I'll put you up, he said to me.

The computer had not let me down.

Thanks.

He led me in, fed me, talked to me about the seas, the weather. I brought in a case of Bacardi and turned him loose on it.

Ain't things pretty much automatic here? I asked.

That's right.

Then what do they need you for?

He laughed a little and said, My uncle was a Senator. I needed a place to go. He fixed me up ... Let's see your ship ... So what if it's raining?

So we did.

It was a decent-sized cabin cruiser with powerful engines, and way out of its territory.

It's a bet, I told him. I wanted to hit the Arctic Circle and get proof that I did.

Kid, you're nuts.

I know, but I'll win.

Prob'ly, he agreed. I was like you once, all full of the necessary ingredients and ready to go ... Gettin' much action these days? And he stroked his pepper-and-salt beard and gave me an evil grin from inside it.

Enough, I said, and, Have a drink, because he had made me think of Eva.

He did, and I left it at, Enough, for a time. She was not like that, though. I mean, it was not something he would really want to hear about.

It had been about four months earlier that we had broken up. It was not religion or politics; it was much more basic.

So I lied to him about an imaginary girl and made him happy.

I had met her in New York, back when I was doing the same things she was, vacationing and seeing plays and pix.

She was a tall girl, with close-cropped blond hair. I helped her find a subway station, got on with her, got off with her, asked her to dinner, was told to go to hell.

Scene:

I'm not like that.

Neither am I. But I'm hungry ... So will you?

What are you looking for?

Someone to talk to, I said. I'm lonesome.