Benny Muscles In

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The car leaned hard into the curve and before it had a chance to right itself came to a rocking stop.

Benny Tapkow sat back in his seat “I’m not telling you again,” he said. He had a quiet voice. “Next time like that and you’re through.”

“You said to make time,” the driver said. “All I was trying-”

“Try to shut up. I said drive fast. I didn’t say stop fast.”

The driver didn’t give an answer because he wasn’t expected to have one.

Benny swung the car door open and jumped to the sidewalk. With a careful movement he gave his hat a small adjustment, feeling along the high crown and the wide brim. It was a big hat and he wore it square over his ears and forehead, as if wearing it were a feat of balance.

Then he walked down the street When Benny Tapkow moved, it was like a tight spring moving, as if there were a lot of power that had to be used up.

He walked past a couple of stores and turned into a place that said, “While U Wait.” He walked past the shoeshine boy, the man who blocked hats behind the counter, and then around the steam press in the back. Nobody said anything. They listened to the sharp click of his heels and watched him disappear through the door in the back.

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