They don't know everything. Give her another shot, Mac. She needs it."

Mollie fumbled in her purse and laid fifty cents on the bar. Arlene tossed off the whisky.

"You remember him in the old days," she said to Mac. "Mac remembers Papa in the old days," she said, turning to me. that right, Mac?"

"Isn't

"First The old

"Hell, yes," said Mac. job I had was with Pete. place on Mission Street. Just after the Fire. You was living in that flat on Twenty-first Street."

"Pete was a man all right," said Mollie wistfully.

"I'll say he was a man," said Arlene. "I remember the time he got in with that Oakland floozie. I knew something was going on. But I didn't say a word. I says to myself 'Arlene, if you can't keep your man, it's your fault,' I says. I knew where she lived. Thursday was his day off and I went there. I found 'em all right. I picked up a chair and broke it over 'em. That night Pete says to me Never again', and he never did. When he said something, he meant it."

"Pete was a square shooter all right," said Mac.

"I'll say," said Arlene, sniffling once more.

"My husband never gave me no trouble like that," said Mollie. "It was something else."

"I never see anyone handle a drunk like Pete could," said Mac. "Why, I've seen him with a guy three times his size. And the guy went right out on his tail."

"That's right," said Arlene.

"He wouldn't take nothing from nobody."

"My husband wasn't no fighter," said Mollie. "Give me another shot, Mac. Her too." She put a dollar on the bar. "How about. you, Mister?" she asked me.

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I said I'd stick to beer. "Okay, give him a beer, Mac, she said. "It's on me, Mister." "Pete's just laying there," said Arlene.

"Look, honey, said Mollie, "I know how you feel. Sure, it's tough, like Mac says. But you've got a lot to be thankful for. You and Pete both. How long you been married? Twenty-five, thirty years?"

"Forty-three next month," said Arlene.

"Well, that's what I mean. Haven't they got a lot to be thankful for, Mac?"

"Sure," said Mac. "Forty-three years is a long time."

"Give me another shot, Mac," said Mollie.

"Look, Mollie, hadn't you better take it easy?" said Mac.

"What the hell for?" said Mollie. "I never met a nicer guy than my husband. But what did it get me?"

"When did he die, dearie?" asked Arlene.

"He didn't die. He walked out

on me.

"Say, now," said Mac. "That's too bad."

"Yeah, see what I mean?" said Mollie. "See what I mean, Mac, when I tell Arlene she and Pete' ve got something to be thankful for?"

She drank her whisky.

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