Airships (27 page)

The old boy lay dazed in the lobby, fallen where he was shucked off Silas. He had landed hard and didn't move. Then his body, with its ruined hairdo, started sliding on the slick boards, face up, down toward Mother Rooney. He moved on down and she saw he was really a red old drunk.

The first ambulance crew thought he was the one and rolled him out expertly. The second crew noticed the woman bleeding. But she was standing now, and went out to the ambulance walking. One of the ambulance men had to go in and break off Silas from Monroe, and now Monroe was another case, and Mother Rooney sat beside him and petted him, all the way to the hospital.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Barry Hannah is the author of eleven other books:
Geronimo Rex, Ray, The Tennis Handsome, Nightwatchmen, Captain Maximus, Hey Jack, Boomerang, Never Die, Bats Out of Hell, High Lonesome
, and
Yonder Stands Your Orphan
. He has been honored by the American Academy of Arts & Letters, and was nominated for the American Book Award for
Ray
and the National Book Award for
Geronimo Rex
, which won the William Faulkner Prize. He also received the 2003 PEN-Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story.