To Have And Have Not

CHAPTER II
I WENT in the Perla and sat down at a table. They
had a new pane of glass in the window that had
been shot up and the show-case was all fixed up.
There were a lot of gallegos drinking at the bar,
and some eating. One table was playing dominoes
already. I had black bean soup and a beef stew
with boiled potatoes for fifteen cents. A botde of
Hatuey beer brought it up to a quarter. When I
spoke to the waiter about the shooting he wouldn't
say anything. They were all plenty scared.
I finished the meal and sat back and smoked a
cigarette and worried my head off. Then I saw
Frankie coming in the door with someone behind
him. Yellow stuff, I thought to myself. So it's
yellow stuff.
This is Mr. Sing,' Frankie said, and smiled.
He'd been pretty fast all right and he knew it.
'How do you do?' said Mr. Sing.
Mr, Sing was about the smoothest-looking thing
?d ever seen. He was a Chink all right, but he
talked like an Englishman and he was dressed in a
white suit with a silk shirt and black tie and one of
those hundred-and-twenty-five-dollar Panama hats.
'You will have some coffee?5 he asked me.
If you do.5
Thank you/ said Mr. Sing. 4We are quite alone
here?'
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