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Dink sipped it tentatively. “Bourbon. I like it.”
“You’re a precocious drinker,” Herbie said. He was still a little nervous about being there at night, alone with Dink.
Dink took a drag on his drink. “What do you think of me, Herb?”
“I think you should have been an actor.”
Dink looked at him. “Funny you should mention that, I considered it once.”
“You should consider it again,” Herbie said. “Instead of law school.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re good at it. You’ll get lots of attention from girls, and you won’t have to sweat the work that goes with law school, and especially with practicing law. And I think you’d enjoy being famous.”
“Somehow I get the impression that what you’ve just said is not exactly a compliment.”
“Not exactly, no.”
“You avoided my question about what you think of me by saying I should be something else.”
“That’s what I think.”
“You think I’m acting now?”
“I think you’ve been acting at least since you made your exit from the farm-with me, with your dad.”
Dink regarded him for a slow count of about five. “I don’t like that much.”
“I don’t much care whether you like it or not.”
“You want to be careful, Herb. I’m a lot bigger than you, and I can be mean.”
“Both those things are obviously true,” Herbie said, “but let me give you some very good advice. Never pick a fight with someone you don’t know well. You won’t know what you’re getting into.”
“What would I be getting into if I got into a fight with you, Herb?”
“It’s time you knew a few things about me, Dink. Knowing them will save you a lot of grief.”
“What should I know about you, Herb?”
“You should know that, in my time, I’ve killed three men.”
“You were in the army?”
Herbie chuckled. “No, I wasn’t cut out for that.”
“Under what circumstances did you kill three men, Herb?”
“Have you ever heard of a man named Carmine Dattila? Also known as Dattila the Hun?”
Dink wrinkled his brow. “Mafia guy, maybe?”
“Mafia guy, certainly. I once owed some money to a bookie who worked for Dattila-oddly enough, the one I paid two hundred grand of your dad’s money to to get out of your life.”
“So, how did you handle that?”
“It’s more about how Dattila handled it. He sent two men to beat me up, then kill me. Large men. They got into my apartment.”
