Free Bandits (1987) by Elmore Leonard Page B

deep-cushioned wicker chair; he could fall asleep here. Lucy waited, not far away, on the end of the sofa close to his chair, legs crossed. She leaned forward now to reach her sherry. He thought of ways to answer, moved only his arm, slowly, to raise the glass, and gazed at banana trees before taking a sip.
    He loves nature.
    Is that why he ' s contaminating the Gulf?
    I thought he leased helicopters.
    He ' s in the oil business. He ' s been in the oil business all his life. My mother calls him Texas Crude. Men in her family wore white linen suits and owned sugar plantations in Plaquemines.
    I ' m not good at environment, Jack said. He could fall asleep by closing his eyes. Or, what ' s that other word, ecology. I ' m weak in those areas.
    You see my dad as a nice guy.
    I think he works at it some. Wants to give you that impression, one of the boys.
    She said, Then you know he ' s not just good old Dick Nichols, he ' s Dick Nichols Enterprises. He sings Cajun songs, eats squirrel and alligator tail, but he ' s also been to the White House for dinner, twice. He loves nature as long as he and his pals can suck oil out of it and he doesn ' t give a damn about that tree. He ' s using it. He ' s the guy at the Petroleum Club with the live oak that cost him a half million dollars. Not a yacht or a plane, they all have those, including my dad. No, this is a tree.
    Jack said, Well, it ' s nice to be rich.
    Buy anything you want, Lucy said. My dad came to visit me in Nicaragua, seven years ago. An embassy limousine arrives, a long black Cadillac, and my dad steps out, the last person I ever expected to see. Except that he loves to surprise you and act very nonchalant about it. ' yHi, Sis, how are you? Nice day, isn ' t it? ' He knows he ' s obvious, so it ' s funny. I showed him around and he seemed interested enough, he was cordial. But he ' d pretend not to see the lepers, the ones who were crippled or disfigured.
    Wouldn ' t shake hands with ' em.
    Not even with the staff. He kept his hands behind his back. He said, ' ySis, this place is awful. What do you need? ' I said, ' yHow about giving the patients a ride in your car? ' I told him it would be an experience they ' d never forget. He gave me a check for a hundred thousand dollars instead.
    Jack took a sip of his drink, wondering if her dad had kissed her when he arrived. He could understand her dad not being a toucher. How many people were? He said, I know what you ' re getting at.
    She said, No, you don ' t.
    It ' s easier to give to ' em than go near ' em.
    She said, Jack, not reacting, but with her quiet manner, knowing what she was going to say, last week he wrote another check, this one for sixty-five thousand.
    For the hospital?
    For the man who destroyed the hospital, the man who burned it to the ground and hacked ten of the patients to death. I was there, Jack. I saw them drive up in a truck. . . . The men got out and began firing, all of them with automatic weapons. They shot our dogs, they shot out the windows of the hospital. . . . I came out of the sisters ' house and heard him yelling at them and thought he was trying to stop the firing. He was, he was yelling at them in Spanish, ' yWith machetes! Do it with machetes! ' Some of the patients ran or were able to hide. I brought a few of them into our house. But the ones in the ward, who couldn ' t run, were hacked to death in their beds, screaming. . . . You know who I ' m talking about, Dagoberto Godoy and his contras. When he came to kill Amelita and didn ' t find her. She paused and said, I had never laid eyes on him before that day, and now I ' ll never forget him. She paused again and said, Excuse me, getting up now. I ' ll say good night to Amelita and fix you something to eat, if you ' re hungry.
    She came back with a pack of Kools, tapping one out. Jack picked up the silver table lighter and held it to her cigarette. He watched her sit back blowing a slow stream of smoke, relaxing in the green cushions of the