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Show Acting Alone Page i18 (Noncommittal grunt emanates from underneath blood-soaked Ace bandage over Sam's face, a grunt which Spikey eagerly misinterprets as strong affirmation of sympathy. Spikey rises up, hand extended. Sam cowers for a second before he realizes Spikey's hand is to be shaken.) (Spikey's voice): "You a hell of a dude after all. Welcome to the family, pilgrim." (Couchsprings squeak for whole minutes as Spikey shakes Sam's hand vigorously.) (Spikey retires, his vigorous Marine step echoing down the hall. Sam rolls over and goes to sleep in a warm glow of human camaraderie, a deep glow of human communicativeness, a green glow of hundreds of thousands of impending publishing dollars. Sam counts the dollars, in bundles of fifties, like sheep, and lulls himself to sleep in this way. Tape recorder rolls on.) He had found him a home. So howcome the whole thing fell through again this time? How did Sam manage to get himself ejected once more from such a copasetic situation? Was it the Poean Imp of the Perverse again? Not this time. This time it was due to agencies beyond Sam's control: certain government agencies, in fact, whom Mama Mae Bell refused to identify specifically (probably the C. I. fucking-A.). They'd descended in a helicopter into the flat patch of grass out back (the dogs around town didn't even |