J R

by William Gaddis

  —Nothing no, nothing an unpleasantness in the elevator it’s not important . . . she sat forward, knees clenched—Mister Beaton could, could Lucien Francis’ father, could he simply take Francis to Switzerland?

  —Take him?

  —Take him there, to live.

  —Why, has he threat . . .

  —Could he!

  —Well as, as things stand of course Mrs Joubert if your, if he took the boy with any such intentions we would immediately apply for a court order to . . .

  —Court order! can’t you, can’t anything simply be settled! she’d opened her bag, thrust the handkerchief in and snapped it closed—I’m sorry Mister Beaton, I know it’s not your fault . . .

  —Yes unfortunately the complica . . .

  —I just asked him, Lucien, why he couldn’t simply clear things up . . . she had her bag opened again coming up with dark glasses, thrusting those back to bring out a pair rimmed with tortoise shell—all he could talk about was this business settlement, are these the papers . . .

  —Yes but, but when was this Mrs Joubert, have you seen Mis, I’m sorry . . . he got the phone,—hello, Bea . . . oh, yes sir . . . Yes go ahead yes sir . . .

  —Must I read all this? she’d brushed her hair back putting on the glasses and as quickly it fell again over the murmur of her voice.—Please be advised of the possibility of highly damaging litigation involving our ethical product currently marketed in the class of monoamine-oxidase inhibitors whose chief active ingredient, tranylcypromine sulphate, recent confidential medical reports associate directly with fatality if taken inadvertently in combination with such strong cheeses as Stilton, Brie, Camem . . .

  —Ex excuse me just a moment sir, I’m sorry Mrs Joubert those are the wrong papers you needn’t read . . . pardon? Yes sir she’s here now, she just stopped in to sign the . . . if that’s all yes sir I’ll take care of it with Frank Black . . . I will yes sir, goodbye. I’m terribly sorry Mrs Joubert, I went through the Nobili file in a hurry and, is something funny?

  —The word ethical there, it’s just so utterly grotesque. . . .

  —No well of course that’s a, it’s only a term they use to distinguish prescription drugs . . . he recovered the papers from her,—and this really has nothing to do with . . .

  —It has nothing to do with anything why am I reading it! Every time I come in I’m given something to read I don’t understand something to sign I don’t even . . .

  —Yes well you see, Mrs Joubert, excuse me for interrupting you but some time ago, you see, a small company we had acquired because of its attractive patent position in the pharmaceutical field was negotiating a very substantial contract with the military due to the steady upsurge in demand by veterans’ hospitals and ah, at any rate these negotiations were suddenly broken off when an Italian firm came in with a far lower bid, since Italy is not a party to our patent agreements you see, and this Italian drug firm had simply pirated the patents on which our entire . . .

  —Oh you do! pick things apart till no one can recognize them, I ask you about Francis and you talk about patents, I ask Lucien and he . . .

  —Yes but don’t you see, Mrs Joubert, I simply wanted to give you the background because under the circumstances your father’s position in the government makes it a rather awkward moment to consider bringing suit since the validity of the patents themselves is, I won’t go into those details but these papers, you see, simply involve you in your capacity as a trustee of the foundations into which your father’s various holdings were placed when he joined the government, in order to allow us to handle this particular situation by making some accommodation with this Nobili firm, this Italian drug firm, in which as you probably know your former, Mister Joubert, is a principal. As an Italian firm, actually it’s Swiss based of course, Nobili is . . .

  —In Geneva? It’s in Geneva?

  —Yes but simply in terms of . . .

  —Going to school in Geneva, that’s what he was talking about isn’t it, putting Francis in school in Geneva.

  —Did he say that? When did you see him.

  —Last night. She’d opened her purse again, getting her handkerchief.—I didn’t see him really, we just talked for a moment.

  —He called you?

  —No not on the phone, no, I just meant it was dark. I was in bed when he came in and we . . .

  —He, when he came, into your bedroom?

  —It’s his really, of course. She blew her nose.—His apartment, the only times I . . .

  —But, I don’t quite understand . . . he turned in his chair to face her, drawing his small dulled black shoes close as he might have done placing them empty away in his closet.—You don’t still live together?

  —Of course not.

  —I don’t mean to be, to be indelicate Mrs Joubert but, in bed, you were in bed in his apartment?

  —Why yes I’d, when Francis is down, it’s our arrangement when Francis is down from school.

  —I’m afraid I still don’t quite understand.

  —Simply we haven’t wanted to upset him. We simply, until everything’s definite there’s no reason Francis should be upset prematurely and so we simply, we simply want him to have a feeling of security as long as he can that we, that his parents live together like any parents that, that he has a home . . .

  —I see. The ah, you must realize the ah . . .

  —The what, the impropriety?

  —I meant the ah . . .

  —Oh nothing happens, in the bedroom? Nothing happens if that’s what you mean Mister Beaton.

  —Ah. But you see Mrs Joubert it isn’t, it’s not simply a question of your actual ah, any actual . . .

  —They’re separate beds after all Mister Beaton, last night in fact, she cleared her throat without looking up,—last night Francis slipped into bed with him and, and slept there all night with him . . .

  —No but you see . . . he cleared his throat,—I’m afraid you still don’t understand Mrs Joubert, simply by returning voluntarily to his ah, I take it it is voluntarily, to his . . .

  —I’ve just finished saying it’s, yes the arrangement we’ve . . .

  —Yes but you must realize that if he, if Mister Joubert wished to make it appear that he, that you ah . . .

  —He can’t make it appear anything Mister Beaton! he, he wants it cleared up as much as I do he’s mixed up with some, you probably saw her picture in the papers when she was still dancing not the one I saw this morning of course with a, an inscription his coq rouge in an inscription no, but . . .

  —Yes I, I see yes incidentally does, is your father aware of this arrangement you have with Mis, with Francis’ father?

  —Daddy? I don’t know, I haven’t the faintest idea what he’s aware of, it might embarrass him is that what you mean? if something unpleasant got in the papers? The way he’s aware of Freddie when Freddie gets out and the rest of the time he’s . . .

  —No please Mrs Joubert I didn’t mean he, that was he on the phone just now I meant to tell you yes . . .

  —Oh?

  —He asked me to give you his best wishes yes, he . . .

  —He knew I was here?

  —Yes I told him you’d come in to, excuse me. Hello . . .? It’s Mrs Selk I’d better, yes hello? Good morn . . . pardon? Yes sir, ma’am yes ma’am . . . I see yes ma’am have you talked with Boody hersel . . . no ma’am I . . . Yes ma’am have you talked with Mis . . . yes ma’am possibly if Mister Moncrieff himself called the Greek Emba . . . the Greek Embassy yes ma’am he might be in a better position to . . . Yes ma’am I . . . yes ma, hello? hello . . .?

  —Boody?

  —Yes she ah, apparently she’s been arrested again . . . he replaced the phone,—she was stopped at the Greek frontier and charged with carrying I’m sorry, hello? Bea oh yes ma’am I . . . no ma’am no I . . . No I didn’t no ma’am no sometimes the switchboard just cuts in and discon . . . no ma’am no I don’t know anyone on the switch . . . but yes but all of them ma’am? It’s quite difficult
to find experienced op . . . yes ma’am . . . yes ma’am immed . . . Yes ma’am but of course the police themselves should . . . yes ma’am but of course the insurance company has its own investiga . . . Yes ma’am but I might suggest if Deleserea has been missing only since last evening there may be a possib . . . yes ma’am . . . yes ma’am immed . . . hello? hello . . .? he held it away, brought it back to his ear—hello . . .? and hung it up slowly—she, now she thinks Deleserea has disappeared with a diamond brooch . . .

  —I wouldn’t blame her at all, I can’t even blame Boody for carting drugs into Greece she’s . . .

  —Not this time no they’ve charged her with carrying incendiaries, incendiary bombs, we just got her out of Nepal and I think your father is beginning to . . .

  —Be aware of Boody?

  —Mrs Joubert please I, I think your father has been quite patient, he . . .

  —Patient . . .! she turned pages,—now where am I to sign.

  —On the last page where it says, yes down there . . .

  —He’s been patient with Freddie for what, ten years? as long as Freddie’s where he can’t bother him.

  —But under the circumstances Mrs Joubert, I think your brother is prob . . .

  —Does Daddy ever visit him? she pulled off her glasses looking up,—ever?

  —Well I . . . he cleared his throat, reached for the papers—are you able to visit him often?

  She got her handkerchief again, but simply held it tight in her hand.—Once I, I went once and they had a concert he was learning to play the, played the cymbals I just couldn’t ever go again . . .

  —But, but perhaps your father finds it just as pain . . .

  —Freddie’s his son! she used the handkerchief and then, stilled, her eyes over its lavender edge looked even larger—sends his, he sends his best wishes he knows I’m sitting a foot away but he couldn’t . . .

  —Mrs Joubert he had an important meeting and just took a moment to call with something quite urgent regarding the situation in Gan . . .

  —A moment yes he couldn’t take a moment to speak to me to, even to ask how I am there’s always a meeting an important meeting he hides in meetings even that day, the day I brought the children in I was in his office to, waiting to sign something like I always am he was standing beside me there molding his nose like he always does looking down at me and he said, he said you look tired Amy he looked so concerned so, so concerned I thought he wanted to talk to me to tell me something to say something he, and then he turned with all that concern he turned to you and asked about his last option . . .

  —I, I understand yes but I think you should consid . . .

  —I’m sorry, is this all you want me to sign?

  —Yes and, oh the changes yes if you’ll just initial the changes, they’re marked in the margins Mrs Joubert it’s not my, I just mean to say your father has been under a good deal of pressure recently I don’t think you should take that to mean he’s not extremely concerned about you, when you mentioned earlier the trusts your mother had set up for yourself and your brother, your income . . .

  —Oh honestly . . . she initialed, initialed,—how can you call it my income it’s . . .

  —No but you see I understand your impatience but I think in expressing his concern under the provision that the income may be reinvested by the guardian until . . .

  —By Daddy yes till he thinks I’ve stopped drifting? till I stop wasting my, stop teaching school out in the woods somewhere just to have something to do, something alive to do even if it’s, even if I hardly know what I’m teaching them just following the lesson guide but it’s something it’s, something . . .

  —I didn’t mean . . .

  —And don’t say the trusts Mama had set up for me and Freddie no, no Daddy and your father and Uncle John set them up and old Judge Ude in the Surrogate Court where Uncle John put him they set them up, it was Mama’s money and they set them up with all these provisions and she signed the papers just like I’m signing these without even knowing what she, why they . . .

  —Please no wait a moment, no I should make it clear of course I have no way of knowing the conditions surrounding these trusts of your mother’s Mrs Joubert but, but in signing these papers in your capacity with these foundations the implication that you’re being taken advantage of beyond . . .

  —A convenience . . .

  —Well in a, perhaps in a manner of spea . . .

  —A convenience yes, it saves Uncle John the trouble of finding trustees on the subway.

  —Yes well, perhaps yes but certainly you do understand his wish to secure his financial position? You see in eight of ten previous years, his taxes plus charitable contributions had taken ninety percent of his net income enabling him to make a charity gift of some nineteen million dollars to . . .

  —Oh honestly, charity just the word . . .

  —Yes well I use it in its tax law connotation and of course since his bank holds the pension fund of the hospital where he’s a trustee, and his position as a director of this leading nonprofit health insurance program assures the hospital against nonpayment of . . .

  —The idea of him ever giving away nineteen cents nineteen, nineteen peanuts nineteen anything if he had them he’d . . .

  —No you see Mrs Joubert the point is that this particular nineteen million represented the market value of the securities constituting his gift he’d originally paid something like, something under half a million as an original investor and this approach merely enables him to avoid the substantial capital gains tax he would have been liable for if he’d sold them, and made his income for the following very prosperous year entirely tax free, you see the high personal tax rate, in setting up these foundations in view of the high personal tax rate he was subject to on the dividends from these securities it was decided that since a dividend in the form of stock was not considered income, he might authorize and receive a new issue of preferred at one hundred dollars par redeemable by the company at one hundred two which of course would not affect his control of, Mrs Joubert? you, you did want to know . . .

  —Preferred stock doesn’t vote, yes. We had it in class, preferred stock doesn’t . . .

  —Yes in this case however it appeared advisable for tax purp . . .

  —Doesn’t sing doesn’t dance doesn’t smoke or drink or run around with women, doesn’t even . . .

  —Pardon?

  —Oh nothing Mister Beaton it’s all so, just so absurd so, lifeless, I can’t . . .

  —Please I, Mrs Joubert I didn’t mean to make an emotional issue of it, the . . .

  —Well it is! It is an emotional issue it simply is! because, because there aren’t any, there aren’t any emotions it’s all just reinvested dividends and tax avoidance that’s what all of it is, avoidance the way it’s always been it always will be there’s no earthly reason it should change is there? that it ever could change?

  —Only, well, in this particular case as I was going to say it appeared advisable for tax purposes that this preferred issue paying six percent semiannually would have no voting rights unless four consecutive dividends were missed and of course in that case, the trustees would vote the stock, install new directors if they wished to and assume control of the extensive assets which . . .

  —I think that’s your phone again, if this is all you want me to . . .

  —I’m sorry yes, hello? Beaton . . . yes, yes just hold on a moment Dick, you did initial the second set Mrs Joubert?

  —Oh dear . . . she opened her bag again digging for glasses, coming up with the wrong pair—I’m already . . .

  —I’m sorry I thought you’d, these right here yes. Dick . . .? I did yes but I think this Endo divestiture has priority, he’s getting quite impatient about the Diamond tender and of course nothing can be . . . for you specifically to handle it as soon as you’re finished there yes, Frank Black’s doing most of the spadework and as soon as you . . . Yes originally yes, but they informed us the substantial tax write-off we proposed cou
ld be jeopardized by a suit with an original stockholder over sequestering the patents, that would probably drag the goodwill write-off down with it and the most sensible thing seems to be straight divestiture in connection with the Diamond tender once this decree has been . . . I know it yes but the sooner you can clear it up and get to Washington the better, we . . . you did yes she’s right here . . . I will yes, goodbye . . . I will, yes. That was Mister Cutler, he sends . . .

  —Sends me kindest regards . . . she initialed, turned a page.

  —He’s in Rome yes he, I’m terribly sorry Mrs Joubert did you want to speak with him? I didn’t even . . .

  —What on earth about . . . she initialed, initialed.

  —Well I, I don’t know of course I, he did ask me to tell you he hoped to be back in time to take you to the horse show and I think if your father is . . .

  —Mister Beaton that’s what we’ve been talking about! he, Daddy still wants it all to be like it was when I rode at the Garden myself with that ghastly Ude girl, when her brother came down with Dick Cutler from Choate and, if he could see if Daddy could just see the only men I’ve met I can imagine getting into, into anything with them he’d die, one’s probably Freddie’s age he drinks and plays the horses his face is like the, he laughs and his face is just torment and, and his hands and the other’s a boy, a composer and he’s just a boy just all, all radiant desolation and he’s dear . . .

  —Then I think you realize the . . .

  —And they wouldn’t mind the money either of them honestly, I’d almost marry them both just for that . . .

  —Exactly yes I think you can understand your father’s, that as guardian under your mother’s will you realize he has certain obligations to what would have been your mother’s wishes to see that the trust doesn’t become an attraction to, leading to another unfortunate marriage and so naturally he . . .

  —Asks Dick Cutler to take me to the horse show . . . she’d folded her glasses again—that would be like, like marrying your issue of six percent preferreds . . . she opened her bag to thrust them back in,—avoidance payable semiannually . . . she snapped it closed.—I’m sorry Mister Beaton I, I shouldn’t talk to you like this but there’s simply been no one else . . . her hand fell empty, only half closed on the desk between them to close suddenly seized there in one even whiter—what . . .