Read Online A Choice of Enemies by Mordecai Richler - Free Book Online

call was for her.
    “All right,” she said sharply. “I’ll get it.”
    But just as she reached the phone the ringing stopped. Standing there in the nude on a cold floor, a dead receiver in her hand, she was consumed by a searing rage, but she did not weep.
    “I can’t understand,” Norman said, “at this hour … who …?”
    Norman slipped into his trousers. Sally poured her slip over her head, wriggling to help it down, and then sank wearily back on the bed. She rose quickly again and poured him another drink.
    “I suddenly feel like the heroine of a smutty story. You know, the school teacher visiting Europe and.…”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “You needn’t be sorry.”
    Norman got up and replaced the receiver on the hook.
    “Say something,” she said. “Please.”
    “I could tell you how I feel about you, but I’m afraid –”
    “– of Joey?”
    “Why should I –”
    “I was only joking,” she said.
    “It was a bad joke.”
    “All right. It was a bad joke. I’m sorry. But there’s no need for you to be angry.”
    “I’m not angry.”
    He took her in his arms once more. They kissed; he fondled her breast. But it was no use. It was too late. They broke apart.
    “Oh,” she said. “I feel like I’m being scratched all over inside. I feel terrible.”
    Norman frowned helplessly. His excitement, his longing for her, had been so urgent, that he had reached a climax while they had embraced. Now, all excitement temporarily spent, he felt tense. Though he ached with love for her, he was afraid that if he was called on right now he would prove inadequate, so Sally’s presence embarrassed and angered him, and with himself he was absolutely disgusted. Norman reached for his jacket.
    “Don’t go,” she said. “Stay and have another drink.”
    “No. I must go. That was probably Joey on the phone.”
    “So what. Do you think I care if she knows you spent the night here?”
    This was an invitation. He realized that. But he didn’t sit down again; he slipped into his jacket.
    “I’ve hurt you,” she said.
    “No.”
    She came close to him. “I like you so much, Norman Price,” and rested her head against his shoulder. “Are you very angry with me?”
    “No,” he said. “No, my darling,” and he was gone.
    “Darling.” Sally was alarmed. Coming from Norman “darling” was far too solemn. He had never called her “darling” before.
IX
    Charlie and Joey were ready for bed when Norman arrived.
    “Ah,” Charlie said, “here he is.”
    Norman turned angrily on Joey. “Did you phone Sally about half an hour ago?”
    “Yes,” she said coldly. “Why didn’t you answer?”
    “It looks to me that you phoned at
one
in the morning simply to see if I was with her.”
    “A telegram came for you. I thought it might be important.”
    “I told her that it could wait until you got back.”
    “A telegram?”
    “It must have come this afternoon,” Charlie said. “I went out for a coffee and found it in the mail box. Here, maybe you won something on a quiz show.…”
    But Norman turned very pale.
    “Anything wrong?” Joey asked.
    “What is it, Norman?”
    “It’s from my Aunt Dorothy in Boston.…”
    “What?”
    “Nicky’s dead.”
    “Who?”
    “His brother.”
    “There are no details,” Norman said. “Nothing.”
    “Oh, Norman, I
am
sorry,” Joey said.
    Norman retreated into his cramped little study and shut the door after him. He sat down on the tattered sofa and read the telegram over and over again. Removing his glasses, he wiped his eyes and lay down on the sofa and rested there until a soft knocking at the door startled him.
    “Can I get you anything?” Joey asked.
    “No.”
    “A drink might help,” Charlie suggested meekly.
    “No. No thanks.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Please go away.”
    Before he turned out the lights, Norman wrote out his name and address on a piece of paper and fastened the paper to his arm with an elastic band. Eventually he got up and