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Terry called from below, "What happened? Is everything all right?" |
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For a moment Calvin did not respond, he was so stunned by the violence of Matty's reaction. He just stood staring at the closed door, only inches from his face. He turned toward the stairs and Terry below. He nodded to say it was nothing. |
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"Just leave him be," Terry whispered. |
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He nodded again, words frozen. |
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In the split instant while the door was ajar, he had glimpsed somethingsomething that was too fast for his eyes but which had nonetheless registered subliminally. Like a reluctant dream it left an after-image just beyond reachone that had cut to the quick of his subconscious, leaving him with a feeling that he had glimpsed something . . . something terribly out of place. (Later, he would tell himself that it was the bright purple shiner that he had picked up in that flash moment. And yet for the rest of the night he would feel unsettled, as if his deeper mind had in that brief moment recorded something very, very wrong.) |
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From below Terry tried to read his manner. "What is it?" |
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A few moments later the light strip under Matty's door went black. He had gone to bed for the night. |
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"Six hundred thousand dollars?" Calvin bounded out of the bathroom pulling up his pajama bottoms. "What?" |
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Terry was standing beside the bed with the check in her hand. |
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"Tell me you're not kidding." |
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"I'm not," Terry said, handing him the woman's check. "A deposit of half, the other half on signing." |
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"My God," said Calvin, gaping at the script: Three Hundred Thousand---and 00/100. "There is a God," Calvin whispered. "What did you tell her?" |
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"That I'd talk it over with you and let her know in two days." |
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Two days? Anything could happen in two days. He started for the phone. "You have her number?" |
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"Calvin, she's not going to change her mind overnight. Besides, we have her deposit." |
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