Lodz 1914

He was holding and rocking Bruno. The bear was like a chunk of ice, and his eyes were missing. It was sight of the empty eyes, that jolted him awake, screaming. A feeling of cold despair settled in his stomach. All those years, he thought, he and his uncle had fought over how the bears should be trained.

"A sighted bear will wander," Uncle always said. "He'll be a danger to you, and to himself. If you take their eyes young, they won't remember it."

"You're not blinding my bear, old man. Try it, and I'll kill you." The threat had worked. Yet in the end he had failed to protect his bear. The twisted old man had won.

He was holding his blankets in his arms, shivering on top of them, trying to will away the mental image of the lifeless bear. He shook himself free of them. If it was cold for him in the trailer, Lodz considered, how much worse it must be for Scudder. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he rose and went out to look at the chilled night sky. The full moon sported a thick emerald ring against a blue-gray background. Rain, or snow, was immanent. Indian summer was over.

He gathered a few blankets up, and went in search of Scudder. The man insisted on sleeping outside, even though Lodz had offered to put him up. He found him shivering under a truck, eyes wide and fixed, fathomless as the sky overhead.

He spoke softly. "Scudder. You can't sleep either?" He leaned against the truck and lit a cigarette, offering one to Scudder.

Scudder shook his head,accepting the cigarette. "I'm used to it," he said. "A rough night or two won't hurt me." His eyes were so haunted, so painful, Lodz thought. So young a man shouldn't have that look on his face. He put it down to the combat Scudder had seen.

"We'll get snow soon," Lodz remarked. "You'll want to be indoors then."

Scudder sucked the smoke in, and exhaled it through his nostrils, but said nothing.

"We should go to Belgrade. The east wind keeps it dry and mild-not so cold as this place, in winter."

"Suit yourself," Scudder said .

"Scudder? When did you last eat?" Silence.

"Come inside, have dinner with me. Perhaps a drink, and a game of cards, since neither of us can sleep," he coaxed.

Scudder looked at him suspiciously, like a whipped puppy being offered a bite of steak. "you sure?"

"Scudder. Of course! I owe you my life. What's mine is yours. Come inside."

Lodz turned on the electric light, and stopped to usher Scudder in ahead of him. "Not quite the Ritz, but it's indoors. If you need anything at all, you should tell me, Scudder. There are supposed to be advantages to saving a man's life, no?"

He threw the blankets onto the sofa, by way of indicating that it was Scudder's new bed.

Then he poured two glasses of rum, and shuffled the cards, just as a clap of thunder announced it was raining outside.

Neither of them alluded to the fact that Scudder had deserted. As far as Lodz was concerned, that was Scudder's business.
His business was simply to repay Scudder for saving his life.

Scudder asked him then. "What now? You gonna get another bear?" The blue eyes squinted at him through the smoke.

Lodz shuddered. "No. I couldn't. Not now, anyway. You probably think it's foolish, but I couldn't face training another bear, not after Bruno. He was special."

Scudder nodded, rearranging his cards. "Not foolish. I had a dog once...and never again, Lodz. I couldn't go through that again...I know what you mean."

There was a long silence, while both men pretended to be fascinated with their cards. The rain rattled away on the wooden roof.

Scudder spoke finally. "So, what now?"

Lodz shrugged. "Perhaps magic tricks, or patent medicine. I'm strong. I can hammer tent pegs and paint banners, if nothing else." He played three tens and discarded a king. He arched one inky eyebrow at Scudder. "You?"

"I could use a job." Again the squinting gaze, as if Scudder expected a blow to the head simply for looking at him.
Lodz dug a silver coin from the pocket of his vest, and handed it to Scudder.

"What's this for?" Scudder asked, looking at it blankly.

"An advance on your first job. I will need an assistant. Wait." He pulled a second silver coin from his coat, and showed Scudder how to roll the coin from finger to finger, hand to hand, how to make it seem to vanish, reappearing elsewhere. "Practice," he said, "until you can
keep the coin in motion for an hour."

Scudder rolled the coin over, and under each finger as he'd seen Lodz do. Lodz took a book from the shelf and began to read, until the coin slipped from Scudder's hands. Scudder was asleep. Lodz wrapped the blanket around him, and lay back in his own bed, finally able to sleep and see nothing behind his eyelids but rain.