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Show 71 "I haf been finkin that very same fing," said Willie. "But at the moment I was preoccupied wif the larger questions." "What bigger question is there than saving your own god-damn life?" said Red. "That was exactly the question I was finkin about." That xxa was enough to cool Red for awhile, and eventually Willie told us that he got jumped by Tony Blanion, a west side hood who was a friend of Stubie Stucka*s MWMmwMwwxaxKXXxxxxxxBxxi axaxxx when he wasn't his bitter enemy. Red knew Blanion, too, and thought he was a punk. "We should call the police," said Helen. "The police will not do nofin," said Willie. "When I get better I will haf to go and hit him on the head wif a hammer." "That's not the way to solve a problem," Helen said. She looked at me real hard. But I could see Red's eyes in the rear view mirror and they were clear and blue and not so very disapproving at all. Willie didn't have to wait long in the xxt emergency room, and as he left he asked HiaxxxxxkaxaaxxdtxaaMaxaxaxxxxXxxxxxix Helen if he could come over and visit her room. "Certainly Willie," said Helen, and she touched his cheek. "That is a fery interestin room," said Willie. "And I am fery interested in your experiments." When Willie got out of the xaxxx hospital he started coming over all the time. First he'd visit with Helen and have coffee and he always brought her some sweet rolls or cake and the two of them talked about the unseeable dimensions. They never argued, they just talked. Once I asked Helen if she was trying to convert Willie and she thought that was pretty funny. In fact, as I thought of it, she wasn't trying to convert Red anymore either, not in any overt way, not since the The Year of Two Hundred Books. No, she and Willie talked philosophy. They talked about whether Death was the Great Blackness or the SxxaiRKXXxx Great Brightness, whether birth was the beginning or the middle, they talked about whether or not they could talk about the nature of the soul. The only disagreement they had was that Helen called Willie's experiments prayers and Willie called Helen's |