Зима тревоги нашей

           "Who’sdouble-crossed?Hedon’tloseanythingandyoumakeabuck.Everybody’sgotarighttomakeabuck.Margiesaidyouwereasmartcooky."

           "It’sadarkday,"Ethansaid.

           "No,it’snot.Yougottheshadespulleddown."Thesniffingmindsmelleddanger—amouseconfusedbetweentheodoroftrapwireandthearomaofcheese."Tellyouwhat,"Biggerssaid,"youthinkaboutit.Seeifyoucanthrowsomebusinessourway.I’lldropintoseeyouwhenI’minthedistrict.Imakeiteverytwoweeks.Here’smycard."

           Ethan’shandremainedathisside.Biggerslaidthecardontopofthecoldcounter."Andhere’salittlemementowegotoutfornewfriends."Fromhissidepockethebroughtabillfold,arichandbeautifulaffairofpinseal.Heplaceditbesidethecardonthewhiteporcelain."Nicelittleitem.Placeforyourdriver’slicense,lodgecards."

           Ethandidnotreply.

           "I’lldropbyinacoupleofweeks,"Biggerssaid."Youthinkaboutit.I’llsurebehere.GotadatewithMargie.There’squiteakid."Withnoreply,hesaid,"I’llletmyselfout.Seeyousoon."ThensuddenlyhecameclosetoEthan."Don’tbeafool.Everybodydoesit,"hesaid."Everybody!"Andhewentrapidlyoutthedoorandcloseditquietlyafterhim.

           InthedarkenedsilenceEthancouldhearthelowhumofthetransformerfortheneonlightinthecoldcounter.Heturnedslowlytothepiledandtieredaudienceontheshelves.

           "Ithoughtyouweremyfriends!Youdidn’traiseahandforme.Fair-weatheroysters,fair-weatherpickles,fair-weathercake-mix.