Henry of Atlantic City (7 page)

Henry said no thanks.

“Okay then, Einstein, let’s go.”

They went to a big building with two huge lions outside. “This is the New York Public Library, kid. If you can’t get it here, it don’t exist.”

It was the biggest library Henry had ever seen. Inside were statues and marble floors. The reading room was huge. It was the biggest room Henry had ever seen that wasn’t filled with slot machines. And it was quiet.

They went to the information desk. “Tell them what you want,” Henry’s father said.

“Have you checked the card catalog?” a man with a mustache asked.

Henry shook his head.

“Do you know what it is you are looking for?”

“Some secret history and some books that came from a cave in Egypt,” Henry’s father said.

The man reached for some papers and rolled his eyes.

“Look, just help the kid find them,” Henry’s father said.

“I am here to help locate books, not to do people’s research for them.”

Henry’s father grabbed the man’s wrist. “Then locate the boy some books, buddy.”

The man yanked back his hand. “I will call a security guard if you don’t leave the building immediately.”

“Don’t threaten me, you little faggot.”

A woman came over and asked what was going on.

“My son needs help finding some books.”

“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to leave,” the woman said.

“Look. He just wants to look at some books, all right?”

“This is a research library, sir. We do not circulate books. You can go to a branch library if you want to take out books.”

Just then a security guard came up. “Okay, let’s go.”

They went back to the hotel because Henry’s father said he had to get changed for a meeting. In the taxi he told Henry that he was on his own again tonight but that tomorrow was Christmas Eve and they had some more visiting to do.

Sy had left a message at the hotel. Henry’s father called him as soon as they got to the room. He got mad and yelled into the telephone. “You let her go? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Sy said something.

“What good does that do me? If I only needed you I would have said I only needed you. I should never have let you out of my sight!”

Sy said something.

“I don’t care if she was
pissing
bricks! I said I needed both of you!”

Sy said something.

“I don’t know, goddamnit. Listen to me, you stupid son of a bitch! You get your ass over here right now.”

Sy said something.

“I don’t care. I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

Sy said something.

“No. Leave it. You can go back for it later. Just get your ass over here. You’re staying with me. And hey, Henry’s alone here. Bring some movies or something.”

Sy said something.

“Fine.” He slammed the phone down. “Stupid goddamn bitch!” He went into the bathroom and took a shower. When he got out he ordered freshly squeezed orange juice from room service and asked if Henry wanted anything.

Henry said he wanted orange juice too.

“Speaking of orange juice, does Mrs. O’Brien give you vitamins to take?”

Henry said no.

“I want you to start. Remind me. You need vitamins. Make a new man out of you.”

Henry said the cup of prayer contains wine and water and it is full of the Holy Spirit and belongs to the wholly perfect man.

Henry’s father put on his belt and shook his head.

“Whatever you say, kid.” He went into the bedroom to get a jacket.

When Sy came Henry’s father yelled at him and asked what was the matter with him? Sy started to say something but Henry’s father wouldn’t let him talk. “I don’t want to hear it.”

“It’s probably better not to have her around anyway.”

“Godamnit, I’m the one who decides who’s going to be around and who isn’t. Where’d she go, anyway?”

“Back to Mexico. Look, I tried to stop her, okay? She was hysterical.”

“Fucking useless crybabies.” Henry’s father was standing at the door. He put on sunglasses and held out his arms. “So, do I look like De Niro or what?”

“Yeah, mucho dinero.”

Henry’s father pinched Sy’s cheek. Then he jabbed his finger into Sy’s chest. “Don’t fuck with me anymore, Sy. Don’t you fuck with me.” Then he left.

“How about a movie, Henry?”

Henry said okay.

Sy opened the bag he had brought and took out some videos.

Henry asked Sy if he knew who Father Crowley was.

“Who?”

Henry said Father Crowley was a Catholic priest.

“I don’t know any priests. I don’t know any rabbis either, come to think of it. Or ministers or brahmins or monks.”

Henry said Father Crowley had told him that there were only four gospels and none of them had been found in caves.

“That’s because Father Crowley is a Catholic with a big C, and that’s what big-C Catholics believe.” Sy went to the window and pulled the curtain shut, then went to turn on the TV. “If you’re
really
catholic, though, you never rule
anything
out.” Sy took a piece of chocolate out of his pocket and broke it in half and offered some to Henry. “Are we going to watch a movie, or are we going to have a theological discussion?”

Henry said he didn’t care. But what he would like would be to get those books.

“What books?”

Henry said the ones he found in the library next to Sy’s sister’s store,
The Secret History
and
The Coptic Gnostic Library
.

Sy laughed. “Oh,
those
books.”

Henry said it is impossible that anyone see anything of those things which are firmly established unless he becomes like them.

“Go on.”

Henry said unlike the case of man who is in the world, he sees the sun but is not the sun and sees the heaven and the earth and all the other things but he is not these.

“Nice. Very nice. Go on, go on.”

Henry said it is not so with the truth because he sees the truth and is the truth.

“Somebody needs to write a book about
you
! If I wasn’t stuck in this mess, I’d do it myself.”

Henry said only the wretched labor in vain.

“Right you are, kid. Anyway. We’re sort of stuck here for now.”

Somehow, Sy had changed. He was like someone who went down into the water and came up with nothing. In Byzantium Sy was different. There he was like someone who went down into the water and came up with a fish but let the fish go afterward. Maybe he went down too many times. Maybe he let go of a fish he should have kept. Or maybe he kept a fish he should have let go.

Henry remembered one day when he had gone with Helena to Sy’s place. There was a big box in the middle of the room and Sy said it was an orgone accumulator and he built it himself. He said the box captured all the energy in the universe and concentrated it inside and if you sat in the box you could feel the energy. It was called
orgone
. Henry wanted to go inside but Sy said no. He said you had to be prepared.

Helena laughed at Sy and said he was crazy. Sy had a book that was written by a man named Wilhelm Reich, who had invented the box and gone to prison because, Sy said, he had discovered a new level of human consciousness the same way Jesus Christ had. Sy said Reich called Christ the archetypal genital character. He said he had followed the instructions for the orgone accumulator very carefully and every day he sat in it for a little while.

Helena asked what he did inside.

“I work toward my full orgastic capacity.”

“That’s disgusting,” Helena said.

“I’m talking about orgone energy,” Sy said. “The living pulse of the universe.”

Sy took more chocolate out of his pocket and ate some and gave a piece to Henry. Then he took out the video and put it in the
VCR
.

Henry asked what the movie was.

“
Total Recall
. With Arnold Schwarzenegger.”

Henry said he had never heard of it.

“I’m not surprised,” Sy said and gave Henry another piece of chocolate. Sy sat on the couch and Henry lay down on the floor and they watched the movie. Afterward Sy asked Henry if he liked it.

Henry said it was all wrong.

“How can a movie be all wrong?”

Henry said because Schwarzenegger was not nailed to a tree in the end and the world was saved anyway. In the divided world there are those who come to know the truth and those who despise the truth because they are created by error. Error created this world and that was why Jesus had to come and ransom it back for his father by getting killed.

“Jesus, Henry,” Sy said.

Henry said the only lost causes are the ones who can’t rise above ignorance and see that the world they live in is a void of darkness and drunkenness and sleep and illusion.

“Maybe you should take a break from that stuff you’ve been reading.”

Henry asked why.

“Because one day you might wake up and find out that all the things you’ve been saying are, well, true. Like what the guy said to Schwarzenegger when he’s in the Recall Office picking out his fantasy trip. You remember the line?”

Henry said you get the girl, kill all the bad guys, and save the entire planet?

“No, before that.”

Henry said you dumb bitch, he’s just acting out the secret-agent part of his ego trip?

“No, before that.”

Henry said when you go Recall you get nothing but first-class memories?

“No.”

Henry said when you travel with Recall everything is perfect?

“Right after that.”

Henry said take a vacation from yourself?

“That’s it! Take a vacation from yourself. I like that. It’s taken me thirty-nine years to figure that one out.” He ruffled Henry’s hair with his hand.

Henry said his favorite line in the movie was I wanted him dead, you moron, or I wouldn’t have dumped him down on Earth.

“I liked that one too. Anyway, enough movie talk. I’m hungry. What are you in the mood for?”

Henry said nothing.

“That won’t do, kid. What do you say we get a little room service?” Room service delivered a whole table of food and Sy ate everything and drank three bottles of beer. Henry didn’t eat anything but watched Sy as he gobbled everything up. He had been transformed from a lover of truth into a lover of food. Henry asked Sy to take him to the library.

“We’ll do it in the morning.”

Henry’s father came back a little while later. He unbuttoned his shirt and sat on the couch and put his feet up on the table. He looked like a bear. “You two have fun?” he asked. “What movie’d you watch?”

“
Total Recall
. Henry’s a tough critic,” Sy said.

“Oh yeah?”

“Henry wanted to see Schwarzenegger nailed to a tree in the end.”

Henry’s father laughed and pulled Henry over onto his lap. “I don’t blame you, kid. I get sick of the good guys always winning in the end too.” Then he said it was time for bed.

Henry didn’t go to sleep but stood at the door and listened while Sy and his father talked.

“You telling me they
bought
it?” Sy was saying. “They actually
believed
you? Christ almighty. Now they have
both
our asses in a sling!”

“Trust me, Sy. It all makes perfect sense. The story is air-fucking-tight. I’ve been over it with the old man ten
times already. Tomorrow you’ll see for yourself. Just wait. Oh, and he wants me to bring Henry too.”

“What? Henry? What the hell for?”

“Beats me. Some kind of assurance, maybe.”

“Assurance? For what?”

“Fuck if I know. He’s known about Henry from the beginning. He’s got a soft spot for kids. Maybe he wants to see what kind of a family man I am. Who the hell knows?”

“I don’t believe this. You can’t be serious. Henry’s only a kid, for Christ’s sake. You can’t mix him up in this.”

“I got news for you, Sy. He’s already mixed up in it. Anyway, when he sees all that money we’ll both be golden.”

“We’re bringing the money with us?”

“Goddamn right. A Christmas present.”

“And what if he doesn’t like how much is there?”

“Jesus Christ! How many times do I have to explain it? I’m not going to say it again. Just wait’ll he sees the green stuff. When we hand over the cash, everything will fit in just perfectly.”

“So you told him she was padding the numbers?”

“One thing at a time, buddy. One thing at a time.”

Henry went to the bed and lay down. He tried to forget himself and Byzantium and the Big Apple and everything but he couldn’t. He went to the window and looked out into the darkness of Central Park. His angel said those
who have come to know themselves will enjoy their possessions.

Henry asked the angel what happened if you had nothing to possess. He had his face pressed to the glass of the window, trying to look down at the street below.

The angel said then the light will descend upon you and you will be clothed in it.

Henry tried to imagine being clothed in the light but he couldn’t. He was disappointed. It was like that sometimes between divided egos and lovers of the truth.

There was an owl in the emperor’s garden. It lived in a tree. One of the guards had the job of finding mice for it to eat. The mouse got left in the grass somewhere on the big lawn. After a while the owl swooped down and grabbed it and took it back up into the tree to eat. Life in the emperor’s garden was easy. There was a wall around it and a long, long driveway that went through some woods. There were statues and fountains and terraced gardens and springs with flowing water and gazebos. There was even a helicopter landing pad with a big red X painted across it and a swimming pool.

“Looks like fucking East Egg,” Sy said.

“Don’t be so nervous,” Henry’s father said as they drove up to the gate.

“Don’t be nervous? How can I
not
be nervous?”

A guard at the gate stopped them and talked into his walkie-talkie before letting them through. They drove slowly through the grounds until another guard stepped out from nowhere and pointed to where they should park the car. They got out of the car and Henry’s father opened the trunk and pulled out a big suitcase. As they walked toward the house he asked Henry if he still had the gold chain. When Henry showed it, his father put down the suitcase and picked him up and kissed him on both cheeks.