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."Part of him doesn't want you back.Part of him surely does.Unfortunately it's the negative part that shows.""He don't want me back.""He's confused," Susan said."He's in pain.He doesn't know how to say what he feels.""I know how he feels.He thinks I'm shit.He thinks I'm a whore.Well, fuck him, you know? I'm not going back.""And your mother," Susan said."She's a wimp.She just sucks around him.""Do you want to stay here then?""Yes.".Why?ÑŽ April shrugged."Why not? It's a nice place.I've crashed in a lot worse, you know?""This is not a place for you, April.You don't have to go home.I can't force you and I wouldn't if I could.But not here.""Why not?"Susan looked straight at Poitras when she spoke."Because this is an absolute pig of a man," she said.April laughed, a harsh little sound, without humor."So what?" she said.Amy Gurwitz was sitting quietly on a hassock in front of an easy chair near the French doors.Her knees and ankles were together.Her hands were clasped in her lap.She was watching the activity as if it were a movie and she was enthralled.Susan looked at me.She was stuck.So was I.147 "We can take her by force, Suze," I said."But what are we going to do with her?""She came here looking for some help," Poitras said."I was the only one she could trust.So she came here.I'll step around that crack about me being a pig, and I'm giving it to you straight.She's welcome here as long as she wants.Just like Amy, and you can make whatever you want out of that with your dirty goddamned minds, all of you.But the kids know who they can count on, by God.So whyn't you and your goon get the hell out of here before you just make things worse.""Is that G-O-O-N, rhymes with noon?" I said."Or G-U-N-E, rhymes with prune?"Susan was looking at Poitras and he back at her.Then he looked away.Another point for Susan.She had all the points but he seemed to have April.Was it time to play the porno hand.I didn't think April would care.Probably admire his artistic interests.We could bust Poitras, but what would Amy and April do then? Did April go back to Red, maybe take Amy along? I knew she wouldn't go home.They might very well be better off with Poitras than with Red."This is not over, Mitchell," Susan said."I will not give in on this.I can't.I can't let you have access to children.""Suze," I said, and made a time-out sign by putting one hand horizontally on top of the other one held vertical."Time to go.I told April I wouldn't force her, and I won't."Susan opened her mouth and closed it and looked at me once and then turned on her heel and walked out.I stood, smiled at Amy and April, and started toward the door."No thanks," I said to Poitras, "we'll find our way out.Nice seeing you again, April.Amy.Mitchell, I may stop by sometime and knock you on your ass again." Then I followed Susan.Walking down Beacon Street, Susan was galvanic with fury."How can we let him keep her.Them? How can we?""Hey, Suze," I said, "why nip a budding film career?""Goddamn it," Susan said, "it is not funny."Chapter 24"Where you parked?" I said."Commonwealth.""Want a snack before we part?"She nodded and we walked up toward Newbury Street."How does a slob like that get to be executive nitwit, or whatever he is, in the state education system?" I said."Knew someone, I suppose," Susan said."There's all sorts of hiring regulations and elaborate interviewing procedures, and one call from practically anyone circumvents it.Half the jobs in the Commonwealth are bagged before they're advertised.""Hard to imagine Poitras has a friend," I said."He has girls and dirty movies," Susan said.I looked at her in the odd light, under the high mist."Cynical," I said."Beautiful but hard, like a diamond.""It would be a way to make friends," Susan said."True," I said."It would also be a way to put someone in your debt if you had supplied him with things that public servants aren't supposed to want." We turned down Newbury."How about the police?" Susan said."And what happens to April and Amy?"Susan nodded.We crossed Fairfield.The rain was misting down now, steady but very fine.The temperature had risen."On the other hand," Susan said, "what happens to them in any case?""I was hoping you'd think of something," I said."Maybe there isn't anything to think of.We could get them back home.But that's where they learned to be what they are."We crossed Exeter Street and went into the Bookstore Cafe.There were books, and there was blond woodwork, and a bar and tables, and in the back a balcony as well.I liked eating in there.It made me feel intellectual.I had a tongue sandwich on rye and Susan had a salad.We split a bottle of Norman cider.Not everybody sells Norman cider by the bottle."Has a European feel," Susan said."That sounds terrific," I said."Can I have one?"Susan grinned at me
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