The Book of Bebb
Chapter One
Halfway down the subway stairs, he turned. There was a smell of stale urine. It was raining on Lexington Avenue. He said, "'All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.' One Corinthians ten."
He had his hand on the stair rail and was looking at me over his shoulder. As he spoke, his right eyelid fluttered part way down, then up again, and I thought he was winking. He was not. It was involuntary, just a lazy eyelid that slid partly shut sometimes.
He said, "We'll be seeing you," and then continued on down the stairs, a fleshy, scrubbed man in a tight black raincoat with a narrow-brimmed hat, dimly Tyrolean, on the top of his head. Happy Hooligan. We'll be seeing you. I remember the way he said we when there was obviously only one of him there. I remember the urine smell on the subway stairs and the rain and the way he turned and quoted scripture not as an afterthought but as though it was the main thing be had wanted to do all along.
Leo Bebb. He was all by himself, and because I had only that day for the first time met him face to face, I had no way of knowing who his we inc ... read full excerpt from Book of Bebb, The ebook
