it’s possible, and you want it, do it, Jerry; leave her, and let her make a new life. She’ll live.’
‘I wish I was sure of that. If only there was somedecent man who I know would marry her and take care of her – but every man we know, compared to me, is a clunk. Really. I’m not conceited, but that’s a fact.’
She wondered if that was why she loved him – that he could say something like that, and still look boyish, and expectant, and willing to be taught. ‘She won’t find another man until you leave her,’ Sally told him. ‘You can’t pick her new husband for her, Jerry; now that is conceited of you.’
Whenever she tried to puncture him, he seemed grateful. Come on , his grin seemed to say, hurt me. Help me. ‘Well,’ he said, and put his coffee cup inside hers. ‘This has been very interesting. We’re just full of home truths.’
‘I guess we’re talked out,’ she said, trying to apologize.
‘It’s nice, isn’t it? It would be so nice for us to have said everything, and just be quiet together. But we’d better go back. Back to Pandemonium.’
Standing up, she said, ‘Thank you for the sandwich. It was very good.’
He told her, ‘You’re great. You’re a great blonde. When you get up, it’s like the flag being raised. I want to pledge allegiance.’ And in front of everyone he solemnly placed his hand over his heart.
The crowd had swelled; around the ticket counters it was impenetrable. The enormous hopelessness of their position broke upon her, and for the first time since noon Sally wanted to cry. Jerry turned to her and said, ‘Don’t worry. I’ll get you home. What about renting a car?’
‘And driving all that way? Jerry, how can we?’
‘Well, don’t you feel we’ve had it, planewise?’
She nodded, and tears burned in her throat like a regurgitation. Jerry virtually ran; the skin of her heels seemed to be tearing loose as she chased him down the corridor. The automobile-rental booths were far away, three lonely islands side by side.
The Hertz girl wore yellow, the Avis girl red, the National girl green. Jerry had a Hertz credit card, and the girl in yellow said, ‘I’m sorry, all our cars have been taken. Everybody wants to go to New York.’
It was their destiny to be late. Everywhere they went, crowds had been there before them. Jerry protested ineffectually; indeed, he seemed relieved to have one more possibility closed, one more excuse for inaction provided. Richard would somehow have managed; nothing was too complicated for him to finagle, finagling was a sensuous pleasure for him. Richard’s shape, stocky but quick, moved in the corner of her eye; a man came up to them and said, ‘Did I hear you say New York? I’d be happy to share expenses with you.’ He was the man who had to be in Newark by seven o’clock. It was twenty of seven now.
The girl at Hertz called across the aisle to the girl at Avis, ‘Gina, do you have any more cars you can let go to New York?’
‘I doubt it but let me call the lot.’ Gina dialled, bracing the receiver between her shoulder and ear. Sally found herself wondering if Gina had ever been in love. She was a young girl, but with that sluggish facial expression, of satiety and discontent, that Italian girls got, Sally imagined, from being pressed too long against the breast of a sorrowing mother. Sally had run away from herown sorrowing mother as soon as she could, fled into school and then marriage, and maybe that was why every sorrow came to her new, jagged and fresh and undreamed-of; she wondered, if every woman in the world carries this ache, how can it go on? How does anything in the world get done?
The tall green girl at the National desk asked, ‘Why does everybody want to go to New York. What’s in New York?’
‘The Liberty Bell,’ Jerry told her.
‘If I were you two,’ she said to him, ‘I’d take a cab back into the city and see a movie.’
Jerry asked her, ‘What’s good?’
The Hertz girl
‘I wish I was sure of that. If only there was somedecent man who I know would marry her and take care of her – but every man we know, compared to me, is a clunk. Really. I’m not conceited, but that’s a fact.’
She wondered if that was why she loved him – that he could say something like that, and still look boyish, and expectant, and willing to be taught. ‘She won’t find another man until you leave her,’ Sally told him. ‘You can’t pick her new husband for her, Jerry; now that is conceited of you.’
Whenever she tried to puncture him, he seemed grateful. Come on , his grin seemed to say, hurt me. Help me. ‘Well,’ he said, and put his coffee cup inside hers. ‘This has been very interesting. We’re just full of home truths.’
‘I guess we’re talked out,’ she said, trying to apologize.
‘It’s nice, isn’t it? It would be so nice for us to have said everything, and just be quiet together. But we’d better go back. Back to Pandemonium.’
Standing up, she said, ‘Thank you for the sandwich. It was very good.’
He told her, ‘You’re great. You’re a great blonde. When you get up, it’s like the flag being raised. I want to pledge allegiance.’ And in front of everyone he solemnly placed his hand over his heart.
The crowd had swelled; around the ticket counters it was impenetrable. The enormous hopelessness of their position broke upon her, and for the first time since noon Sally wanted to cry. Jerry turned to her and said, ‘Don’t worry. I’ll get you home. What about renting a car?’
‘And driving all that way? Jerry, how can we?’
‘Well, don’t you feel we’ve had it, planewise?’
She nodded, and tears burned in her throat like a regurgitation. Jerry virtually ran; the skin of her heels seemed to be tearing loose as she chased him down the corridor. The automobile-rental booths were far away, three lonely islands side by side.
The Hertz girl wore yellow, the Avis girl red, the National girl green. Jerry had a Hertz credit card, and the girl in yellow said, ‘I’m sorry, all our cars have been taken. Everybody wants to go to New York.’
It was their destiny to be late. Everywhere they went, crowds had been there before them. Jerry protested ineffectually; indeed, he seemed relieved to have one more possibility closed, one more excuse for inaction provided. Richard would somehow have managed; nothing was too complicated for him to finagle, finagling was a sensuous pleasure for him. Richard’s shape, stocky but quick, moved in the corner of her eye; a man came up to them and said, ‘Did I hear you say New York? I’d be happy to share expenses with you.’ He was the man who had to be in Newark by seven o’clock. It was twenty of seven now.
The girl at Hertz called across the aisle to the girl at Avis, ‘Gina, do you have any more cars you can let go to New York?’
‘I doubt it but let me call the lot.’ Gina dialled, bracing the receiver between her shoulder and ear. Sally found herself wondering if Gina had ever been in love. She was a young girl, but with that sluggish facial expression, of satiety and discontent, that Italian girls got, Sally imagined, from being pressed too long against the breast of a sorrowing mother. Sally had run away from herown sorrowing mother as soon as she could, fled into school and then marriage, and maybe that was why every sorrow came to her new, jagged and fresh and undreamed-of; she wondered, if every woman in the world carries this ache, how can it go on? How does anything in the world get done?
The tall green girl at the National desk asked, ‘Why does everybody want to go to New York. What’s in New York?’
‘The Liberty Bell,’ Jerry told her.
‘If I were you two,’ she said to him, ‘I’d take a cab back into the city and see a movie.’
Jerry asked her, ‘What’s good?’
The Hertz girl
Similar Books
