I went back out to Pipskill pretty late, and the next day I slipped Micky the three hundred, and it bucked him up some and made him feel like going on with the deal with Francis Z. Ketch, and the truth is, he’d been pretty shaky about it and inclined to give it up. The first part of December, about the tenth, we took off on a tour, and this time we swung west instead of east. There wasn’t any worry about fixing the spreads, of course, because Francis Z. Ketch couldn’t keep in contact, and we let ourselves go and won all five of the games we played by big scores, except one that was close in California, and by the time we got back, Pipskill was already being voted number one team in the country, and I was way out in front personally in individual scoring. I might as well tell you right off that the team and I both stayed right there all season, in spite of my having to miss a few on purpose in some games, and as a matter of fact I got a lot of attention in the sports pages and had my picture in about six national magazines, two times in color, and was called the Pipskill Flash and the Pipskill Ace and other things like that.
We got back to Pipskill and laid off until after Christmas, and then we won two home games with the spreads fixed, and they worked out a lot smoother than the first one, and I didn’t get the two C’s more each game, but I did get one C more, which was as much as I’d expected, anyhow. The only thing that bothered me was that God-damn Umplett, and I kept thinking he was looking at me and watching me and crap like that, but I decided it was just because I had him on my lousy mind all the time, and finally I put him out of it, and damned if I didn’t feel better right away.
Right after that, just when I was feeling free and easy and loose as ashes about it all, the whole thing started going to hell and it seems like that’s the way things go sometimes, just all to hell and nothing you can do about it, but anyhow, I guess I’d better get into it and tell how it happened. It was all that God-damn Micky’s fault, and I don’t mind saying he had me fooled all the way, and I never even suspected that he’d play me the dirty trick he did. We started conference play and won a couple of games away from home, and I noticed he didn’t play up to par and made a hell of a lot of mistakes he didn’t usually make, but I didn’t think much about it because everyone gets off his game now and then, and the truth is, it was the way he started acting in the room at the frat house that finally made me wonder what the hell was itching him. He acted like a spook, I mean, like he had a God-damn bellyache or something, and finally one night I tried to get a little chatter going with him about this and that, and he wouldn’t say much but acted like he wished to hell I’d get away and leave him alone, so I said right out, “What the hell’s the matter with you, anyhow? As far as I can see, you’re about as gay as a pregnant spinster.”
He said, “I been meaning to talk with you about it, Skimmer, and the truth is, I’m pretty damn miserable,” and I said, “What the hell you got to be miserable about?” and he sighed like he had a God-damn pain and said, “You remember the girl I told you about? The one I borrowed the fin to make hay with?”
I said I did, and he said, “Well, I didn’t make any hay, and as a matter of fact I ought to have my tail kicked for even thinking about it because this girl doesn’t go for stuff like that and has extremely high standards,” and I hooted and said, “Well, pass the God-damn collection plate!” and he got red in the face and a stubborn look in his eyes and said, “No bull, Skimmer, I’ve really got it bad over this girl, and she’s got it bad over me, and the truth is, we’ve been talking about getting married and everything,” and I said, “Well, if you’ve got to get married to get it, you better go ahead and get married, but I don’t see why the hell it should give you gas on the stomach just to think about it,” and he said, “It’s not that, Skimmer. The thing that’s wrong, it’s this deal we got to fix the spreads in the basketball games. If Helen ever found out about it, she wouldn’t have a damn thing more to do with me because she’s got these God-damn high standards, and besides, if you want to know it, I’m beginning to feel kind of dirty about it myself, and I wish I’d never got started at it as a matter of fact.”
I could see right away that it was pretty damn serious, and I don’t mind admitting that it scared the hell out of me, and I said, “I don’t know anything about how damn dirty you’re feeling, but I can tell you one thing, and that is that this Helen, whoever she is, damn well better not find out anything about it,” and he said, “Oh, I wouldn’t tell her, of course,” and I said, “Besides, you been getting paid pretty good for helping fix the spread, and I’ll bet Helen’s been getting her share of it one way or another, and what’s more, I’ll bet she didn’t bother to ask whether it was dirty or not,” and this made him sore, and he stood up and stuck out his stinking chin and said, “You lay off Helen or I’ll knock your God-damn teeth out,” and I laughed and said, “Lay off, hell! It looks to me like a guy can’t even lay on!”
When I said that, he flipped his lousy lid and swung at me and missed and I swung at him and hit and knocked him back across the God-damn bed, and he bounced up and came back at me, and altogether we made so damn much noise that a couple of guys from the next room ran in and pulled us apart, and one of them said, “What the hell’s going on? What the hell’s the matter with you guys?” We couldn’t tell the truth, as you can see, so I lied and said it was nothing much, just a little disagreement, but now we had it out of our God-damn systems and everything would be all right. They patted us on the backs and said sure, they knew how it was and everything, and pretty soon they got out and went back to their own crummy room, but it wasn’t all right, not by a damn sight, and I knew right then he was going to play me a dirty trick, and I should’ve had my head examined for trusting him another God-damn minute.
I thought about it and wondered how to get him back to being the same old Micky, and one of the things I thought of was to go and find this Helen and make her or something and break it up between them, but I wasn’t sure it would work out just right, because you never can tell exactly how a guy will react to having his girl made by a friend, and besides, to tell the truth, I had Candy on my mind and couldn’t put my heart in it. Anyhow, as it turned out, I wouldn’t have had time, because there was a heavy non-conference game coming up, and the night before the game Candy called me and told me to come downtown, and I went, and she said, “Franzie can take this team and seven and get plenty of takers, so he says for you to keep it under that,” and I said I’d try.
She said, “What the hell you mean, try?” and I said, “I mean there may be complications in it,” and she said, “Junior, you don’t know anything about complications until you foul up on one of these deals. Explain yourself. What the hell you mean, complications?” and I told her about how old Micky had been set on his tail by this Helen doll, and how he was thinking about backing out on his agreement with Francis Z. Ketch because of it, and Candy said, “Believe it or not, Junior, I wouldn’t want you to get hurt in this thing, in spite of feeling personally that it would do you good to get slapped around a little, and so maybe we’d better get in touch with Franzie and get you off the hook ahead of time just in case something goes wrong.”