No Country for Old Men (14 page)

Moss made his way down the ward and back again holding on to the nurse's arm. She said
encouraging things to him in Spanish. They turned at the end of the bay and started back.
The sweat stood on his forehead. Andale, she said. Qué bueno. He nodded. Damn right bueno,
he said.

Late in the night he woke from a troubling dream and struggled down the hallway and asked
to use the telephone. He dialed the number in Odessa and leaned heavily on the counter and
listened to it ring. It rang a long time. Finally her mother answered.

It's Llewelyn.

She dont want to talk to you.

Yes she does.

Do you know what time it is?

I dont care what time it is. Dont you hang up this phone.

I told her what was goin to happen, didnt I? Chapter and verse. I said: This is what will
come to pass. And now it has come to pass.

Dont you hang up this phone. You get her and you put her on.

When she picked up the phone she said: I didnt think you'd do me thisaway.

Hello darlin, how are you? Are you all right, Llewelyn? What happened to them words?

Where are you.

Piedras Negras.

What am I supposed to do, Llewelyn?

Are you all right?

No I'm not all right. How would I be all right? People callin here about you. I had the
sheriff up here from Terrell County. Showed up at the damn door. I thought you was dead.

I aint dead. What did you tell him?

What could I tell him?

He might con you into sayin somethin.

You're hurt, aint you?

What makes you say that?

I can hear it in your voice. Are you okay?

I'm okay.

Where are you?

I told you where I was.

You sound like you're in a bus station.

Carla Jean I think you need to get out of there.

Out of where?

Out of that house.

You're scarin me, Llewelyn. Out of here to go where?

It dont matter. I just dont think you should stay there. You could go to a motel.

And do what with Mama?

She'll be all right.

She'll be all right?

Yes.

You dont know that.

Llewelyn didnt answer.

Do you?

I just dont think anybody will bother her.

You dont think?

You need to get out. Just take her with you.

I cant take my mama to a motel. She's sick if you aint forgot.

What did the sheriff say.

Said he was lookin for you, what do you think he said?

What else did he say.

She didnt answer.

Carla Jean?

She sounded like she was crying.

What else did he say, Carla Jean?

He said you was fixin to get yourself killed.

Well, that's what he would say.

She was quiet a long time.

Carla Jean?

Llewelyn, I dont even want the money. I just want us to be back like we was.

We will be.

No we wont. I've thought about it. It's a false god.

Yeah. But it's real money.

She said his name again and then she did begin to cry. He tried to talk to her but she
didnt answer. He stood there listening to her sobbing quietly in Odessa. What do you want
me to do? he said.

She didnt answer.

Carla Jean?

I want things to be like they was.

If I tell you I'll try and fix everthing will you do what I asked you?

Yes. I will.

I've got a number here I can call. Somebody that can help us.

Can you trust them?

I dont know. I just know I cant trust nobody else. I'll call you tomorrow. I didnt think
they'd find you up there or I never would of sent you. I'll call you tomorrow.

He hung up the phone and dialed the mobile number that Wells had given him. It answered on
the second ring but it wasnt Wells. I think I got the wrong number, he said.

You dont have the wrong number. You need to come see me.

Who is this?

You know who it is.

Moss leaned on the counter, his forehead against his fist.

Where's Wells?

He cant help you now. What kind of a deal did you cut with him?

I didnt cut any kind of a deal.

Yes you did. How much was he going to give you?

I dont know what you're talkin about.

Where's the money.

What did you do with Wells.

We had a difference of opinion. You dont need to concern yourself about Wells. He's out of
the picture. You need to talk to me.

I dont need to talk to you.

I think you do. Do you know where I'm going?

Why would I care where you're goin?

Do you know where I'm going?

Moss didnt answer.

Are you there?

I'm here.

I know where you are.

Yeah? Where am I?

You're in the hospital at Piedras Negras. But that's not where I'm going. Do you know
where I'm going?

Yeah. I know where you're goin.

You can turn all this around.

Why would I believe you?

You believed Wells.

I didnt believe Wells.

You called him.

So I called him.

Tell me what you want me to do.

Moss shifted his weight. Sweat stood on his forehead. He didnt answer.

Tell me something. I'm waiting.

I could be waitin for you when you get there you know, Moss said. Charter a plane. You
thought about that?

That would be okay. But you wont.

How do you know I wont?

You wouldnt have told me. Anyway, I have to go.

You know they wont be there.

It doesnt make any difference where they are.

So what are you goin up there for.

You know how this is going to turn out, dont you?

No. Do you?

Yes. I do. I think you do too. You just havent accepted it yet. So this is what I'll do.
You bring me the money and I'll let her walk. Otherwise she's accountable. The same as
you. I dont know if you care about that. But that's the best deal you're going to get. I
wont tell you you can save yourself because you cant.

I'm goin to bring you somethin all right, Moss said. I've decided to make you a special
project of mine. You aint goin to have to look for me at all.

I'm glad to hear that. You were beginning to disappoint me.

You wont be disappointed.

Good.

You dont have to by god worry about bein disappointed.

He left before daylight dressed in the muslin hospital gown with the overcoat over it. The
skirt of the overcoat was stiff with blood. He had no shoes. In the inside pocket of the
coat was the money he'd folded away there, stiff and bloodstained.

He stood in the street looking toward the lights. He'd no notion where he was. The
concrete cold under his feet. He made his way down to the corner. A few cars passed. He
walked down to the lights at the next corner and stopped and leaned with one hand against
the building. He had two white lozenges in his overcoat pocket that he'd saved and he took
one now, swallowing it dry. He thought he was going to vomit. He stood there for a long
time. There was a windowsill there he'd have sat on save that it was spiked with pointed
iron bars to discourage loiterers. A cab went by and he raised one hand but it kept going.
He was going to have to go out into the street and after a while he did. He'd been
tottering there for some time when another cab passed and he raised his hand and it pulled
to the curb.

The driver studied him. Moss leaned on the window. Can you take me across the bridge? he
said.

To the other side.

Yes. To the other side.

You got monies.

Yes. I got monies.

The driver looked dubious. Twenty dollars, he said.

Okay.

At the gate the guard leaned down and regarded him where he sat in the dim rear of the
cab. What country were you born in? he said.

The United States.

What are you bringing in?

Not anything.

The guard studied him. Would you mind stepping out here? he said.

Moss pushed down on the doorhandle and leaned on the front seat to ease himself out of the
cab. He stood.

What happened to your shoes?

I dont know.

You dont have any clothes on, do you?

I got clothes on.

The second guard was waving the cars past. He pointed for the cabdriver. Would you please
pull your cab over into that second space there?

The driver put the cab in gear.

Would you mind stepping away from the vehicle?

Moss stepped away. The cab pulled into the parking area and the driver cut the engine.
Moss looked at the guard. The guard seemed to be waiting for him to say something but he
didnt.

They took him inside and sat him in a steel chair in a small white office. Another man
came in and stood leaning against a steel desk. He looked him over.

How much have you had to drink?

I aint had anything to drink.

What happened to you?

What do you mean?

What happened to your clothes.

I dont know.

Do you have any identification?

No.

Nothing.

No.

The man leaned back, his arms crossed at his chest. He said: Who do you think gets to go
through this gate into the United States of America?

I dont know. American citizens.

Some American citizens. Who do you think decides that?

You do I reckon.

That's correct. And how do I decide?

I dont know.

I ask questions. If I get sensible answers then they get to go to America. If I dont get
sensible answers they dont. Is there anything about that that you dont understand?

No sir.

Then maybe you'd like to start over.

All right.

We need to hear more about why you're out here with no clothes on.

I got a overcoat on.

Are you jackin with me?

No sir.

Dont jack with me. Are you in the service?

No sir. I'm a veteran.

What branch of the service.

United States Army.

Were you in Nam?

Yessir. Two tours.

What outfit.

Twelfth Infantry.

What were your dates of tour duty.

August seventh nineteen and sixty-six to September second nineteen and sixty-eight.

The man watched him for some time. Moss looked at him and looked away. He looked toward
the door, the empty hall. Sitting hunched forward in the overcoat with his elbows on his
knees.

Are you all right?

Yessir. I'm all right. I got a wife that'll come and get me if you all will let me go on.

Have you got any money? You got change for a phone call?

Yessir.

He heard claws scrabbling on the tiles. A guard was standing there with a German Shepherd
on a lead. The man jutted his chin at the guard. Get someone to help this man. He needs to
get into town. Is the taxi gone?

Yessir. It was clean.

I know. Get someone to help him.

He looked at Moss. Where are you from?

I'm from San Saba Texas.

Does your wife know where you are?

Yessir. I talked to her here just a while ago.

Did you all have a fight?

Did who have a fight?

You and your wife.

Well. Somewhat of a one I reckon. Yessir.

You need to tell her you're sorry.

Sir?

I said you need to tell her you're sorry.

Yessir. I will.

Even if you think it was her fault.

Yessir.

Go on. Get your ass out of here.

Yessir.

Sometimes you have a little problem and you dont fix it and then all of a sudden it aint a
little problem anymore. You understand what I'm tellin you?

Yessir. I do.

Go on.

Yessir.

It was almost daylight and the cab was long gone. He set out up the street. A bloody serum
was leaking from his wound and it was running down the inside of his leg. People paid him
little mind. He turned up Adams Street and stopped at a clothing store and peered in.
Lights were on at the rear. He knocked at the door and waited and knocked again. Finally a
small man in a white shirt and a black tie opened the door and looked out at him. I know
you aint open, Moss said, but I need some clothes real bad. The man nodded and swung open
the door. Come in, he said.

They walked side by side down the aisle toward the boot section. Tony Lama, Justin,
Nocona. There were some low chairs there and Moss eased himself down and sat with his
hands gripping the chair arms. I need boots and some clothes, he said. I got some medical
problems and I dont want to walk around no more than what I can help.

The man nodded. Yessir, he said. Of course.

Do you carry the Larry Mahans?

No sir. We dont.

That's all right. I need a pair of Wrangler jeans thirty-two by thirty-four length. A
shirt size large. Some socks. And show me some Nocona boots in a ten and a half. And I
need a belt.

Yessir. Did you want to look at hats?

Moss looked across the store. I think a hat would be good. You got any of them stockman's
hats with the small brim? Seven and three-eights?

Yes we do. We have a three X beaver in the Resistol and a little better grade in the
Stetson. A five X, I think it is.

Let me see the Stetson. That silverbelly color.

All right sir. Are white socks all right?

White socks is all I wear.

What about underwear?

Maybe a pair of jockey shorts. Thirty-two. Or medium.

Yessir. You just make yourself comfortable. Are you all right?

I'm all right.

The man nodded and turned to go.

Can I ask you somethin? Moss said.

Yessir.

Do you get a lot of people come in here with no clothes on?

No sir. I wouldnt say a lot.

He carried the pile of new clothing with him to the dressingroom and slid off the coat and
hung it from the hook on the back of the door. A pale dried blood was crusted across his
sallow sunken paunch. He pushed at the edges of the tape but they wouldnt stick. He eased
himself down on the wooden bench and pulled on the socks and he opened the package of
shorts and took them out and pulled them over his feet and up to his knees and then stood
and pulled them carefully up over the dressing. He sat again and undid the shirt from its
cardboard forms and endless pins.