To Have And Have Not

TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT
'You're a goddamn liar,' he said to Freddy.
'Eighty-five cents/ Freddy said to him.
'Watch this,* said the red-headed Vet.
Freddy spread his hands on the bar. He was
watching the Vet.
'You're a goddamn liar/ said the Vet, and picked
up a beer glass to throw it. As his hand closed on it,
Freddy's right hand swung in a half circle over the
bar and cracked a big salt-cellar covered with a bar
towel alongside the Vet's head,
'Was it ne&t?' said the red-headed Vet, 'Was it
pretty?'
'You ought to see him tap them with that sawed-
off billiard cue,' the other said.
Two Vets standing next to where the salt-cellar
man had slipped down, looked at Freddy angrily.
'What's the idea of cooling him?'
'Take it easy,' said Freddy. 'This one is on the
house. Hey, Wallace,' he said. Tut that fellow
over against the wall.'
*Was it pretty?' the red-headed Vet asked Richard
Gordon. 'Wasn't that sweet?'
A heavy-set young fellow had dragged the salt-
cellared man out through the crowd He pulled
him to his feet and the man looked at him vacantly,
'Run along/ he said to him, 'Get yourself some
air.5
Over against the wall the man who had been
cooled sat with his head in his hands. The heavy-
set young man went over to b™
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