384
PARTISAN REVIEW
night, then Harvey was having trouble with the cigarette machine,
laughing 'cause his coins weren't being returned this time, but a little
pissed-off too, starting to punch at the machine, a few kicks, one of
his buddies pulled him away saying forget it: Harv could bum a
cigarette from him anytime he wanted.
They left that bar, drove a mile or two down the Bay Road to
another place, big parking lot practically in the dunes, music inside,
somebody else was driving Harvey's Impala now which irritated him
a little but he didn't intend to get in a fight right now, he'd make his
point later when they drove back to Surf City. This place, the atmo–
sphere took getting used to, too many customers pushing around the
bar, too many women maybe, couples trying to dance and getting
bumped into, a lot of noise, but Harvey felt good after his first draft
beer or two, his buddies were flying high just like him, lots of wise
guy stuff and laughing, almost choking with laughter, Fritz telling
them how Harv had told Father Donahue to go screw, they'd heard
it a hundred times already but it always cracked them up. Harvey
thought he saw the big guy with the ponytail, he thought he saw him
and the girl on the other side of the room, but then he lost them, for–
got about them, he was bumming cigarettes which he'd light and
drop on the floor, once he burnt his fingers with somebody's lighter,
how the fuck it happened he couldn't figure out, those things were
safety proof. Harvey was thinking he liked this bar as well as the
other one, maybe better. He felt at peace. But well he felt excited
too.
It
was hard to put your finger on - things going the way they
were supposed to go . The way they were meant. Like the satisfaction
seeing a river or something running along, or even raindrops rolling
down a windshield, it could fascinate you, it was hard to say why,
Harvey saw the sky bunching up over the Surf City beach and the
first raindrops pelting and the thunder sounding and there's that
good clean fresh air, that almost surprising air, just before a storm,
and he and the other kids ran like hell down the beach, yelling and
laughing, trying to outrace the storm, the raindrops hitting like bul–
lets, older people scrambling around putting away their beach crap,
gathering up their kids, assholes acting like lightning was going to
strike them the next minute.
He saw then that that guy with the ponytail
was
there in the bar,
the girl with him, but they hadn't noticed Harvey and his friends.
Actually they were on their way out, the girl had her sunglasses slid
atop her head, pressing close against him with her arm through his,
