Bang the Drum Slowly Page #6

at a bad hour.

I was hoping it

wouldn't happen this...

Make it back to me another time.

No, there's not going to be

another time.

Dutch'll probably bring

Piney Woods back up now

and he's going to be real happy.

Is the doctor going to come?

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Goose went after him.

Goose? Why Goose?

Why Goose?

Well, he's right

down the hall.

Goose has got

a heart of gold.

- Yeah?

- Yeah.

I guess it never

really showed.

Probably you told him

or something.

I nev... I never told a soul.

Yeah...

Probably everybody'd be nice

to you

if they knew you were dying.

Everybody knows

everybody's dying.

That's why people are

as good as they are.

I'm scared. Hold onto me.

Who is

the sick baseball player?

Are you

a baseball player, too?

Yes, sir,

I'm Henry Wiggen, sir.

Thank you.

I've heard that name...

not that I follow the game.

I've detested it

since early childhood.

It's a dying game, I'm told.

Hmm...

Hmm...

Mmm.

Mmm. I think...

I think it's something else.

You mean something else besides

what they said in Minnesota?

Oh, I couldn't say about that.

I only mean that

I don't think

there's any danger

right at this minute.

Oh, boy.

'Cause this sure felt like it.

Now you can do me one favor.

Please send a bill

care of my wife

in Perkinsville, New York

and also not leak anything

to the papers.

I'm not in the habit

of leaking my, uh, house calls

to the papers.

Arthur, meet Mr. Rogers.

Mr. Rogers is a detective.

Sit down.

Mr. Rogers has been

down to Bainbridge

and is now on his way

up to Minnesota

filling in some facts for me.

However, you can save us

some time

by filling in the rest

of the story

which Mr. Rogers has begun.

I'll certainly try my darndest.

Tell him what you discovered.

In Bainbridge, Georgia,

the subject's domicile

I developed

the following information.

I interviewed a Mr. Jay Clark,

the mailman

and a colored woman named Janet.

Uh, never mind the facts.

Give me details.

The details are

that the subject, Pearson

told various people that he

wasn't feeling so good

and went to the

hospital in Atlanta.

The hospital in

Atlanta recommended

the hospital

in Minnesota...

If you'd actually spoken

to anybody worth the while

you'd learn that Pearson has

this old-time habit

of running back to Atlanta

maybe once

or twice a month.

No doubt you developed

that much.

No need telling you

where he went in Atlanta...

everybody knows that.

Naturally.

And you know

what you sometimes pick up

in such places...

which he did

and which he'd rather not

have them treat in Atlanta

so close to home,

for fear of it getting back

and embarrassing his mother.

So, up he goes to Minnesota

with his fishing gear

forgetting that the ice is nine-

feet thick that time of year

checks in with the Mayo Brothers

gets himself shot

with a couple of miracle drugs

flirts with the nurses,

checks out

meets me in Cannon Falls,

we hunted...

What? What?!

We hunted up some girls we know.

God... damn it.

God... damn it!

Hanson?

Hanson!

Loftus!

Randy, get me Doc Loftus!

What's the sudden

interruption?

I don't know.

You're the detective.

I seen the girls

he runs around with.

She'll give it

to the whole club.

She'll run

right around my infield!

Take down your pants.

Are you over the clap yet?

Oh, yes, sir; long ago.

How do we know?

Check him over, Doc.

All I need is the clap running

through my ball club now!

Hey, Arthur

what's going on around here?

Sometimes I don't know

what's going on, sometimes.

He looks just fine to me.

Never better.

Healthy young man

if ever I saw one.

Uh, should I head out

and develop this

information farther

in-in Rochester, Minnesota?

Rochester, Minnesota?

Where you got shot

for the clap.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Stay with it.

Some things have yet

to be eXplained.

In July, we dropped a couple

more games off the pace.

It was strange...

the team was going lousy

yet I led both leagues

in wins...

smelling 25, maybe more...

and for the first time

in his life

Bruce played regular.

He didn't bust down fences

left and right

but he hit steady... 265, 270.

That's not great,

but for Bruce, it's fantastic.

Wouldn't you say

that if the Arcturis

Company discovered

that you'd been

writing phony letters

to prevent Bruce from

changing his beneficiary...

Oh, that's not a phony letter;

that's a real letter.

- You wrote it.

- The company wrote it.

Or if you didn't write it

your wife wrote it...

that's my guess...

and several baseball players

tell me I'm probably right.

Maybe I'll go check this

with the company themself.

They'd take away your license.

Throw me in jail, hmm?

Ruin you as an

insurance agent.

Hmm...

Well, if you say anything

to the Arcturis Company

I'll stroll down to a certain

police station on 66th Street

and swear out

a complaint

against a certain

"answering service."

Well, I'm not really anXious

to complain

to the Arcturis Company.

I don't see any reason

why you and I can't...

arrange a settlement of this

between us.

A deal?

A compromise.

I can't compromise

with his money.

That's none of your business.

You're supposed

to do what he wants.

I'm deciding what he wants.

That's illegal.

I know.

First week in August,

his father hit town.

Safe!

Stee...

All right, Mammoths,

let's go, let's go!

Safe!

Get a job, Wiggen,

get a job!

All right, Arthur, it's

just one of those days.

It's the last

of the order, Dutch.

You've done a lot of pitching.

Let somebody else mop up.

Go ahead, take it easy.

Let's get Caselli in here.

Caselli!

Oh, Henry.

Hello, Mr. Pearson.

Please, move on, and don't

disturb the ball players.

That's okay, Jim.

I know I am intruding

on you, and I know...

No, you're not.

You've been

intruded on enough.

Aah...

It's a ball game, sir.

You win 'em; you lose 'em.

No, Henry, I mean,

regarding my son.

Sir?

You know about...

the condition of my son?

Yes, sir.

Well, so do I.

Yes, sir, I suspected you did.

How-How can he be so sick

and play so well?

I really don't even know, sir.

If I knew, I'd say.

And not play so well

but better than ever,

and that's a fact.

That's a fact, sir.

There's no mistake

about that.

So, I've been wondering

if they didn't make

some kind of a mistake

out there at that hospital

in Minnesota

because it-it's hard

to believe

that it can be true.

I-I, uh...

I don't think

I'd count on it, sir.

They got an awful famous

reputation up there.

I know it's been

a terrible strain on you.

It's a lot worse on him, sir

and on you.

So, I've been...

I've been thinking

and I don't generally swear...

You go ahead and you swear,

Mr. Pearson.

Plain old mother talk

ain't no words

near strong enough to describe

such a terrible miX-up

as life, Arthur...

but I'm swearing, my son's

been handed one sh*t deal!

Yes, sir.

What'd you do that for?

That's a really

juvenile thing to do.

Don't do that.

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