Joe gave him a pitying look, and then his chest started ringing. He extracted a
slim phone from his shirt-pocket and turned away. A moment later, he turned
back. "Gotta go!" he said. "Meeting with Woodrow and Orville, down at Ops!"
Alarm-bells went off in George's head. "Shouldn't Bill go along if you're
meeting with Orville?"
Joe sneered at him, then took off at a fast clip down the midway. George watched
him until he disappeared through one of the access doors.
#
Bill was clearly upset about it. George couldn't help but feel responsible. He
should have called Bill as soon as Joe told him he was meeting with Orville, but
he'd waited until he got home.
He'd been home for hours, and Joe still wasn't back. Bill picked absently at the
dinner he'd made and fretted.
"He didn't say how Orville found out?" Bill asked.
George shook his head mutely.
"Why didn't he invite me?" Bill asked. "I always handle negotiations for us."
George couldn't eat. The more Bill fretted, the more he couldn't eat. It was
long dark outside, hours and hours after Joe should've been home. Bill fretted,
George stared out the window, and Joe didn't come home.
Then, an electric cart's headlights swept up the trail to their cabin. The
lights dazzled George, so he couldn't see who was driving. Bill joined him at
the window and squinted. "It's Joe and Orville!" he said. George squinted too,
but couldn't make anything out. He took Bill's word for it and joined him
outside.
It was indeed Orville and Joe. Orville was driving, and Joe was lolling
drunkenly beside him. Orville shook hands with Bill and nodded to George, who
lifted Joe out of the cart and carried him inside.
When he got back, Orville and Bill were staring calmly into each other's eyes,
each waiting for the other to say something. Orville was dressed in his working
clothes: a natty white suit with a sport-shirt underneath. His bald head gleamed
in the moonlight. His fleshy, unreadable face was ruddy in the glow from the
cabin's door. George bit his tongue to keep from speaking.
"He's drunk," Orville said, at last. Orville didn't beat around the bush.
"I can see that," Bill said. "Did you get him drunk?"
"Yes, I did. We were celebrating."