He turned a complete circle in the air and saw Jake do exactly the same in front of him. He lost one of his sandals. He could hear Oy yapping and Eddie roaring in protest. He could hear taxi horns, that sublime New York street music, and something else, as well: a preacher. Really cruising along, by the sound of him. Third gear, at least. Maybe overdrive.
One of Callahan's ankles clipped the side of the Unfound Door as he went through and there was a burst of terrific pain from that spot. Then the ankle (and the area around it) went numb. There was a speedy riffle of todash chimes, like a thirty-three-and-a-third record played at forty-five rpm. A buffet of conflicting air currents hit him, and suddenly he was smelling gasoline and exhaust instead of the Doorway Cave's dank air. First street music; now street perfume.
For a moment there weretwo preachers. Henchick behind, roaring"Behold, the door opens!" and another one ahead, bellowing"Say GAWD, brotha, that's right, say GAWD on Second Avenue!"
More twins,Callahan thought - there was time for that - and then the door behind him blammed shut and the only God-shouter was the one on Second Avenue. Callahan also had time to thinkWelcome home, you sonofabitch, welcome back to America, and then he landed.
Two
It was quite an all-out crash, but he came down hard on his hands and knees. His jeans protected the latter parts to some degree (although they tore), but the sidewalk scraped what felt like an acre of skin from his palms. He heard the rose, singing powerfully and undisturbed.
Callahan rolled over onto his back and looked up at the sky, snarling with pain, holding his bleeding, buzzing hands in front of his face. A drop of blood from the left one splashed onto his cheek like a tear.
"Where the f**k didyou come from, my friend?" asked an astounded black man in gray fatigues. He seemed to have been the only one to mark Don Callahan's dramatic re-entry into America. He was staring down at the man on the sidewalk with wide eyes.
"Oz," Callahan said, and sat up.
His hands stung fiercely and now his ankle was back, complaining in loudyowp-yowp-yowp bursts of pain that were in perfect synch with his elevated heartbeat. "Go on, fella. Get out of here. I'm okay, so twenty-three skidoo."
"Whatever you say, bro. Later."
The man in the gray fatigues - a janitor just off-shift was Callahan's guess - started walking. He favored Callahan with one final glance - still amazed but already beginning to doubt what he'd seen - and then skirted the little crowd listening to the street preacher. A moment later he was gone.
Callahan got to his feet and stood on one of the steps leading up to Hammarskj?ld Plaza, looking for Jake. He didn't see him. He looked the other way, for the Unfound Door, but that was gone, too.
"Now listen, my friends! Listen, I say God, I say God'slove,I say gimme hallelujah!"
"Hallelujah," said a member of the street preacher's crowd, not really sounding all that into it.
"I say amen, thank you, brotha! Now listen because this is America's time of TESTING and America is FAILING her TEST! This country needs a BOMB, not a new-kew-lar one but a GAWD-BOMB, can you say hallelujah?"
"Jake!" Callahan shouted. "Jake, where are you? Jake!"
"Oy!"That was Jake, his voice raised in a scream."Oy, LOOK OUT!"
There was a yapping, excited bark Callahan would have recognized anywhere. Then the scream of locked tires.
The blare of a horn.
And the thud.
Three
Callahan forgot about his bashed ankle and sizzling palms. He ran around the preacher's little crowd (it had turned as one to the street and the preacher had quit his rant in mid-flow) and saw Jake standing in Second Avenue, in front of a Yellow Cab that had slewed to a crooked stop no more than an inch from his legs. Blue smoke was still drifting up from its rear tires. The driver's face was a pallid, craning O of shock. Oy was crouched between Jake's feet. To Callahan the bumbler looked freaked out but otherwise all right.
The thud came again and yet again. It was Jake, bringing his balled-up fist down on the hood of the taxi."Asshole!" Jake yelled at the pallid O on the other side of the windshield.Thud! "Why don't you - " Thud! " - watch where - " THUD! " - the f**k you're GOING!" THUD-THUD!
"You give it to im, Cholly!" yelled someone from across the street, where perhaps three dozen people had stopped to watch the fun.