It was a good feeling.
This afternoon, as soon as the office party was over, he’d gone into the streets. The shop windows had gleamed like potbellied stoves, cherry hot against the sharp bite of the air. There was a promise of snow in the sky, and Pete had walked the tinseled streets of New York with his tweed coat collar against the back of his neck, and he had felt warm and happy. There were shoppers in the streets, and Santa Clauses with bells, and giant wreaths and giant trees, and music coming from speakers, the timeless carols of the holiday season. But more than that, for the first time in eight months, he had felt the pulse beat of the city, the people, the noise, the clutter, the rush, and, above all, the warmth. The warmth had engulfed him, surprising him. He had watched it with the foolish smile of a spectator and then, with sudden realization, he had known he was a part of it. In the short space of eight months, he had become a part of the city — and the city had become a part of him.
He had found a home.
“Bartender,” he said.
The bartender ambled over. He was a big redheaded man with freckles all over his face. He moved with economy and grace. He seemed like a very nice guy who probably had a very nice wife and family decorating a Christmas tree somewhere in Queens.
“Yes, sir?” he asked.
“Pete. Call me Pete.”
“Okay, Pete.”
“I’m not drunk,” Pete said, “believe me. I know all drunks say that, but I mean it. I’m just so damn happy I could bust. Did you ever feel that way?”
“Sure,” the bartender said, smiling.
“Let me buy you a drink.”
“I don’t drink.”
“Bartenders never drink, I know, but let me buy you one. Please. Look, I want to thank people, you know? I want to thank everybody in this city. I want to thank them for being here, for making it a city. Do I sound nuts?”
“Yes,” the bartender said.
“Okay. Okay then, I’m nuts. But I’m a hick, do you know? I came here from Whiting Center eight months ago. Straw sticking out of my ears. The confusion here almost killed me. But I got a job, a good job, and I met a lot of wonderful people, and I learned how to dress, and I... I found a home. That’s corny. I know it That’s the hick in me talking. But I love this damn city, I love it. I want to go around kissing girls in the streets. I want to shake hands with every guy I meet. I want to tell them I feel like a person, a human being, I’m alive, alive! For Christ’s sake, I’m alive!”
“That’s a good way to be,” the bartender agreed.
“I know it. Oh, my friend, do I know it! I was dead in Whiting Center, and now I’m here and alive and... look, let me buy you a drink, huh?”
“I don’t drink,” the bartender insisted.
“Okay. Okay, I won’t argue. I wouldn’t argue with anyone tonight. Gee, it’s gonna be a great Christmas, do you know? Gee, I’m so damn happy I could bust.” He laughed aloud, and the bartender laughed with him. The laugh trailed off into a chuckle, and then a smile. Pete looked into the mirror, lifted his glass again, and again said, “Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.”
He was still smiling when the man came into the bar and sat down next to him. The man was very tall, his body bulging with power beneath the suit he wore. Coatless, hatless, he came into the bar and sat alongside Pete, signaling for the bartender with a slight flick of his hand. The bartender walked over.
“Rye neat,” the man said.
The bartender nodded and walked away. The man reached for his wallet.
“Let me pay for it,” Pete said.
The man turned. He had a wide face with a thick nose and small brown eyes. The eyes came as a surprise in his otherwise large body. He studied Pete for a moment and then said, “You a queer or something?”
Pete laughed. “Hell, no,” he said. “I’m just happy. It’s Christmas Eve, and I feel like buying you a drink.”
The man pulled out his wallet, put a five-dollar bill on the bar top, and said, “I’ll buy my own drink.” He paused. “What’s the matter? Don’t I look as if I can afford a drink?”
“Sure you do,” Pete said. “I just wanted to... look, I’m happy. I want to share it, that’s all.”
The man grunted and said nothing. The bartender brought his drink. He tossed off the shot and asked for another.
“My name’s Pete Charpens,” Pete said, extending his hand.
“So what?” the man said.
“Well... what’s your name?”
“Frank.”
“Glad to know you, Frank.” He thrust his hand closer to the man.
“Get lost, Happy,” Frank said.
Pete grinned, undismayed. “You ought to relax,” he said, “I mean it. You know, you’ve got to stop...”
“Don’t tell me what I’ve got to stop. Who the hell are you, anyway?”
“Pete Charpens. I told you.”
“Take a walk, Pete Charpens. I got worries of my own.”
“Want to tell me about them?”
“No, I don’t want to tell you about them.”
“Why not? Make you feel better.”
“Go to hell, and stop bothering me,” Frank said.
The bartender brought the second drink. He sipped at it, and then put the shot glass on the bar top.
“Do I look like a hick?” Pete asked.
“You look like a goddamn queer,” Frank said.
“No, I mean it.”
“You asked me, and I told you.”
“What’s troubling you, Frank?”
“You a priest or something?”
“No, but I thought...”
“Look, I come in here to have a drink. I didn’t come to see the chaplain.”
“You an ex-Army man?”
“Yeah.”
“I was in the Navy,” Pete said. “Glad to be out of that, all right. Glad to be right here where I am, in the most wonderful city in the whole damn world.”
“Go down to Union Square and get a soapbox,” Frank said.
“Can’t I help you, Frank?” Pete asked. “Can’t I buy you a drink, lend you an ear, do something? You’re so damn sad, I feel like...”
“I’m not sad.”
“You sure look sad. What happened? Did you lose your job?”
“No, I didn’t lose my job.”
“What do you do, Frank?”
“Right now, I’m a truck driver. I used to be a fighter.”
“Really? You mean a boxer? No kidding?”
“Why would I kid you?”
“What’s your last name?”
“Blake.”
“Frank Blake? I don’t think I’ve heard it before. Of course, I didn’t follow the fights much.”
“Tiger Blake, they called me. That was my ring name.”
“Tiger Blake. Well, we didn’t have fights in Whiting Center. Had to go over to Waterloo if we wanted to see a bout. I guess that’s why I never heard of you.”
“Sure,” Frank said.
“Why’d you quit fighting?”
“They made me.”
“Why?”
“I killed a guy in 1947.”
Pete’s eyes widened. “In the ring?”
“Of course in the ring. What the hell kind of a moron are you, anyway? You think I’d be walking around if it wasn’t in the ring? Jesus!”
“Is that what’s troubling you?”
“There ain’t nothing troubling me. I’m fine.”
“Are you going home for Christmas?”
“I got no home.”
“You must have a home,” Pete said gently. “Everybody’s got a home.”
“Yeah? Where’s your home? Whiting Center or wherever the hell you said?”
“Nope. This is my home now. New York City. New York, New York. The greatest goddamn city in the whole world.”
“Sure,” Frank said sourly.
“My folks are dead,” Pete said. “I’m an only child. Nothing for me in Whiting Center anymore. But in New York, well, I get the feeling that I’m here to stay. That I’ll meet a nice girl here, and marry her, and raise a family here and... and this’ll be home.”