‘It’s the best house I’ve ever been in,’ the villain said. ‘My house isn’t a house, it’s an institution for the help. Three full-time gardeners alone. I come from the East Side in New York, so I’m living in a castle in Beverly Hills. I don’t feel at home there.’
‘You’ve lived there almost thirty years,’ the villain’s wife said. ‘What do you mean you don’t feel at home there? Are you trying to get me to move to the East Side in New York or something?’
‘I’m drunk,’ the villain said suddenly, ‘but I love it. And I’m going to get drunker. This is the kind of house I want to live in, that’s all. I know I never will, but this is the kind I want to.’
That’s the way I’ll do it, the man thought. Sierra Fox. This is too good to be cluttered with any other programme. The kids are asleep. They’re all right. All I’ve got to do is get my luck back and get the money we need.
The fox loped on up the slope, stopped and turned, alone and laughing.
Chapter 21
The night ended in daylight, the villain and his wife went off in a taxi to the St. Francis, and the woman said: ‘I told her it’s all the time. What do you want to do, make a liar out of me?’
‘It’s after five. In a little while Rosey’s going to be waking up Johnny. And if you’re going to have the big day you think you are, you’d better get some sleep.’
‘Sleep isn’t the only thing I need at night. You can get in bed and hold me, can’t you?’
‘I’m not going to bed.’
‘Why not?’
‘I might fall asleep and not want to get up when Johnny comes in.’
‘He won’t come in for at least an hour. Please take off your clothes and get in bed.’
The man stretched out on her bed without taking off his shoes, even. The woman was under the covers and he bundled her up in them and held her tight because she was drunk and lonely and happy and half-dead.
‘They’re so rich,’ she said. ‘They’ve got so much money. Did you see that dress she was wearing? How much do you think it cost?’
‘Five thousand dollars.’
‘It cost a thousand. She told me. But she didn’t look as beautiful as I did, did she?’
‘No.’
‘Don’t just say it.’
‘No, you looked best. You became a little prettier each time you had a kid. She hasn’t had any.’
‘That isn’t it. I’m more beautiful anyway.’
‘Yes, you are.’
‘But she is fun. Lucretia isn’t fun the way Alice is. Lucretia’s a dope compared to Alice but much more beautiful. Don’t you think Lucretia’s much more beautiful than Alice?’
‘I guess so.’
Actually they all looked about the same: that is, young and pretty.
‘Is Lucretia more beautiful than I am?’
‘I don’t think so.’
‘Don’t you know?’
‘No, she’s not.’
He’d been through this routine too many times not to know that even dead-tired she’d be miserable if he didn’t agree with everything. She’d start an argument that would go on for hours, sometimes days. It was still going on. This was part of it because long ago, years ago, he had tried to tell her something about beauty, that it came from inside, and a woman who was plain on the outside could very well be beautiful because she was beautiful inside. She hadn’t ever been beautiful that way, not even after Johnny was born, not even after Rosey was. It was only when she bawled that she was anything at all inside, but it wasn’t beautiful, it was pathetic.
‘Would you like to lay Lucretia?’
‘No.’
‘You probably would, but don’t you dare make a pass at her. I’d be so humiliated I’d never be able to speak to her again. After the things I’ve told her about how you adore me. You won’t make a pass at her, will you?’
‘No.’
‘Not even the littlest kind of pass? You know. Don’t look at her the way you do sometimes. Just be nice to her, but don’t look at her that way. You looked at Ellen Flesch that way last night. I didn’t make anything of it because she’s Ellen, but it would be awful if it was Lucretia.’
‘I’ll just open my eyes a little when it’s Lucretia.’
‘No, don’t be funny. This is serious. Alice and Lucretia are my best friends. Alice is O.K. because she’s really in love with her husband, and I know you’re O.K. as far as she’s concerned because you didn’t look at her once that way all night. But Lucretia isn’t in love with her husband. She says she is, she thinks she is, but I know she isn’t, and all she’d need to make my life hopeless would be one little pass from you. So you won’t, will you?’
‘No.’
‘Do you love me?’
‘Yes.’
‘With all your heart?’
‘Yes.’
‘Am I the most beautiful girl in the world?’
‘Yes.’
‘Am I the best wife a man could ever have and the best mother and the best lay and the most intelligent and the most inspiring girl?’
‘Yes.’
‘That’s nice.’
She giggled at her joke, turned quickly to be kissed, and then fell asleep.
The man held her a moment, then got up, covered her, made the room as dark as possible, went out and closed the door.
He stood at the door of the children’s room and listened. Rosey was saying half-asleep things. He went to the bathroom, shaved, showered and dressed, put coffee on, fetched the morning paper and sat down at the kitchen table to have a look at the entries.
Sierra Fox wasn’t running.
The sixth looked best. They were Makai, Sunfair, Pay Me, Cold Roll, Court Toubo, Hail Victory, Valdina Andire, and Cyclone. He would telephone Leo around half past three and bet two hundred across on Pay Me at four to one. Post time would be about four, the race would be over by four-fifteen, but he wouldn’t bother to find out who got it. He’d forget he’d made the bet. He had the money for it and more besides, enough for two more bets of the same size. He put the paper aside because he didn’t want to be tempted to change his hunch. It was a good one. Six hundred dollars on Pay Me to win, place, and show.
The matter of money was off his mind for the rest of the day.
The boy came out and stood in the kitchen doorway, yawning, stretching and smiling.
‘I smell coffee.’
‘I’m making some.’
‘Papa, why can’t little boys—why can’t big boys drink coffee?’
‘You can drink coffee.’
‘I can’t.’
‘You can have a little this morning.’
‘How much?’
‘As much as you like.’
‘I can’t, can I?’
‘Yes, you can have coffee. Coffee’s all right. I’ll fix you a cup. Is Rosey awake?’
‘A little. She’s saying funny words.’
‘Do you want to sleep some more?’
‘Sleep some more? I want to get dressed. I want to drink coffee. Can I sit at the big table with you?’
‘Sure. Let’s be quiet, though, so Rosey can sleep some more.’
‘She’s not sleeping. She’s saying poo-poo and pay-pay and things like that.’
He dressed the boy, then the girl, they had breakfast together at the big table, and then he turned them loose in the yard.
Pay Me in the sixth.
Chapter 22
The woman was up at noon needing coffee. She made telephone calls while she had coffee and got the day organised. The three couples would meet at two o’clock at the St. Francis for lunch. After that the girls would go shopping and the boys would either go with them or sit somewhere and drink and talk. At six they’d all go home and rest and change and meet again at nine for dinner somewhere. After that they’d think of something else.
‘What about the kids?’ the man said.
‘I thought you’d telephone Marta. She could spend the night. We could sleep upstairs or maybe at a hotel. Woul
dn’t it be fun at a hotel?’
‘I thought you never wanted Marta to step into this house again.’
‘Well, who could we get? After all, she’s in the family. She’s something to the kids. We couldn’t feel so relaxed about the kids with anybody else. I hate her, but who else could we get?’
‘I’ll stay with the kids. You go ahead. After dinner tonight if you feel like it bring them out. I’ll buy some more Scotch and some stuff to eat.’
‘Why should you stay with the kids? Let Marta come and stay with them.’
‘We’ve treated her pretty badly.’
‘Well, call her anyway. There’s nobody else.’
‘I’ll stay.’
‘I told them we’d all meet. I’ll call Marta.’
The woman called her and then said: ‘I must say she was delighted about the whole idea, but why shouldn’t she be? She ought to feel lucky to have a chance to be near two kids like Johnny and Rosey. She’s ready any time you are. She knows where everything is. She said she’d be glad to stay as long as we like. Maybe we could spend a couple of nights at a hotel, maybe drive somewhere afterwards for a couple of days, maybe drive Alice and Oscar home and stay with them overnight or something.’
‘I’ll go get Marta.’
‘What’s the matter? You’re not sore, are you?’
‘I’m a little tired. After Marta gets here I’m going upstairs for a nap while you’re dressing.’
He drove three miles to where Marta lived in a small apartment. On the way back she asked that he stop a moment at the Safeway. When she came out she was carrying a carton full of groceries. The man took the carton from her, put it in the car, and handed her a hundred dollars.
‘In case we’re away a couple of days,’ he said. ‘I’ll telephone of course.’
‘All right. Is it all right if I clean the place?’
‘You don’t have to go to all that trouble.’
‘No. I like to do it. I’d like to clean both flats if it’s all right.’
‘The top flat does need a little looking after, at that. You’re very kind, Marta.’
‘Oh, don’t talk silly, please.’
The woman ran in her négligé that you could see through and embraced and kissed Marta, the way she always did, friend and enemy alike, and the man went upstairs.
He wanted to get it off his mind, so he telephoned Leo and said, ‘Put me down for two hundred across on Pay Me in the sixth.’
That was it. That was all there was to it. If Pay Me won he’d know he was getting his luck back and that he’d soon have everything straightened out.
He stretched out on the davenport in the living-room that was his work-room whenever they lived downstairs. He worked at a bridge table. The other room, the original work-room, was too small. He felt trapped in that room.
When the woman woke him up he remembered that he had been dreaming about the fox.
‘How do I look?’ she said.
‘You look fine. Is that a pimple on your chin?’
‘Isn’t it hidden?’ She opened her handbag and looked into the small mirror at the pimple. ‘Well, it’s a very beautiful pimple. Isn’t it?’
‘What?’ the man said. He was still half-asleep and trying to remember more about the fox.
‘Isn’t it? The pimple. Beautiful?’
‘Oh,’ the man said. ‘Yes, it is.’
The woman giggled because she knew how tiresome it was to make him answer all the silly questions she just somehow couldn’t help asking. He knew she couldn’t, but he wished to God she’d lay off some day. He got up.
‘Do you have any money?’ the woman said. ‘I mean, they’re all so rich, but we’ve got to pay for things just the same because they’re visiting us.’
‘I’ve got some.’
‘Not twenty or thirty dollars. You ought to have at least a hundred and fifty or so, and I ought to have fifty at least. We’d better stop at the bank.’
‘I was there yesterday,’ the man said.
He took fifty out of his wallet and handed it to the woman.
‘How much do we have left?’
‘The account’s still open.’
‘What are we going to do?’
‘I ought to be getting some money from England pretty soon. It’s all right.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Come on, let’s go.’
If Pay Me came in he’d pick up the money and deposit it and tell her the money from England had come. He’d keep the rest in cash.
They began to drive to town.
‘You won’t make a pass at Lucretia, will you?’
‘I don’t like her. I like her less than I like Alice. Why would I make a pass at her?’
‘I thought you liked Alice. I thought you liked Lucretia, too.’
‘I don’t mind them because they’re your friends, that’s all.’
‘Well, don’t make a pass at her, anyway. All right?’
‘All right.’
‘We’ll have fun, won’t we?’
‘I’ve been having fun ever since I got out of the Army.’
‘There’s plenty of time for your writing. Three years in the Army for a man like you isn’t something you can get over just like that. You need time.’
‘I’ve had three years.’
‘It isn’t as if you had been a colonel or something.
You were a private. You need fun after three years of that. We’ll have a lot of fun. Is the pimple awful?’
‘Nobody’ll notice it.’
‘I’m starved. We’ll order everything. All right?’
‘Sure. I want some onion soup and a steak. I’m a little hung-over.’
‘Lucretia’s afraid of you.’
‘I’d rather not hear about it.’
‘She told me so. She thinks you’re mysterious.’
‘Shit.’
‘She’s jealous of me, but she was being honest when she told me she was afraid of you. She was sorry she said it, but I nagged at her and made her tell me everything. It was when they came out to dinner when we were in Long Island. She said when you look at her she feels gooey all over.’
‘Shut up.’
‘That’s why you’ve got to look at me all the time.’
The car stopped at a red light and the man turned to look at the woman.
‘Lay off a little, will you? I’m kind of tired.’
The woman giggled, then pressed beside him.
‘I love you so much,’ she said.
The light changed and they moved on.
Pay Me. That was it. Pay me because I need it badly. Pay me because my wife’s nuts and I want to see if I can help her. Pay me because she can’t help herself. Pay me because she’s driving me nuts too and I don’t want to do any of the things I keep stopping myself from doing. Pay me so I can get this thing worked out. Pay me so I can have enough money to be able to forget all about it and see if I can help this girl who’s Johnny’s and Rosey’s mother and my wife. Pay me so I can see about getting back to my work. Pay me, that’s all.
Chapter 23
It was half-past two in the afternoon when they reached the hotel lobby, but no one was around, so the woman telephoned Lucretia. Her voice was high and excited when she began to speak, but it became swiftly hushed. (They couldn’t have lunch, most likely.)
‘Something terrible’s happened,’ the woman said. She brought out the small bottle of smelling salts she always carried around in her handbag, unscrewed the top, and waved the open neck of the small bottle in front of her nose several times.
‘Leander’s had a heart attack. A bad one. They took him to the hospital an hour ago. He’s not expected to live. That was Alice. She’s alone up there and scared to death. She and Oscar saw it happen. Oscar went along with Lucretia, and Alice stayed up there to wait for phone calls from Oscar. I guess we’d better go up.’
‘How about a drink at the bar first?’
‘I need one, but she’s waiting. I told her I’d be rig
ht up.’
‘You go up,’ the man said. ‘I’ll have a drink and be up in a moment.’
‘It’s room eleven-o-seven.’
She threw her arms around the man and hugged him desperately.
‘It couldn’t happen to you, could it?’ she said.
She giggled a little, then said, ‘It wouldn’t dare.’
But when he saw her face there were tears in her eyes.
‘I feel so sorry for Lucretia,’ she said.
‘She didn’t have the attack.’
‘How could she have the attack? She’s twenty-three. Don’t take too long and don’t look at anybody.’
She went off as if to a party that promised to be the best yet. The man went to the mezzanine bar instead of to the Men’s Bar, which he knew would be full of the more successful of the town’s business men at that hour and he didn’t want to overhear any of their talk.
He had one drink quickly, expecting to go on up and listen to the details, but he decided he’d need at least one more, first. Besides, they ought to have enough time to get their real feelings about the matter out of their systems, so that by the time he got there they could pretend to be shocked and upset.
When he got up to the room he found both girls in tears.
‘He’s dead,’ the woman said. ‘Lucretia tried to throw herself out of the window of the hospital. It’s a good thing Oscar was there.’
‘Oscar just phoned,’ Alice said. ‘They’ve given Lucretia a sedative and want her to go to bed, but she doesn’t want to.’
‘What does she want to do?’
‘Throw herself out the window,’ the woman said.
‘What floor are they on?’
‘Oh, shit,’ the woman said, and then both of the women who had been sobbing bitterly began to laugh.
‘You dirty son of a bitch, you,’ the woman said.
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