Memo shrugged and took another sip of her beer. Somebody put a quarter in the box and Gladys Knight came back, the Pips softly cooing behind her.

After a while, Echo and the guy came back and Echo slipped into his seat, gesturing to the seat next to Memo. "This is Dietz," he said, "Memo, Dietz. Dietz, Memo. Professor--"

The Professor cut him off, "Charmed, I'm sure. We were just finishing here." He made as though to get up, looking from Echo to Memo, but they weren't moving, both studying Dietz, the King. He seemed cleaner in the light at the booth, and Memo wondered what Echo had told him to do back there. He smelled like soap. She noticed there was a square of duct tape on the back of his hand.

"I really can't stay," Dietz said, "I just needed to get cleaned up a little, 'preciate it, thanks..." He bent and reached for his guitar.

Echo put a hand on his arm. "Time out, dude. Use your manners, huh? Take a few minutes out of your busy schedule for us, ok? It's an invitation, ok?"

Dietz looked at him, his oily hair a swaying metronome. He sniffed and wiped his nose. "An invitation. Ok." He took off his coat and carefully put it on the back of the chair. Echo held up four fingers to Jerry. Dietz pulled out the chair, moved it slightly away from Memo, and sat down, cracking his knuckles. Memo saw that there was gray in his whiskers, and the collar on his plaid shirt was frayed in the back. Echo got the beers from the bar. The Professor scowled down at the table.

Passing out the bottles, Echo said, "So, Dietz, you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He took a pull at the longneck.

"What happened back there?" Echo was looking at the square of tape on the back of his hand.

"Back there. Hmmm." Dietz turned his hands over and Memo could see that he also had a smaller square of tape on his palm. Did the wound go through? He flexed his callused fingers. A wry smile twisted his face. "A guy doesn't like me. There's a guy...he really doesn't like me."

"And?"

"Let's just leave it there...if I was to tell you more, it would only, uh, open Pandora's box." He looked from Echo to the Professor and drank the rest of his beer.

The Professor snorted. "Pandora's box. Pandora's box. I'd be astonished if you could even name five things that were in Pandora's box." He looked over his glasses and pursed his lips. Echo was about to tell him to chill, but Memo stopped him with her eyes.

Dietz's closed his eyes, then opened them halfway, and he sat slightly back in his chair. He breathed in and slowly out. Holding his open hand in front of him, his fingers spread wide, he began to fold his fingers down one by one. "Evil, disease, death, sickness, hatred." He spoke very quietly. He spread his fingers again, the duct tape wrinkling with the flexing. "War, crime, sorrow, pain, suffering." Open hand. "Famine, betrayal, torture, madness, decay. Estrangement, bitter--" He stopped his recitation seeing the Professor's resigned expression. "There's more," he said.

"That's enough," the Professor said, sour.

"Hope." Dietz kept a level gaze on the Professor. "Hope was in there too." He held up his hand, index finger pointing up, his thumb touching the nail of his middle finger.

"Your education seems passable, your highness. How is your judgement, I wonder... Which," the Professor spoke his words one at a time, crisply, as though they were bullets, "Which of these has caused the most pain to the human race through the ages, Mr. Dietz? In your opinion."

Echo looked at Memo. Her eyes were glittering.




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