from a long way off, and I could hear my feet walking a great distance away. I had been kicked in the head early in the game. It was like that crossing the square. It was like that going up the stairs in the hotel. Going up the stairs took a long time, and I had the feeling that I was carrying my suitcase. There was a light in the room. Bill came out and met me in the hall.
"Say," he said, "go up and see Cohn. He's been in a jam, and he's asking for you."
"The hell with him."
"Go on. Go on up and see him."
I did not want to climb another flight of stairs.
"What are you looking at me that way for?"
"I'm not looking at you. Go on up and see Cohn. He's in bad shape."
"You were drunk a little while ago," I said.
"I'm drunk now," Bill said. "But you go up and see Cohn. He wants to see you."
"All right," I said. It was just a matter of climbing more stairs. I went on up the stairs carrying my phantom suitcase. I walked down the hall to Cohn's room. The door was shut and I knocked.
"Who is it?"
"Barnes."
"Come in, Jake."
I opened the door and went in, and set down my suitcase. There was no light in the room. Cohn was lying, face down, on the bed in the dark.
"Hello, Jake."
"Don't call me Jake."
I stood by the door. It was just like this that I had come home. Now it was a hot bath that I needed. A deep, hot bath, to lie back in.
"Where's the bathroom?" I asked.
Cohn was crying. There he was, face down on the bed, crying.
