It wasn’t too tough to reconstruct what had been happening. The piano player, a young guy with slicked-back black hair, was sitting back on his bench, relaxing, sharing the fun, and figuring his tip jar wasn’t going to suffer because the customers were getting some free laughs. The few drinkers in the place just looked surprised and delighted that this impromptu stand-up routine had started from this ancient guy they maybe recognized from TV.

And Natty Silver was having fun. Standing on that shitty little stage, leaning on his cane, eyes sparkling, teasing the crowd with his deadpan delivery and killer timing.

“Guy and a dog walk into a bar…” he was saying.

I checked my watch. If I grabbed Natty right now we could still make the plane and I could wrap up this errand. It would be a simple matter of getting up, easing Natty off the stage and grabbing a cab to the airport. Otherwise we’d miss the last flight to Palm Springs and that would mean spending the night in Vegas. Another night away from the old thesis, another night away from Karen.

It would mean an extra day of babysitting an old man who had a seemingly endless repertoire of old jokes.

I started to slide out of the booth.

Shit, I thought. Shit, shit shit.

I signaled the waitress, ordered a scotch rocks and sat back in the banquette.

What’s another night? I thought. I had a lot of them and Natty Silver probably didn’t.

“Guy says to the dog, ‘You never behaved this way before.’ ”

Natty Silver looked very much alive as he teased the punch line.

“Dog says, ‘I never had money before.’ ”

Hope was right: Natty Silver was very funny.

Chapter 5