'I don't want 'co,' the boy said. 'I hate killing.' 'What you doing?' Roberto, who sat now with a pint of whisky in his hand asked. 'Making friends with the captain? What you want to do? Eat at the captain's table?' 'Take the wheel,' Harry said to the boy. 'See the course? Two twenty-five.' He straightened up from the stool and went aft.

  nrx wR. GAN--WINTER motors, and with his hand touched the but of" the Thompson gun. Not yet, he thought. No, better not yet. Christ, that was lucky. What the hell difference does it make to Albert when he's dead? Saves his old woman to bury him. That big-faced bastard. That big-faced murdering bastard. Christ, I'd like to take him now. But I better wait. He stood up, climbed out and shut the hatch. 'How you doing?' he said to Roberto. He put his hand on the fat shoulder. The big-faced Cuban looked at him and did not say anything. 'Did you see it turn green?' Harry asked. 'The hell with you,' Roberto said. He was drunk but he was suspicious, and, like an animal, he knew how wrong something had gone. 'Let me take her a while,' Harry said to the boy at the wheel. 'What's your name?' 'You can call me Emilio,' said the boy. 'Go below and you'll find something to eat,' 'Harry said. 'There's bread and corn-beef. Make coffee if you want.' 'I don't want any.' 'I'll make some later,' Harry said. He sat at the wheel, the binnacle fight on now, holding her on the point easily in the fight following sea, looking out at the night coming on the water. He had no running lights on. It would be a pretty night to cross, he thought, a pretty night. Soon as the last of that afterglow is gone I've got to work her east. It" I don't, we'll