her on her stomach, and massaged her backside a little, with good hefty slaps, one-two-three, so that it sounded like artillery. Pretty soon I asked: “Hey? Why don’t you beat me back?”
“I don’t feel that way about it.”
“What way is that?”
“I don’t feel friendly.”
“O.K., I do, but if you don’t, that’s how we play it, anything to please a lady. So, call.”
“What?”
“Get on that phone, there on the night table, and call—your husband, to say you’ve changed your mind. If I get credit for being a rat, I may as well get the advantage.”
“You’d take it—it’s what I said.”
“ I said call, so call.”
“No use calling now. He was due in Philadelphia late this afternoon and won’t be back till tonight.”
“Then call him tonight.”
“All right.”
Suddenly she started crying. I took her in my arms and whispered that I loved her. “Get on,” I said.
“Oh no! That’s over!”
“Once more, to prove that I love you—and that you love me.”
“I couldn’t love a rat.”
“Rat loves you, though.”
“Dear God, don’t let me!”
“Hortense, didn’t you hear me?”
Turned out that she did.
At last, early that evening, we got up. Still undressed, she made the bed while I sat and watched. She admired the bed. When I said my mother had had it made to be slightly smaller than the beds in the stores, she looked it over again, touching it with her fingers. “It’s so simple,” she said. “Just the four turned posts and a turned piece in between, at the head, with the two side boards cut down in the middle. That’s all. And it’s maple; it’s not Wallace Nutting. I’m getting a bit tired of him.”
“Keep on. I love those friendly words.”
“Toward her ! Your mother !”
“Almost forgot yourself, didn’t you?”
“I don’t forget anything.”
Then we bathed, she in the tub and I in the glassed-in shower. When we toweled off facing each other, her attachments shook breathtakingly. She said: “Heaven only knows what happens now. It’s my infertile time of the month— supposed to be! Heaven only knows how it’s going to be.”
After we dressed, we went down in the freight elevator and out the back way to the car. I took her to the Royal Arms where the specialty is roast beef, and we gobbled down the whole thick portion. But even while we were eating, she kept questioning me about biography and biographers. “Especially where I come in, or can come in, if you still insist on that call.” Her questions were penetrating, so much so that they surprised me, and I sharpened up on my answers, putting things on the line, while she took notes, writing on the back of the menu. She had her mind on it, and insisted: “If I’m to put on this show for Richard, I have to have things straight, so I make sense, so he believes I’ve changed my mind for the reasons I say I have. I still say it would be much, much better if you didn’t make me, Lloyd, if we simply forgot about it.”
“I’m not making you, Hortense.”
“Oh yes but you are.”
“You’re going to call so you can sleep.”
“I’m going to what?”
“It’s not me who has this thing on the brain. It’s you. You’re in my power—that we both know—and I know I would never take the advantage I have. But you don’t know it, you can’t be sure. It’s for that reason—pure, yellow-bellied terror—that you’re going to put in that call. To be safe from me, as you think.”
“If I withdraw my opposition, I will be.”
“O.K., whatever you say.”
“Well? Won’t I be? ... I better be!” “You are now. As you know, but can’t be quite sure.”
“We go round and round and round.”
Watergate’s on Virginia, but at her suggestion I parked on New Hampshire around the corner from it. I got out her bag while she got the light coat. She was wearing the mink. We walked around to the marquee, and the doorman came running to take the bag. When he’d disappeared through the
“I don’t feel that way about it.”
“What way is that?”
“I don’t feel friendly.”
“O.K., I do, but if you don’t, that’s how we play it, anything to please a lady. So, call.”
“What?”
“Get on that phone, there on the night table, and call—your husband, to say you’ve changed your mind. If I get credit for being a rat, I may as well get the advantage.”
“You’d take it—it’s what I said.”
“ I said call, so call.”
“No use calling now. He was due in Philadelphia late this afternoon and won’t be back till tonight.”
“Then call him tonight.”
“All right.”
Suddenly she started crying. I took her in my arms and whispered that I loved her. “Get on,” I said.
“Oh no! That’s over!”
“Once more, to prove that I love you—and that you love me.”
“I couldn’t love a rat.”
“Rat loves you, though.”
“Dear God, don’t let me!”
“Hortense, didn’t you hear me?”
Turned out that she did.
At last, early that evening, we got up. Still undressed, she made the bed while I sat and watched. She admired the bed. When I said my mother had had it made to be slightly smaller than the beds in the stores, she looked it over again, touching it with her fingers. “It’s so simple,” she said. “Just the four turned posts and a turned piece in between, at the head, with the two side boards cut down in the middle. That’s all. And it’s maple; it’s not Wallace Nutting. I’m getting a bit tired of him.”
“Keep on. I love those friendly words.”
“Toward her ! Your mother !”
“Almost forgot yourself, didn’t you?”
“I don’t forget anything.”
Then we bathed, she in the tub and I in the glassed-in shower. When we toweled off facing each other, her attachments shook breathtakingly. She said: “Heaven only knows what happens now. It’s my infertile time of the month— supposed to be! Heaven only knows how it’s going to be.”
After we dressed, we went down in the freight elevator and out the back way to the car. I took her to the Royal Arms where the specialty is roast beef, and we gobbled down the whole thick portion. But even while we were eating, she kept questioning me about biography and biographers. “Especially where I come in, or can come in, if you still insist on that call.” Her questions were penetrating, so much so that they surprised me, and I sharpened up on my answers, putting things on the line, while she took notes, writing on the back of the menu. She had her mind on it, and insisted: “If I’m to put on this show for Richard, I have to have things straight, so I make sense, so he believes I’ve changed my mind for the reasons I say I have. I still say it would be much, much better if you didn’t make me, Lloyd, if we simply forgot about it.”
“I’m not making you, Hortense.”
“Oh yes but you are.”
“You’re going to call so you can sleep.”
“I’m going to what?”
“It’s not me who has this thing on the brain. It’s you. You’re in my power—that we both know—and I know I would never take the advantage I have. But you don’t know it, you can’t be sure. It’s for that reason—pure, yellow-bellied terror—that you’re going to put in that call. To be safe from me, as you think.”
“If I withdraw my opposition, I will be.”
“O.K., whatever you say.”
“Well? Won’t I be? ... I better be!” “You are now. As you know, but can’t be quite sure.”
“We go round and round and round.”
Watergate’s on Virginia, but at her suggestion I parked on New Hampshire around the corner from it. I got out her bag while she got the light coat. She was wearing the mink. We walked around to the marquee, and the doorman came running to take the bag. When he’d disappeared through the
Similar Books
Shifting Currents
Lissa Trevor
Three-Ring Terror
Franklin W. Dixon
Shiver Trilogy (Shiver, Linger, Forever)
Maggie Stiefvater
White Diamonds
K. Lyn
Dreams of Darkness Rising
Ross M. Kitson
The Law and Miss Mary
Dorothy Clark
Nightlord: Sunset
Garon Whited
The Cinderella Killer
Simon Brett
The Dragon's Descent
Laurice Elehwany Molinari
Sky's Dark Labyrinth
Stuart Clark