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''Charade?" Charlie repeated, seemingly perplexed. |
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Theodore slouched back into the protective folds of the pretentious piece of furniture and smiled over the rim of the stemmed crystal. This was, he told himself, something akin to setting his brother up for the kill. "Okay, long lost brother of mine, I'll play your silly little game. Tell me, why is it you finally show up now, after all these years?" |
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"Because I think it's time to put an end to all of this nonsense," Charlie said. |
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"Come off it. Ten years, Charlie, ten goddamn years. No cards. No letters. Not even a 'fuck you.' Ten years go by and all of a sudden here you are, with a contrite look on your face. Ask yourself, Charlie, don't you think I've got a pretty damn good reason for asking 'why now?'" |
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At that very moment there were two parallel lines of thought running through Charlie's mind. The first, of course, was the response; it had to be a reasonable response, something Theodore could buy, something that dovetailed nicely with his twisted sense of values. The second was simply to see if all the planning, scheming and effort were worth it. And that required little more than a simple test. Charlie had already decided he wouldn't go through with it if Theodore had fallen on hard |
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