He rewound the tape recorder, and began to switch it on and off writing down what he'd said on the way to work. He called it "A Love Affair with the City." It started out, "I have written the story of this city for twenty years. Twenty years today . . ." and was five hundred words deep when the Puerto Rican's voice came up at him from the desk. "You right. I think 1 fuck her last night. " It intruded all over again, and Shellburn was almost two hours writing the last three hundred words. Just before he finished the phone rang. He picked it up and a voice was shouting at him out of a crowded bar. "Mr. Shellburn? No shit? You answer your owns phone?" "What can I do for you, pal?" he said. Usually Billy answered his phone. The man on the other end was telling his friends to shut up, that he was talking to Richard Shellburn. "Hey look," he said, "I mean, we're not important or nothin', but we thought you ought to know Leon Hubbard was a tragedy, with his mother and all. It's a human interest story.
What do You think about God's Pocket - Pete Dexter?
