‘Why don’t we start?’ Dave asked. He wet his lips and looked across at Tigo.
‘You understand,’ Tigo said. ‘I got no bad blood for you.’
‘I understand.’
‘This is what the club said. This is how the club said we should settle it. Without a big street diddlebop, you dig? But I want you to know I don’t know you from a hole in the wall — except you wear a blue and gold jacket.’
‘And you wear a green and orange one,’ Dave said, ‘and that’s enough for me.’
“Sure, but what I was trying to say...”
‘We going to sit and talk all night, or we going to get this thing rolling?’ Dave asked.
‘What I’m trying to say,’ Tigo went on, ‘is that I just happened to be picked for this, you know? Like to settle this thing that’s between the two clubs. I mean, you got to admit your boys shouldn’t have come in our territory last night.’
‘I got to admit nothing,’ Dave said flatly.
‘Well, anyway, they shot at the candy store. That wasn’t right. There’s supposed to be a truce on.’
‘Okay, okay,’ Dave said.
‘So like... like this is the way we agreed to settle it. I mean, one of us and... and one of you. Fair and square. Without any street boppin’, and without any Law trouble.’
‘Let’s get on with it,’ Dave said.
‘I’m trying to say, I never even seen you on the street before this. So this ain’t nothin’ personal with me. Whichever way it turns out, like...”
‘I never seen you neither,’ Dave said.
Tigo stared at him for a long time. ‘That’s ‘cause you’re new around here. Where you from originally?’
‘My people come down from the Bronx.’
‘You got a big family?’
‘A sister and two brothers, that’s all.’
‘Yeah, I only got a sister,’ Tigo shrugged. ‘Well.’ He sighed. ‘So.’ He sighed again. ‘Let’s make it, huh?’
‘I’m waitin’,’ Dave said.
Tigo picked up the gun, and then he took one of the cartridges from the table top. He broke open the gun, slid the cartridge into the cylinder, and then snapped the gun shut and twirled the cylinder. ‘Round and round she goes,’ he said, ‘and where she stops, nobody knows. There’s six chambers in the cylinder, and only one cartridge. That makes the odds five-to-one that the cartridge’ll be in firing position when the cylinder stops twirling. You dig?’
‘I dig.’
‘I’ll go first,’ Tigo said.
Dave looked at him suspiciously. ‘Why?’
‘You want to go first?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘I’m giving you a break.’ Tigo grinned. ‘I may blow my head off first time out.’
‘Why you giving me a break?’ Dave asked.
Tigo shrugged. ‘What’s the hell’s the difference?’ He gave the cylinder a fast twirl.
‘The Russians invented this, huh?’ Dave asked.
‘Yeah.’
‘I always said they was crazy bastards.’
‘Yeah, I always...’ Tigo stopped talking. The cylinder was still now. He took a deep breath, put the barrel of the .38 to his temple, and then squeezed the trigger.
The firing pin clicked on an empty chamber.
‘Well, that was easy, wasn’t it?’ he asked. He shoved the gun across the table. ‘Your turn, Dave.’
Dave reached for the gun. It was cold in the basement room, but he was sweating now. He pulled the gun toward him, then left it on the table while he dried his palms on his trousers. He picked up the gun then and stared at it.
‘It’s a nifty piece.’ Tigo said. ‘I like a good piece.’
‘Yeah, I do too,’ Dave said. ‘You can tell a good piece just by the way it feels in your hand.’
Tigo looked surprised. ‘I mentioned that to one of the guys yesterday, and he thought I was nuts.’
‘Lots of guys don’t know about pieces,’ Dave said, shrugging.
‘I was thinking,’ Tigo said, ‘when I get old enough, I’ll join the Army, you know? I’d like to work around pieces.’
‘I thought of that, too. I’d join now, only my old lady won’t give me permission. She’s got to sign if I join now.’
‘Yeah, they’re all the same,’ Tigo said, smiling. ‘Your old lady born here or the island?’
‘The island,’ Dave said.
‘Yeah, well, you know they got these old-fashioned ideas.’
‘I better spin,’ Dave said.
‘Yeah,’ Tigo agreed.
Dave slapped the cylinder with his left hand. The cylinder whirled, whirled and then stopped. Slowly, Dave put the gun to his head. He wanted to close his eyes, but he didn’t dare. Tigo, the enemy, was watching him. He returned Tigo’s stare, and then he squeezed the trigger.
His heart skipped a beat, and then over the roar of his blood he heard the empty click. Hastily, he put the gun down on the table.
‘Makes you sweat, don’t it?’ Tigo said.
Dave nodded, saying nothing. He watched Tigo. Tigo was looking at the gun.
‘Me now, huh?’ he said. He took a deep breath, then picked up the .38.
He shrugged. ‘Well.’ He twirled the cylinder, waited for it to stop, and then put the gun to his head.
‘Bang!’ he said, and then he squeezed the trigger. Again, the firing pin clicked on an empty chamber. Tigo let out his breath and put the gun down.
‘I thought I was dead that time,’ he said.
‘I could hear the harps,’ Dave said.
‘This is a good way to lose weight, you know that?’ He laughed nervously, and then his laugh became honest when he saw that Dave was laughing with him. ‘Ain’t it the truth? You could lose ten pounds this way.’
‘My old lady’s like a house,’ Dave said laughing. ‘She ought to try this kind of a diet.’ He laughed at his own humour, pleased when Tigo joined him.
‘That’s the trouble,’ Tigo said. ‘You see a nice deb in the street, you think it’s crazy, you know? Then they get to be our people’s age, and they turn to fat.’ He shook his head.
‘You got a chick?’ Dave asked.
‘Yeah, I got one.’
‘What’s her name?’
‘Aw, you don’t know her.’
‘Maybe I do,’ Dave said.
‘Her name is Juana.’ Tigo watched him. ‘She’s about five-two, got these brown eyes...’
‘I think I know her,’ Dave said. He nodded. ‘Yeah, I think I know her.’
‘She’s nice, ain’t she?’ Tigo asked. He leaned forward, as if Dave’s answer was of great importance to him.
‘Yeah, she’s nice,’ Dave said.
‘The guys rib me about her. You know, all they’re after — well, you know — they don’t understand something like Juana.’
‘I got a chick, too,’ Dave said.
‘Yeah? Hey, maybe sometime we could...’ Tigo cut himself short. He looked down at the gun, and his sudden enthusiasm seemed to ebb completely. ‘It’s your turn,’ he said.
‘Here goes nothing,’ Dave said. He twirled the cylinder, sucked in his breath, and then fired.
The empty click was loud in the stillness of the room.
‘Man!’ Dave said.
‘We’re pretty lucky, you know?’ Tigo said.
‘So far.’
‘We better lower the odds. The boys won’t like it if we...’ He stopped himself again, and then reached for one of the cartridges on the table. He broke open the gun again, and slipped the second cartridge into the cylinder. ‘Now we got two cartridges in here,’ he said. ‘Two cartridges, six chambers. That’s four-to-two. Divide it, and you get two-to-one.’ He paused. ‘You game?’
‘That’s... that’s what we’re here for, ain’t it?’
‘Sure.’
‘Okay then.’