upstate
New York.
“The mountain?” he asked timidly. He was not accustomed to
walking long distances and even less skilled at walking uphill. “Don’t you want
to go to the beach?” he wondered, hoping as hard as he could.
“Mountain” was the definitive, non-negotiable response.
“OK, let’s go to the mountain,” he sighed. The thought of
going there made him anxious, because he knew the punishing pace that Linda
would set. He had hiked with her before. Yet since he was trying to win her
heart and mind, reckless and crazy as they might be, he didn’t want to
disappoint her. He reluctantly agreed. “When we meet, I’ll have a surprise for
you,” he went on.
“No candy,” she warned.
“No, not chocolate,” he said. “Do you remember saying
something about my hair?”
She didn’t. How could she, since she didn’t think much about
what she said to him? And why would she, since Bill showed her the same
consideration?
At that moment, their conversation ended because the
patient, whom Linda had left inside the room, walked out fully clothed without
a needle sticking in him. The patient didn’t say a word to her and only briefly
glanced at her, as he walked out of the clinic. She followed him, screaming
continually, until he drove away in his car. “What are you doing? Get back in
there! You have to pay me! You can’t leave! You idiot!” She was so seized with
anger that her professional advice lapsed into Chinese, mixed with plenty of
swearing.
Bill listened for a while, marveling at the fluency and fire
of his little lovebird. He thought what she did for money was a bunch of bunk,
but he had to admire the intensity of her belief. He hoped he could see some of
that passion Saturday night and Sunday morning in her bedroom. On that hike, he
thought, he really had to conserve
his strength, so he could perform well in the post-mountain workout. At the
very moment he thought that, a particularly violent burst of screaming came
from Linda. It disturbed his pleasure-planning and
recalled to mind a fight he had had with her before. To banish such an
unwelcome remembrance, Bill ended the call and went back to work. He was happy
to imagine what tomorrow would bring.
That night in the bathroom of his apartment, he prepared the
surprise for Linda he had hinted at. She had mentioned in the past that he
would look better if he dyed his hair and had once given him the number for an
expensive salon where one of her patients worked. But the comment from his
coworkers was the real reason he undertook the transformation. He didn’t place
much value in anything Linda said, although he sometimes pretended to, in order
to flatter her. Flattery was an essential part of dating, he thought. All of
the women he saw seemed to expect it.
Standing in front of the mirror above his bathroom sink, he
applied hair dye to his thinning, greying hair, as carefully as he could.
Although he kept turning his head back and forth to see if the coloring solution
was applied evenly, he did not cover the sides and back of his head as well as
the front.
“A little more here,” he said to himself. He squeezed the
dye bottle above the crown of his head, and a gob spurt out.
“Damn,” he cursed, quickly trying to spread the excess dye
through his hair.
Chapter 8
A light shower was in the forecast for Saturday, and when
the morning dawned, thick grey clouds in the sky confirmed the likelihood of
rain. Bill tried to persuade Linda to change her plan, but she was inexorable.
She would not watch TV. She would not go to a movie. She would not exercise at
a gym. She wouldn’t even go shopping, which was the last suggestion Bill made,
because it was the most costly substitute activity. He was somewhat relieved
that she didn’t want to shop, since he felt compelled to pay for her purchases,
when they went to stores together, and she was accustomed to a much more
expensive lifestyle than him on account of her wealth. He came from
New York.
“The mountain?” he asked timidly. He was not accustomed to
walking long distances and even less skilled at walking uphill. “Don’t you want
to go to the beach?” he wondered, hoping as hard as he could.
“Mountain” was the definitive, non-negotiable response.
“OK, let’s go to the mountain,” he sighed. The thought of
going there made him anxious, because he knew the punishing pace that Linda
would set. He had hiked with her before. Yet since he was trying to win her
heart and mind, reckless and crazy as they might be, he didn’t want to
disappoint her. He reluctantly agreed. “When we meet, I’ll have a surprise for
you,” he went on.
“No candy,” she warned.
“No, not chocolate,” he said. “Do you remember saying
something about my hair?”
She didn’t. How could she, since she didn’t think much about
what she said to him? And why would she, since Bill showed her the same
consideration?
At that moment, their conversation ended because the
patient, whom Linda had left inside the room, walked out fully clothed without
a needle sticking in him. The patient didn’t say a word to her and only briefly
glanced at her, as he walked out of the clinic. She followed him, screaming
continually, until he drove away in his car. “What are you doing? Get back in
there! You have to pay me! You can’t leave! You idiot!” She was so seized with
anger that her professional advice lapsed into Chinese, mixed with plenty of
swearing.
Bill listened for a while, marveling at the fluency and fire
of his little lovebird. He thought what she did for money was a bunch of bunk,
but he had to admire the intensity of her belief. He hoped he could see some of
that passion Saturday night and Sunday morning in her bedroom. On that hike, he
thought, he really had to conserve
his strength, so he could perform well in the post-mountain workout. At the
very moment he thought that, a particularly violent burst of screaming came
from Linda. It disturbed his pleasure-planning and
recalled to mind a fight he had had with her before. To banish such an
unwelcome remembrance, Bill ended the call and went back to work. He was happy
to imagine what tomorrow would bring.
That night in the bathroom of his apartment, he prepared the
surprise for Linda he had hinted at. She had mentioned in the past that he
would look better if he dyed his hair and had once given him the number for an
expensive salon where one of her patients worked. But the comment from his
coworkers was the real reason he undertook the transformation. He didn’t place
much value in anything Linda said, although he sometimes pretended to, in order
to flatter her. Flattery was an essential part of dating, he thought. All of
the women he saw seemed to expect it.
Standing in front of the mirror above his bathroom sink, he
applied hair dye to his thinning, greying hair, as carefully as he could.
Although he kept turning his head back and forth to see if the coloring solution
was applied evenly, he did not cover the sides and back of his head as well as
the front.
“A little more here,” he said to himself. He squeezed the
dye bottle above the crown of his head, and a gob spurt out.
“Damn,” he cursed, quickly trying to spread the excess dye
through his hair.
Chapter 8
A light shower was in the forecast for Saturday, and when
the morning dawned, thick grey clouds in the sky confirmed the likelihood of
rain. Bill tried to persuade Linda to change her plan, but she was inexorable.
She would not watch TV. She would not go to a movie. She would not exercise at
a gym. She wouldn’t even go shopping, which was the last suggestion Bill made,
because it was the most costly substitute activity. He was somewhat relieved
that she didn’t want to shop, since he felt compelled to pay for her purchases,
when they went to stores together, and she was accustomed to a much more
expensive lifestyle than him on account of her wealth. He came from
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