Page 3 of Creature
As Townsend took a few easy drags from hiscigarette and swallowed some coffee, Harry tried to guess his age.Townsend had thinning gray hair, heavy jowls and a thick neck, anda nose and cheeks that carried the hectic glow of a long-timedrinker. Yet despite the signs of age and excess weight, he movedwith a younger man’s grace and sense of power.
Just as Townsend stubbed out his cigarette,the waitress arrived with their food. Harry’s bowl of oatmeallooked slightly pathetic compared to Townsend’s feast, but neitherman commented on it. Townsend spread butter and strawberry jam ontohis toast, salted his eggs heavily, and then looked up and grinned.“Nothing like a good breakfast to start the day.”
Harry, who had been awake for nearlytwenty-four hours, simply stirred his oatmeal.
For several minutes, Townsend occupiedhimself with cutting, chewing, and swallowing, occasionally chasingbites with gulps of coffee. Harry’s oatmeal was bland but filling,and he enjoyed the juice. He used to imagine that when he moved toCalifornia, he’d eat oranges straight off the trees every day. Butorange trees were hard to come by on Bunker Hill, and juice hadbeen outside his budget even when he was employed.
By the time the waitress reappeared,Townsend had emptied his plates, although Harry’s bowl remainedhalf-full. “I’ll have a piece of pie, sweetie. You have coconutcream?”
If she was surprised that he was orderingdessert with breakfast, she didn’t show it. “Yeah, we got that. Onefor him too?” she added, as if Harry wasn’t capable of speaking forhimself.
“I’m fine,” Harrymuttered, and she gathered the empty dishes and wentaway.
Townsend was watching him. “It’s a funnything. You’re from where? Iowa?”
“Missouri.”
“Yeah. So lots of kidslike you come to the City of Angels from Missouri, Kansas, Ohio…wherever. And they’re all looking to make it big in pictures. Theywant to be the next Montgomery Clift or Elizabeth Taylor. But notyou. You didn’t come here to be a movie star.”
“I don’t know how toact.”
That made Townsend boom out a laugh. “Thatdoesn’t stop any of them, kid. They figure a pretty face is goodenough. And yours isn’t bad.”
Harry’s cheeks burned again. He wasn’t sureif this was a backhanded dig at him and the secret he’d thoughtwell hidden until his last meeting with Townsend. “I don’t want tobe an actor,” he said quietly.
“I know.Youwanted to be anagent in the Bureau of Trans-Species Affairs. An unusual ambitionfor a boy from Nebraska.”
Ignoring the misplaced geographicalreference, which he suspected was intentional, Harry finished hisjuice and pushed the glass away. He wiped his lips with a papernapkin and, despite the amount of coffee he’d consumed, feltweighed down by exhaustion. He was too young to be this tired.Maybe the California sun was to blame, or the smog. He ought togive it up and move somewhere else.
“What do you want from me,Townsend?” he asked.
“An honest answer. Why didyou want to join the Bureau? And don’t give me more of thatclaptrap about wanting to serve your country and help people. Youcould do that by becoming a dogcatcher back home in CowshitCorners. What’s the truth, Harry my boy?”
Sullen-faced, Harry twitched a shoulder.“What do you care? You already turned me down.”
“That I did. Do you knowwhy?”
Harry lifted his chin. “Because I’m queer,”he growled softly. He thought he’d been discreet, avoiding thefrequently raided bars and instead finding temporary company inplaces like Westlake Park. But he should have known that the Bureauwould find out about his darkest secret. During the interview,Townsend had confronted Harry with details of his last fewmeet-ups, and Harry had known his hopes lay in ashes.
But now Townsend shook his head. “Thatwasn’t it. In fact, I was impressed that when I asked, you owned upto it.” He paused when the waitress arrived with his pie, and hetook a big bite before continuing. “Some of my agents arehomosexuals. One of them retired from the Bureau and began doing aprivate-detective gig with a male demon!” He laughed as if this wasthe funniest thing he’d ever heard.
“Male demon?”
“He’s harmless enough,nowadays. I guess his partner keeps a check on him. Or maybe it’sthe other way ’round—Grimes can be quite a threat himself. Anyway,the Bureau doesn’t disqualify homosexuals as long as they’re honestabout their proclivities and they keep their personal lives…unobtrusive.”
Although it was possible Townsend was lying,Harry couldn’t figure out why he’d bother. Just to torment Harry insome inexplicable fashion? Didn’t make sense. Harry wasn’t worththe effort.
“So why didn’t you let mesign up?”
Townsend took two enormous bites and aswallow of coffee before responding. “’Cause you’re not hard enoughfor it, kid.”
“I’m—”
“Hold on! You’ve got firein you, I’ll say that. But anyone can get angry. I bet that littlegal can throw an impressive tantrum when her ire’s up.” He gesturedtoward the waitress, who was taking an order three tables away.“But that doesn’t mean she’s cut out to be an agent. I need menwith steel inside ’em. Men who won’t fold when something mean anddeadly pushes at them.” He shook his head. “I see a softness inyou, Lowe, and I can’t afford that.”
Nobody had ever accused Harry of being soft.Headstrong, yes. Stupid. And useless. But although Harry had alwaysfeared that a certain weakness lurked in his core, he’d thought theflaw was invisible to everyone else.
He finished the last of his coffee, cold andsickly sweet. “So you tracked me down to gloat?”
