“All this we,” Braden said. “I’m talking to you.”

The ex-soldier didn’t know what to say. And, even with his size, he didn’t know what to do with Braden standing over him and not giving an inch. He glanced at John Russell again, then over to me like he’d thought of something. “What kind of a business you run?” he said. “You let a man walk in here and say he’s taking your seat-after paying your fare and all-and the company doesn’t do a thing about it?”

“Maybe I better get Mr. Mendez,” I said. “He’s upstairs.”

“I think he ought to know about this,” the ex-soldier said and started to rise. Braden stepped in closer and the ex-soldier looked up, almost straight up, and you could see then that he was afraid but trying hard not to show it.

“This is our business,” Braden said. “You don’t want somebody else’s nose stuck in.”

The ex-soldier seemed to get his nerve back-I guess because he realized he had to do something-and he said, “We better settle this right now.”

Braden didn’t budge. He said, “Are you wearing a gun?”

“Now wait a minute.”

“If you aren’t,” Braden said, “you better get one.”

“You can’t just threaten a man like that,” the ex-soldier said. “There are witnesses here seeing you threaten me.”

Braden shook his head. “No, they heard you call me a dirty name.”

“I never called you anything.”

“Even if they didn’t hear it,” Braden said, “I did.”

“I never said a word!”

“I’m going to walk out on the street,” Braden said. “If you don’t come out inside a minute, I’ll have to come back in.”

That’s all there was to it. The ex-soldier stared up at Braden, the cords in his neck standing out, his hands spread and clamped on his knees. And even as he gave up, as he let himself lean back against the wall, he was holding on, knowing he had backed down and it was over, but doing it gradually so we wouldn’t see the change come over him. Braden held out his hand. The ex-soldier gave him his ticket. Then he picked up his bag and walked out.