breath on my cheek, then her tongue in my ear, and at the same moment, she caressed me between my legs. I pulled my head away, turned and looked at her, and said something, God knows what, and she began to cry, but stopped almost immediately. We finished watching the manic show, watched another, and then I went home. We had said nothing about the brief aberration. A couple of weeks later, Irene, still quite low, but now on antidepressants that safely maintained her unhappiness, told me, over whiskey sours in a quiet new bar a few blocks from her apartment, that she had almost committed suicide a month earlier; she’d bought a bottle of a hundred Advils, a bottle of Nytol, and a liter of vodka, but changed her mind. Maybe that’s why, she said, that I, you know, that night on the couch? I nodded, then started to say something vapidly positive, life is sweet, is precious, is worth living, is a bowl of cherries, but she touched my hand and looked at me and I knew enough to shut up. She had gone, she said, to Our Lady of Perpetual Help at least twice a week for the past five years, to light a candle each time and to pray for the agonizing deaths of Bill and his whore and their three rotten children. I thought, idiotically, that she didn’t even know the children, and stared at her glass as she took a sip of her whiskey sour. Five years, she said, five fucking years, and nothing happened. Her face was flushed and distorted with anger and pain. Five years and they’re all fine, they’re all hale and hearty! I was smiling irreverently. Can you, she said, lighting a cigarette, get a goddamn ashtray for Christ’s sweet sake in this bar?
Pair of Deuces
J ENNY WAS STANDING IN THE CORNER OF THE MOTEL ROOM in front of a little black-and-white television set, on which a soap opera’s distraught characters were silently moving through their problems. She had unbuttoned her blouse and pulled it free of her skirt. Her hands were clasped in front of her and she seemed to be blushing, although the light in the room was dim. Ralph stood at the other side of the double bed, a picture of a rustic bridge in forest mist at his right shoulder. He took off his T-shirt and looked at Jenny, he wanted her out of her clothes.
Inez had put the baby down for a nap when Bill came in, half-drunk from the office party. Merry Xames! he said, where’s my beloved spouse? More to the point—where’s your beloved spouse? He hung his trenchcoat and suit jacket in the closet. Let’s have a drink, it’s Christmas Eve, Noël, he said. Inez lit a cigarette and gave it to him. You’re a peach, he said. I mean it. He should have met her back in New York. What am I doing, he said, in this stupid fucking town, can you tell me? He reached out and touched her arm and she moved closer to him. You’re a terrific woman, he said, I’ve always thought so. Ralph thought the suede jacket would be a good idea, it was expensive, but really nice, Jenny, however, told him that she hated to buy clothes for Bill, whatever she bought him, even underwear and socks, was always wrong. What about the chess set, then? Ralph said, it’s a beautiful thing and it will last forever. He was standing behind Jenny and put his hands on her hips. She half-turned and gave him a look out of the corner of her eye and moved, almost imperceptibly, against him. O.K. , she said, but I can’t really play at all, I hardly know the moves. And Bill has nobody else to play with out here. All the better for Bill, Ralph said. What? Jenny said, looking him full in the face. O.K. , let’s buy it right now and get it wrapped, she said, and then we can do—what do you want to do? Let’s go and relax somewhere for a couple of hours, Ralph said, it’s early. He had an erection and he knew that she knew it. And Inez? she said. He shrugged.
So Ralph went out shopping with Jenny, dear sweet Jenny, to help her buy me a Christmas present! What a wonderful guy, and what a wonderful wife, a helpmeet, he
Pair of Deuces
J ENNY WAS STANDING IN THE CORNER OF THE MOTEL ROOM in front of a little black-and-white television set, on which a soap opera’s distraught characters were silently moving through their problems. She had unbuttoned her blouse and pulled it free of her skirt. Her hands were clasped in front of her and she seemed to be blushing, although the light in the room was dim. Ralph stood at the other side of the double bed, a picture of a rustic bridge in forest mist at his right shoulder. He took off his T-shirt and looked at Jenny, he wanted her out of her clothes.
Inez had put the baby down for a nap when Bill came in, half-drunk from the office party. Merry Xames! he said, where’s my beloved spouse? More to the point—where’s your beloved spouse? He hung his trenchcoat and suit jacket in the closet. Let’s have a drink, it’s Christmas Eve, Noël, he said. Inez lit a cigarette and gave it to him. You’re a peach, he said. I mean it. He should have met her back in New York. What am I doing, he said, in this stupid fucking town, can you tell me? He reached out and touched her arm and she moved closer to him. You’re a terrific woman, he said, I’ve always thought so. Ralph thought the suede jacket would be a good idea, it was expensive, but really nice, Jenny, however, told him that she hated to buy clothes for Bill, whatever she bought him, even underwear and socks, was always wrong. What about the chess set, then? Ralph said, it’s a beautiful thing and it will last forever. He was standing behind Jenny and put his hands on her hips. She half-turned and gave him a look out of the corner of her eye and moved, almost imperceptibly, against him. O.K. , she said, but I can’t really play at all, I hardly know the moves. And Bill has nobody else to play with out here. All the better for Bill, Ralph said. What? Jenny said, looking him full in the face. O.K. , let’s buy it right now and get it wrapped, she said, and then we can do—what do you want to do? Let’s go and relax somewhere for a couple of hours, Ralph said, it’s early. He had an erection and he knew that she knew it. And Inez? she said. He shrugged.
So Ralph went out shopping with Jenny, dear sweet Jenny, to help her buy me a Christmas present! What a wonderful guy, and what a wonderful wife, a helpmeet, he
Similar Books
