，，，Y I ，A"<br >It was always slow in Albuquerque on Tuesday nights， but<br >tonight was worse than usual. Man， it was dead， Seeth<br >Ransom fumed. He couldn t even find a stray cat to kick<br >around. So he was forced to fall back on the old standby of<br >giving passing motorists the finger and smirking as they<br >pretended not to notice， speeding up slightly as they hur-<br >ried on past， their eyes fixed unswervingly to the road<br >ahead. The pleasure this provided was decidedly muted，<br >but it was better than nothing. At least the world was<br >compelled to take notice of him.<br > Still， there was no denying the night was dull enough to<br >bore a turtle.<br > He checked the watch he wore high up on his forearm<br >so that his friends wouldn t know he had the slightest<br >interest in what time it was. A little past nine. He consid-<br >ered returning to the apartment， just giving up on the night<br >and crashing til tomorrow. Trouble was， the day would<br >be more boring than the night. Besides which， the place<br >was probably full to overflowing by now. The bed， couch，<br >and kitchen table would be occupied. The Hole filled<br >up fast. If you showed too late you had your choice of<br ><br >