Wild Cards Read online

  “You mean people might—attack you?”

  The man uttered a brief, shrill laugh.

  “People ain't real nice, kid. Not when you really get to know 'em.”

  “I'll walk you back,” Croyd said.

  “You might be taking a chance.”

  “That's okay.”

  It was down in the forties that three men on a bench stared at them as they passed. Croyd had just taken two more pills a few blocks back. (Was it only a few blocks back?) He hadn't wanted the jitters again while talking with his new friend John—at least, that's what he'd said to call him—so he'd taken two more to ease him over the next hump, in case one was due soon, and he knew right away when he saw the two men that they were planning something bad for him and John, and the muscles in his shoulders tightened and he rolled his hands into fists within his pockets.

  “Cock-a-doodle-doo,” said one of the men, and Croyd started to turn, but John put his hand on his arm and said, “Come on.”

  They walked on. The men rose and fell into step behind them.

  “Kirkiriki,” said one of the men.

  “Squak, squak,” said another.

  Shortly, a cigarette butt sailed over Croyd's head and landed in front of him.

  “Hey, freak lover!”

  A hand fell upon his shoulder.

  He reached up, took hold of the hand, and squeezed. Bones made little popping noises within it as the man began to scream. The screaming stopped abruptly when Croyd released the hand and slapped the man across the face, knocking him into the street. The next man threw a punch at his face and Croyd knocked the arm aside with a flick of his hand that spun the man full-face toward him. He reached out then with his left hand, caught hold of both the other's lapels, bunching them, twisting them, and raised the man two feet into the air. He slammed him back against the brick wall near which they stood and released him. The man slumped to the ground and did not move.

  The final man had drawn a knife and was swearing at him through clenched teeth. Croyd waited until he was almost upon him, and then levitated four feet and kicked him in the face. The man went over backward onto the sidewalk. Croyd drifted into position above him then and dropped, landing upon his midsection. He kicked the fallen knife into the gutter, turned away, and walked on with John.

  “You're an ace,” the smaller man said after a while.

  “Not always,” Croyd replied. “Sometimes I'm a joker. I change every time I sleep.”

  “You didn't have to be that rough on them.”

  “Right. I could have been a lot rougher. If it's really going to be like this we should take care of each other.”

  “Yeah. Thanks.”

  “Listen, I want you to show me the places on the Bowery where you say nobody bothers us. I may have to go there someday.”

  “Sure. I'll do that.”

  “Croyd Crenson. C-r-e-n-s-o-n. Remember it, okay? If you see me again I'll look different, that's why.”

  “I'll remember.”

  John took him to several dives and pointed out places where some of them stayed. He introduced him to six jokers they encountered, all of them savagely deformed. Remembering his lizard phase, Croyd shook appendages with all of them and asked if there was anything they needed. But they shook their heads and stared. He knew that his appearance was against him.

  “Good evening,” he said, and he flew away.

  His fear that the uninfected survivors were watching him, waiting to jump him, grew as he flew up along the course of the East River. Even now, someone with a rifle with telescopic sights might be taking aim . . .

  He moved faster. On one level, he knew that his fear was ridiculous. But he felt it too strongly to put it aside. He landed on the corner, ran to his front door, and let himself in. He hurried upstairs and locked himself in his bedroom.

  He stared at the bed. He wanted to stretch out on it. But what if he slept? It would be all over. The world would end for him. He turned on the radio and began to pace. It was going to be a long night . . .

  When Bentley called the next day and said that he had a hot one but that it was a little risky, Croyd said he didn't care. He would have to carry explosives—which meant he would have to learn to use them between now and then—because this safe would be too tough even for his enhanced strength. Also, there was the possibility of an armed guard. . . .

  He didn't mean to kill the guard, but the man had frightened him when he came in with a drawn gun that way. And he must have miscalculated on the fuse, because the thing blew before it should have, which is how the piece of flying metal took off the first two fingers of his left hand. But he wrapped the hand in his handkerchief and got the money and got out.

  He seemed to remember Bentley's saying, “For crissake, kid! Go home and sleep it off!” right after they split the take. He levitated then and headed in the proper direction, but he had to descend and break into a bakery where he ate three loaves of bread before he could continue, his mind reeling. There were more pills in his pocket, but the thought of them tied his stomach into a knot.

  He slid open his bedroom window, which he had left unlatched, and crawled inside. He staggered up the hall to Carl's room and dumped the sack of money onto his sleeping form. Shaking then, he returned to his own room and locked the door. He switched on the radio. He wanted to wash his injured hand in the bathroom, but it just seemed too far away. He collapsed onto the bed and did not rise.

  He was walking down what seemed an empty twilit street. Something stirred behind him and he turned and looked back. People were emerging from doorways, windows, automobiles, manholes, and all of them were staring at him, moving toward him. He continued on his way and there came something like a collective sigh at his back. When he looked again they were all hurrying after him, expressions of hatred on their faces. He turned upon them, seized hold of the nearest man and strangled him. The others halted, drew back. He crushed another man's head. The crowd turned, began to flee. He pursued. . . .

  III. Day of the Gargoyle

  Croyd awoke in June, to discover that his mother was in a sanatorium, his brother had graduated high school, his sister was engaged, and he had the power to modulate his voice in such a fashion as to shatter or disrupt virtually anything once he had determined the proper frequency by a kind of resonant feedback that he lacked the vocabulary to explain. Also, he was tall, thin, dark-haired, sallow, and had regrown his missing fingers.

  Foreseeing the day when he would be alone, he spoke with Bentley once again, to line up one big job for this waking period, and to get it over with quickly, before the weariness overcame him. He had resolved not to take the pills again, as he had thought back over the nightmare quality of his final days the last time around.

  This time he paid even more attention to the planning and he asked better questions as Bentley chain-smoked his way through a series of details. The loss of both his parents and his sister's impending marriage had led him to reflect upon the impermanence of human relationships, with the realization that Bentley might not always be around.

  He was able to disrupt the alarm system and damage the door to the bank's vault sufficiently to gain entrance, though he had not counted on shattering all of the windows in a three-block area while seeking the proper frequencies. Still, he was able to make good his escape with a large quantity of cash. This time he rented a safe-deposit box in a bank across town, where he left the larger portion of his share. He had been somewhat bothered by the fact that his brother was driving a new car.

  He rented rooms in the Village, Midtown, Morningside Heights, the Upper East Side, and on the Bowery, paying all of the rents for a year in advance. He wore the keys on a chain around his neck, along with the one for his safe-deposit box. He wanted places he could reach quickly no matter where he was when the sleep came for him. Two of the apartments were furnished; the other four he equipped with mattresses and radios. He was in a hurry and could take care of amenities later. He had awakened with an awareness of several
events that had transpired during his most recent sleep, and he could only attribute it to an unconscious apprehension of news broadcasts from the radio he had left playing this last time. He resolved to continue the practice.

  It took him three days to locate, rent, and equip his new retreats. In that his place on the Bowery was his last one, he looked up John, identified himself, and had dinner with him. The stories he heard then of a gang of joker-bashers depressed him, and when the hunger and the chill and the drowsiness came upon him that evening he took a pill so as to stay awake and patrol the area. Just one or two, he decided, would hardly matter.

  The bashers did not show up that night, but Croyd was depressed by the possibility that he might awaken as a joker the next time around. So he took two more pills with his breakfast to put things off a bit, and he decided to furnish his local quarters in the fit of energy that followed. That evening he took three more for a last night on the town, and the song he sang as he walked along Forty-second Street, shattering windows building by building, caused dogs to howl for several miles around and awakened two jokers and an ace equipped with UHF hearing. Bat-ears Brannigan—who expired two weeks later beneath a falling statue thrown by Muscles Vincenzi the day he was gunned down by the NYPD—sought him out to pound on him in payment for his headache and wound up buying him several drinks and requesting a soft UHF version of “Galway Bay.”

  The following afternoon on Broadway, Croyd responded to a taxi driver's curse by running his vehicle through a series of vibrations until it fell apart. Then, while he was about it, he turned the force upon all of those others who had proven themselves enemies by blowing their horns. It was only when the ensuing traffic snarl reminded him of the one outside his school on that first Wild Card Day that he turned and fled.

  He awoke in early August in his Morningside Heights apartment, recalling slowly how he had gotten there and promising himself he would not take any more pills this time. When he looked at the tumors on his twisted arm he knew that the promise would not be hard to keep. This time he wanted to return to sleep as quickly as possible. Looking out the window, he was grateful that it was night, since it was a long way to the Bowery.

  * * *

  On a Wednesday in mid-September he woke to find himself dark blond, of medium height, build, and complexion, and possessed of no visible marks of his wild card syndrome. He ran himself through a variety of simple tests that experience had taught him were likely to reveal his hidden ability. Nothing in the way of a special power came to light.

  Puzzled, he dressed himself in the best-fitting clothing he had on hand and went out for his usual breakfast. He picked up several newspapers along the way and read them while he devoured plate after plate of scrambled eggs, waffles, pancakes. It had been a chill morning when he'd entered the street. When he left the diner it was near to ten o'clock and balmy.

  He rode the subways to midtown, where he entered the first decent-looking clothing store he saw and completely refitted himself. He bought a pair of hot dogs from a street vendor and ate them as he walked to the subway station.

  He got off in the seventies, walked to the nearest delicatessen, and ate two corned beef sandwiches with potato pancakes. Was he stalling? he asked himself then. He knew that he could sit here all day and eat. He could feel the process of digestion going on like a blast furnace in his midsection.

  He rose, paid, and departed. He would walk the rest of the way. How many months had it been? he wondered, scratching his forehead. It was time to check in with Carl and Claudia. Time to see how Mom was doing. To see whether anybody needed any money.

  When Croyd came to his front door he halted, key in his hand. He returned the key to his pocket and knocked. Moments later, Carl opened the door.

  “Yes?” he said.

  “It's me. Croyd.”

  “Croyd! Jeez! Come in! I didn't recognize you. How long's it been?”

  “Pretty long.”

  Croyd entered.

  “How is everybody?” he asked.

  “Mom's still the same. But you know they told us not to get our hopes up.”

  “Yeah. Need any money for her?”

  “Not till next month. But a couple of grand would come in handy then.”

  Croyd passed him an envelope.

  “I'd probably just confuse her if I went to see her, looking this different.”

  Carl shook his head.

  “She'd be confused even if you looked the same as you did, Croyd.”

  “Oh.”

  “Want something to eat?”

  “Yeah. Sure.”

  His brother led him to the kitchen.

  “Lots of roast beef here. Makes a good sandwich.”

  “Great. How's business?”

  “Oh, I'm getting established now. It's better than it was at first.”

  “Good. And Claudia?”

  “It's good you turned up when you did. She didn't know where to send the invitation.”

  “What invitation?”

  “She's getting married Saturday.”

  “That guy from Jersey?”

  “Yeah. Sam. The one she was engaged to. He manages a family business. Makes pretty good money.”

  “Where'll the wedding be?”

  “In Ridgewood. You come with me for it. I'm driving over.”

  “Okay. I wonder what kind of present they'd like?”

  “They've got this list. I'll find it.”

  “Good.”

  Croyd went out that afternoon and bought a Dumont television set with a sixteen-inch screen, paid cash, and arranged for its delivery to Ridgewood. He visited with Bentley then, but declined a somewhat-risky-sounding job because of his apparent lack of special talent this time around. Actually, it was a good excuse. He didn't really want to work anyway, to take a chance on getting screwed up—physically or with the law—this close to the wedding.

  He had dinner with Bentley in an Italian restaurant, and they sat for several hours afterward over a bottle of Chianti, talking shop and looking ahead as Bentley tried to explain to him the value of long-range solvency and getting respectable one day—a thing he'd never quite managed himself.

  He walked most of the night after that, to practice studying buildings for their weak points, to think about his changed family. Sometime after midnight, as he was passing up Central Park West, a strong itching sensation began on his chest and spread about his entire body. After a minute, he had to halt and scratch himself violently. Allergies were becoming very fashionable about this time, and he wondered whether his new incarnation had brought him a sensitivity to something in the park.

  He turned west at the first opportunity and left the area as quickly as possible. After about ten minutes the itching waned. Within a half-hour it had vanished completely. His hands and face felt as if they were chapped, however.

  At about four in the morning he stopped in an all-night diner off Times Square, where he ate slowly and steadily and read a copy of Time magazine which someone had left in a booth. It's medical section contained an article on suicide among jokers, which depressed him considerably. The quotations it contained reminded him of things he had heard said by many people with whom he was acquainted, causing him to wonder whether any of them were among the inter- viewees. He understood the feelings too well, though he could not share them fully, knowing that no matter what he drew he would always be dealt a new wild card the next time around—and that more often than not it was an ace.

  All of his joints creaked when he rose, and he felt a sharp pain between his shoulder blades. His feet felt swollen, also.

  He returned home before daybreak, feeling feverish. In the bathroom, he soaked a washcloth to hold against his forehead. He noted in the mirror that his face seemed swollen. He sat in the easy chair in his bedroom until he heard Carl and Claudia moving about. When he rose to join them for breakfast his limbs felt leaden, and his joints creaked again as he descended the stairway.

  Claudia, slim and blond, embraced him when he
entered the kitchen. Then she studied his new face.

  “You look tired, Croyd,” she said.

  “Don't say that,” he responded. “I can't get tired this soon. It's two days till your wedding, and I'm going to make it.”

  “You can rest without sleeping, though, can't you?”

  He nodded.

  “Then, take it easy. I know it must be hard. . . . Come on, let's eat.”

  As they were sipping their coffee, Carl asked, “You want to come into the office with me, see the setup I've got now?”

  “Another time,” Croyd answered. “I've got some errands.”

  “Sure. Maybe tomorrow.”

  “Maybe so.”

  Carl left shortly after that. Claudia refilled Croyd's cup.

  “We hardly see you anymore,” she said.

  “Yeah. Well, you know how it is. I sleep—sometimes months. When I wake up I'm not always real pretty. Other times, I have to hustle to pay the bills.”

  “We've appreciated it,” she said. “It's hard to understand. You're the baby, but you look like a grown man. You act like one. You didn't get your full share of being a kid.”

  He smiled.

  “So what are you—an old lady? Here you are just seventeen, and you're getting married.”

  She smiled back.

  “He's a nice guy, Croyd. I know we're going to be happy.”

  “Good. I hope so. Listen, if you ever want to reach me I'm going to give you the name of a place where you can leave a message. I can't always be prompt, though.”

  “I understand. What is it that you do, anyway?”

  “I've been in and out of a lot of different businesses. Right now I'm between jobs. I'm taking it easy this time, for your wedding. What's he like, anyhow?”

  “Oh, very respectable and proper. Went to Princeton. Was a captain in the Army.”

  “Europe? The Pacific?”

  “Washington.”

  “Oh. Well-connected.”