w you got one."

"Look, buster--"

"Quit callin' me buster."

"What am I going to live on until I get paid again?"

"What do I care?"

It went on like that until the busses for the airport were nearly ready
to leave and both men seemed angry enough to kill each other.

"Let's go," I begged Danny. "Pay him and leave."

"All right then!" Danny snapped, and pulled out his wallet. He counted
out all his bills into Mattup's hand.

"You're a buck short," said Mattup.

"Why not forget the buck?" said Danny. "You can spare it."

"You're a buck short," repeated Mattup, scowling.

Danny dashed his wallet to the ground. "You're even taking my change!"
He got his jacket from the back of a chair--it was a hot day--and
emptied change from the side pocket.

There were two quarters and a half dollar, and he paid them over. "I
have eleven cents left," he said. "Hell, take that too. I don't give a
damn."

Mattup grinned. "Sure I'll take it--if you weren't lying when you said I
could have it."

"It'll break me," said Danny.

"I know it," said Mattup. "Gonna break your promise?"

The bus driver was honking. "The hell with you," Danny said to Mattup,
and gave him a dime and a penny. He looked Mattup in the eye with a
strange expression. "Now, I gave you that and you didn't win it. You
took it of your own free will. I offered it to you and you took it.
Right?"

"Right," said Mattup. "Sucker."

We scrambled on the bus and as it pulled away Danny yelled "Hey, Buster,
look!" Mattup looked, and Danny stuck his right arm out the window,
pointing at Mattup with his right forefinger and his little finger stuck
out straight and parallel, the thumb tucked under. A strange, disturbed
look came over Orley. He turned his back as the bus roared out of the
drive.

At the airport Danny popped into a phone-booth and got Orley on the
line--nobody seemed to care, either Outsiders or guards--and he let me
listen.

"Spent your money yet, dead man?" purred Danny.

"Whacha mean, dead man?" gruffed Orley's voice. "You crazy or
something?"

"You know that eleven cents extra you took?" gloated Danny. "It's gonna
kill you, Buster, for killing Uncle Pete, and for everything else you've
done. I know. I've been talking nights to Uncle Pete. You're a dead
duck, Orley Mattup! Dead!"

"That's--I don't believe it, it's baloney! I'm going to spend that
eleven cents and get rid of it."

"You do exactly that, Buster. I locked the curse on it,