A screen divided Ace from his cousin in the prison visiting room. His cousin shifted uneasily and talked with feverish nervousness while Ace counted ceiling tiles and smoked his pen. Max was saying;
"They kept on... well, not kept on, but consistently and in a variety of guises made reference to the case as though it were a object of thought; something to be debated and tossed about, but that would be put away at the end of the evening so everyone would sleep soundly. I can't sleep soundly knowing what I've done..."
This last statement was very much an afterthought, though he tried to disguise this by overly-emphasising it. He had killed a man over a reindeer skin coat.
Ace reflected that here his cousin, Max, had done something tangible and real. He had really combated death through executing another; he had performed in his life the ancient rite of vengeance, repeating the human story like a bard round a campfire. Man acquires goods, other man takes goods, man kills man and reclaims reindeer skin coat. It was a story older than time, yet what was Max's defence?
"'Plead insanity' they told me 'you'll get off with life in the loony bin and do pottery every other Tuesday. On Saturday's they take you swimming. All the rest of the time it's a straight jacket and relaxing classics, but that's better than sharing with someone dangerous'; can you believe it? I am someone dangerous!"
"47" said Ace and turned to his cousin. He was a short, dark man. Max had always been short; everyone said so. He had a chippy manner and was extremely selfish. But he had never taken the easy road in his life and had been a good student at school, a hard worker at his office and a dynamo with the ladies. Ace had never been close to him and was visiting now as a favour to his mother. "You aren't insane, Max. You're too short to be insane" Ace had never liked Max and had even been envious of his drive and determination. He took no pleasure in his current predicament, however, and attempted to council him companionably:
"If I were you I'd not have killed the man over something so frivolous. He was taller than you, wasn't he?" Max nodded. Ace sat-up straight and took a long drag from his pen, looking down its length at his cousin before reflecting; "not many people are taller than me."
The guard warned abruptly that visiting hour was over and that everyone "Should get the fuck out before I brain 'em with a club and drag their intestines out with a monkey's claw." He drueled while brandishing the monkey's claw before the line of visitors like a poisoned sacrament at mass.
"What shall I tell my aunt?" Asked Ace as he put on his coat.
"Tell her that the reality of an action is dictated by the force of her belief in it. Tell her my innocence depends as much on her powers of denial as on mine". His mother had excellent powers of denial; she was known for it. Ace looked down at Max's calm face
and knew he'd be free to walk the streets in no time.
"I'm leaving town" he said, turning to the door as the drivel-flecked monkey's claw came back down the room.
