“there’s the coke machine, right over there,” the motel owner, or clerk, or whatever he was, repeated to slim, as he put the key in the door of room 14 and opened it.
“yeah, i saw it,” slim said.
“it’s all filled up, just filled it up today.”
“that’s good.”
they entered room 14 and the clerk switched on the light, revealing a motel room, nothing more nor less.
“looks good,” said slim. he took the key from the clerk and the clerk left.
slim started to lie down on the bed. but then he decided to check the drawer of the table beside the bed to see if there was a gideon bible in it.
slim liked to read the bible, even though he never did except in hotel or motel rooms.
there was no gideon bible in the drawer, but there was a book.
it was a paperback book. it was obviously a detective novel. the cover showed a man in a fedora and an overcoat that looked like it weighed thirty pounds, with his back to the reader, pointing a pistol at a blonde in a leopard skin coat, who was pointing a pistol at him. the leopard skin coat was partially open, and it looked like the blonde had nothing on underneath it.
the book was titled i ask of you the truth by william wilson. under the title were the words, “she was as beautful as a butterfly, deadly as a rattlesnake!…”
slim flipped the book on to the table, beside the little lamp. he probably would not read it. he was not much for reading, though he liked to read the bible sometimes.
he lay back on the bed. i should get some sleep, he thought. it might be a long day tomorrow. first he would have to get to wiley’s place, probably through back roads if the bridge was not fixed, then he would have to listen to wiley’s jabber, and then at night he would have to deal with the general.
wiley would probably have a woman. wiley was one of those guys who did not look like much, but somehow always had a woman around. and they usually talked as much as he did.
slim was a little bit hungry. he was not starving, but he could use a couple of sandwiches or some fried chicken. not that he was about to go out looking for a restaurant in these back woods at this time of night.
he remembered the clerk running on about his wonderful coke machine. he decided to get a coke.
he had a couple of nickels in his pocket and he got up and took one out of his pocket and headed for the door.
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