Irwin Shaw - Acceptable Losses

To Charles Tucker

Sir, the Aide said to the Commanding

Officer, G1, G2, G3, and G4 concur in the opinion that the proposed plan for the operation has an 85 percent chance of success, with acceptable losses.

From this and other missions forty-four of our aircraft are missing.

The National Safety Council predicted yesterday that there would be five hundred and fifty-eight fatal traffic accidents over this forthcoming holiday weekend.

HE WAS HAVING A pleasant dream when the bedroom telephone extension awoke him. In the dream he was a little boy, holding his fathers hand, walking on a sunny autumn day toward the Yale Bowl in New Haven to watch his first football game.

Sheila, he mumbled, get it, will you The telephone was on the table next to his wifes side of the bed. Then he remembered his wife wasnt there. He groaned and pushed himself stiffly across the bed. The glow of the arrows on the small clock on the table pointed toward three-thirty. He groaned again as he fumbled for the phone and picked it up.

Damon, the voice said. It was a voice he did not recognize, rough and hoarse.

Yes?

Mr. Damon, the voice said, I heard the good news and I wanted to be one of the first to congratulate you.

What? Damon said, dazed, his speech thick. Whos this? What good news?

All in due time, Roger, the voice said. I read the papers like everybody else. And I decided from what I know about you youre one of those nice people who like to share their good fortunespread it around, so to speak.

Its past three in the morningwhat in the name of God do you think ?

Its Saturday night. I thought you might be home celebrating with friends. Saturday night and all, maybe you would invite me up for a drink

Oh, quit, Mister, Damon said wearily, and let me sleep.

Plenty of time for sleep. Roger, youve been a bad boy and youre going to have to do something about it. The tone was heavily playful.

What? Damon shook his head confusedly, wondered if this was another dream. What the hell are you talking about?

You know what Im talking about, Roger. Now the tone was not playful, but menacing. This is Zalovsky. From Chicago.

I dont know any Zalovskies. And I havent been in Chicago in years. Damon allowed his wakening anger to sharpen his voice. What the hell do you mean by calling me up in the middle of the night? Im going to hang up and

My advice is not to hang up, Roger, the man said. I have to talk to you.

I dont have to talk to you. Good night, Sir. Im hanging up right now

Id hate to see you do something youd only be sorry forvery sorry, Rogersomething like hanging up on Zalovsky. I want to talk to you, I said. And I want to talk to you tonight.

Im not in Chicago. Or didnt you notice that when you dialed my number? Thoroughly awake now, he wanted to strike back at the man, even if it was only over the telephone. What are you, manone of those telephone nuts? Then it occurred to him that perhaps it was one of his friends, drunk at an all-night party or in a bar, playing a practical joke on him. In his business he had accumulated some strange friends. Okay, okay, he said, more calmly. What have you got to say for yourself?

Not for me to say anything for myself, the man said. Im the boss here, Mister. And Im not in Chicago; Im just a couple of blocks away from you. On Eighth Street. Why dont you get out of your woolies and put some clothes on and meet me at your corner in say, lets say ten minutes, give you time to brush your teeth and comb your hair The man laughed, a brief tuneless bark.

I dont know what you think youre doing, Mr. Zalovsky, Damon said, but if you have any business with somebody called Damon, youve got the wrong Damon. You might make sure youre not making a mistake calling up a man in the middle of the night and

Zalovsky isnt in the habit of making mistakes. I have the right Roger Damon and you know it. You better meet me in ten minutes. If not The man cleared his throat. If not, there will be consequences, Roger, consequences that you wont like, not like at all

Fuck you, Damon said.

Without the bad language and before you hang up, Roger, Zalovsky said, one last warning. Its a matter of life and death. Your life and your death.

Fuck you again, Damon said. Youve been seeing too many gangster movies.

Youve been warned, Roger. I may not call you again.

Damon banged the phone down, cutting off the hateful thick voice.

He had been lying stretched across the bed to reach the telephone, but now he swung around and sat up. He knew there was no use in trying to get back to sleep. He ran his hand through his hair, then pushed at his eyes. His hands were trembling and he was angry with himself because of it. It was a good thing his wife wasnt home this weekend, but visiting her mother in Vermont. The call would have frightened her, then angered her, then made her suspicious and shed have quizzed him for hours about just what he had done to get a threatening telephone call at three-thirty in the morning. It would have turned into one of their infrequent arguments in which she would use the phrase your well-known proclivities and with your past By nature she was a calm woman, but she didnt like mysteries. When she worried about him or when she felt he was perversely keeping some pain or a problem from her, she became abusive. He wondered if it would be wiser not to tell her about the call. Before she came home hed think up some excuse for changing sides of the bed with her so that he would be the one who would answer the telephone. She would be suspicious about that, too, because she knew he hated to speak on the phone. She was his second wife. He had lived with his first wife for less than a year and was divorced by the time he was twenty-four. He had married for the second time at the age of forty, and during the more than twenty years for the second time of their marriage Sheila had inventedor, to be honest, not completely inventeda lurid notion of his history before they had met. She was fifteen years younger than he and if anybody was to be jealous, it should have been himself. No logic in marriage.

Ah, he thought, it was probably one of those tricks kids indulged in to amuse themselvespicking a number at random out of the telephone book and calling to make obscene suggestions or outlandish threats, with their friends giggling in the background. But the voice hadnt been a kids and there had been no giggling in the background. Still, he wouldnt say anything about it to Sheila. The man had said he might not call again. Until he did he might as well have peace in the family. He hoped Sheila was enjoying her visit in Vermont and would be in a good mood when she got back.