bench, when this math genius of a kid with lots of allergies went up to her.”
“Where are you going with this?” the girl demanded, alert and possessive at the suggestion of another woman.
“I don’t know,” the fornicator said. Somewhere in the telling the story had gotten lost. He did not know where it had gone. The girl insisted they fool around some more and so they did, but he was no longer so engaged; his mind was on the landlord’s daughter.
BETH WAS STANDING on the corner in the hot sun waiting for the bus, and she had been waiting a long time. There was sweat under her arms. The young fornicator came from down the street. He mumbled out a hello and sat on the back of a bench and watched her. She recognized him from her father’s building but she did not respond. She was dating three boys from her college already.
The young fornicator cleared his throat, then asked a simple question.
“What?” she said, irritated. He spoke so quietly!
“Nothing,” he replied.
This did not impress her and she spat out, “Today is my birthday and my father forgot to get me a cake. What a jerk! Do you know what this means to me? I was expecting a nice blue one: blue icing on the outside with chocolate on the inside! Such a jerk.”
The young fornicator did not know what to say. The bus came and Beth got on. He walked back to his apartment where he found a friend of his mother’s lying in his bed. He went and stood at the open window and lit a cigarette. She looked at him with red eyes.
“I suppose you only think of me as your mother’s friend. Is that why you won’t sleep with me? I’m young still!” His mother’s friend burst into fresh sobs and buried her head in the pillow, heaving.
He blew out smoke. Sure. Why not? Let the landlord collect his rent. Within a quarter of an hour he had shuffled the old woman out of there and had sat upon his couch awaiting the landlord’s knock. The knock came and he opened the door and there was the landlord with fury on his face and a frying pan quivering in his hand.
“I want my rent! Where have you been since the first?”
The young fornicator invited the landlord in and made him stand by the window as he rifled through his coat pocket trying to find his wallet. As he approached the landlord with the money, the sudden bright light of the sun beamed down upon the landlord, and in that instant the landlord looked so much like his daughter that the fornicator felt the pull.
“Give it to me,” the landlord said. The young man allowed the bills to be snatched from his hand, and saw, over the landlord’s shoulder, young Beth coming up the driveway. She was carrying in her hand a bag, and in the bag was a box, and in the box was a chocolate cake with shiny blue icing.
WHAT CHANGED
AFTER ALL, THEY were a man and a woman. There was no reason for them not to fall in love.
When the man fell, the woman fell, and when the woman fell, the man fell. It is hard to say now who fell first.
As they were falling, other things happened in other places, but where they were it was just he for she and she for he, and that very night they went out for pasta.
They could barely order, which irritated the waitress, but it was only because they were so much in love, and so leaning over the table, and so fondling each other’s hands, and so fondling each other’s arms, and so staring into each other’s eyes, and so smiling dopily.
They were doped. Or they were falling in love.
He said, “Come away with me this weekend. I must have you and only you and no one else around.”
And she said, “Oh that’s a fantastic idea. Let’s do it.”
And so their attention shifted from each other’s face and hands on to where they would go, where they would stay, how they would get there, what he had to clear up first, what she’d tell her family.
That night they kissed passionately on the front porch of her parents’ house, but she went inside alone. And she thought of him
“Where are you going with this?” the girl demanded, alert and possessive at the suggestion of another woman.
“I don’t know,” the fornicator said. Somewhere in the telling the story had gotten lost. He did not know where it had gone. The girl insisted they fool around some more and so they did, but he was no longer so engaged; his mind was on the landlord’s daughter.
BETH WAS STANDING on the corner in the hot sun waiting for the bus, and she had been waiting a long time. There was sweat under her arms. The young fornicator came from down the street. He mumbled out a hello and sat on the back of a bench and watched her. She recognized him from her father’s building but she did not respond. She was dating three boys from her college already.
The young fornicator cleared his throat, then asked a simple question.
“What?” she said, irritated. He spoke so quietly!
“Nothing,” he replied.
This did not impress her and she spat out, “Today is my birthday and my father forgot to get me a cake. What a jerk! Do you know what this means to me? I was expecting a nice blue one: blue icing on the outside with chocolate on the inside! Such a jerk.”
The young fornicator did not know what to say. The bus came and Beth got on. He walked back to his apartment where he found a friend of his mother’s lying in his bed. He went and stood at the open window and lit a cigarette. She looked at him with red eyes.
“I suppose you only think of me as your mother’s friend. Is that why you won’t sleep with me? I’m young still!” His mother’s friend burst into fresh sobs and buried her head in the pillow, heaving.
He blew out smoke. Sure. Why not? Let the landlord collect his rent. Within a quarter of an hour he had shuffled the old woman out of there and had sat upon his couch awaiting the landlord’s knock. The knock came and he opened the door and there was the landlord with fury on his face and a frying pan quivering in his hand.
“I want my rent! Where have you been since the first?”
The young fornicator invited the landlord in and made him stand by the window as he rifled through his coat pocket trying to find his wallet. As he approached the landlord with the money, the sudden bright light of the sun beamed down upon the landlord, and in that instant the landlord looked so much like his daughter that the fornicator felt the pull.
“Give it to me,” the landlord said. The young man allowed the bills to be snatched from his hand, and saw, over the landlord’s shoulder, young Beth coming up the driveway. She was carrying in her hand a bag, and in the bag was a box, and in the box was a chocolate cake with shiny blue icing.
WHAT CHANGED
AFTER ALL, THEY were a man and a woman. There was no reason for them not to fall in love.
When the man fell, the woman fell, and when the woman fell, the man fell. It is hard to say now who fell first.
As they were falling, other things happened in other places, but where they were it was just he for she and she for he, and that very night they went out for pasta.
They could barely order, which irritated the waitress, but it was only because they were so much in love, and so leaning over the table, and so fondling each other’s hands, and so fondling each other’s arms, and so staring into each other’s eyes, and so smiling dopily.
They were doped. Or they were falling in love.
He said, “Come away with me this weekend. I must have you and only you and no one else around.”
And she said, “Oh that’s a fantastic idea. Let’s do it.”
And so their attention shifted from each other’s face and hands on to where they would go, where they would stay, how they would get there, what he had to clear up first, what she’d tell her family.
That night they kissed passionately on the front porch of her parents’ house, but she went inside alone. And she thought of him
Similar Books
