Phuong worked for you part time.”
She stabbed at a device on her desk and spoke into it, then looked up at him. “You like coffee or tea, Monsieur Liffey?”
“If I’m Monsieur Liffey, it must be coffee.”
Still no smile. She completed her order and then went on as if nothing had intervened. “I doing so good I don’t need no husband number three at all, but maybe I take one to make mummy happy. Maybe I take big hairy American like you this time.”
She didn’t smile, didn’t wink. He had no idea what was going on. He studied his palms and then held them up to show them to her, as he had his third-rate watch. “There’s no hair on my palms.”
Finally her expression cracked and she smiled just a little. “I like hair. I like everything American. I like your American smell, too, though mummy says it’s like spoil butter. If I start over, I go to a very good doctor and get nose job, I get round eyes, I get big falling tits, the whole American thing. To me look delicate means defeat and weakness. I want to be big and powerful.”
“You seem to be doing okay as is,” he offered.
“You married?”
“I’m not much of a catch, and I dress badly, too.”
“That for sure. I can get you good suit, Italian, very good wool blend, nice cut. When we through, I take you to Tri’s Hong Kong Tailor in the Plaza. He a friend of mine and he’ll dress you up good.”
He smiled. “First, could we talk about Phuong?”
The coffee came in, a silver salver with a double deck French porcelain drip pot and delicate porcelain cups carried by the Kabuki actress. She set it down and Tien Joubert shooed her away. She poured the coffee and handed him one, hardly more than espresso size. He sipped and it was strong and good.
“My English bad, I know. It don’t mean I’m stupid, Jack Liffey. I been to the Sorbonne two years and I’m pretty fluent in six languages. I been to French Institute of Commercial Studies, and I run big import house in Rouen for five years. I got property and stuff worth more than five million bucks. I only been in this country since three years and I’m still with one foot in Europe and foot two in Asia.” She slapped herself in the stomach. “I got the body of young girl and I’m from a good family, all got education.”
He felt like asking to check her teeth, but decided he wasn’t really in a buying position. “How did you end up in France?” he asked to be polite.
“My father and husband were generals and they fix it. They had a saying in the Army in ’75—sergeants to America, officers to France. But it was more complicate than that. It was not only a matter of rank but of…we say in French noblesse .”
“Maybe tone ,” he suggested.
“After all, Ky was a general and he came here, the horrible little man, and he ran a damn mini-market and didn’t even pay off his loans and went bust. He manage a shrimp plant in Texas now, not even own it. Shrimp . General Thieu went to Paris.”
“With a lot of the gold from the treasury, I hear.”
She shrugged.
“What did Phuong do for you?”
“I teach her about business, but she not really interest in things I know, all how deal really works. She want to know about market research and demographic , whatever that is. She say she like big business stuff, not little.” Tien Joubert said it all with distaste, as if holding a rodent out by the fingertips.
“All real business is little stuff, she don’t learn that yet. So I get her what she want, I take her to Orange County Industrial League, and she get to do research on real big stuff. She love it, like cat in clover.”
He didn’t think cat was quite the right animal but he let it go. Curiously he found himself liking her artlessness and candor. It was like being in one of those experimental plays of the ’30s with the actors speaking their Freudian subtexts aloud.
“She still good kid, I like her. Big heart. Like American.”
“Do you have any idea why she might have
She stabbed at a device on her desk and spoke into it, then looked up at him. “You like coffee or tea, Monsieur Liffey?”
“If I’m Monsieur Liffey, it must be coffee.”
Still no smile. She completed her order and then went on as if nothing had intervened. “I doing so good I don’t need no husband number three at all, but maybe I take one to make mummy happy. Maybe I take big hairy American like you this time.”
She didn’t smile, didn’t wink. He had no idea what was going on. He studied his palms and then held them up to show them to her, as he had his third-rate watch. “There’s no hair on my palms.”
Finally her expression cracked and she smiled just a little. “I like hair. I like everything American. I like your American smell, too, though mummy says it’s like spoil butter. If I start over, I go to a very good doctor and get nose job, I get round eyes, I get big falling tits, the whole American thing. To me look delicate means defeat and weakness. I want to be big and powerful.”
“You seem to be doing okay as is,” he offered.
“You married?”
“I’m not much of a catch, and I dress badly, too.”
“That for sure. I can get you good suit, Italian, very good wool blend, nice cut. When we through, I take you to Tri’s Hong Kong Tailor in the Plaza. He a friend of mine and he’ll dress you up good.”
He smiled. “First, could we talk about Phuong?”
The coffee came in, a silver salver with a double deck French porcelain drip pot and delicate porcelain cups carried by the Kabuki actress. She set it down and Tien Joubert shooed her away. She poured the coffee and handed him one, hardly more than espresso size. He sipped and it was strong and good.
“My English bad, I know. It don’t mean I’m stupid, Jack Liffey. I been to the Sorbonne two years and I’m pretty fluent in six languages. I been to French Institute of Commercial Studies, and I run big import house in Rouen for five years. I got property and stuff worth more than five million bucks. I only been in this country since three years and I’m still with one foot in Europe and foot two in Asia.” She slapped herself in the stomach. “I got the body of young girl and I’m from a good family, all got education.”
He felt like asking to check her teeth, but decided he wasn’t really in a buying position. “How did you end up in France?” he asked to be polite.
“My father and husband were generals and they fix it. They had a saying in the Army in ’75—sergeants to America, officers to France. But it was more complicate than that. It was not only a matter of rank but of…we say in French noblesse .”
“Maybe tone ,” he suggested.
“After all, Ky was a general and he came here, the horrible little man, and he ran a damn mini-market and didn’t even pay off his loans and went bust. He manage a shrimp plant in Texas now, not even own it. Shrimp . General Thieu went to Paris.”
“With a lot of the gold from the treasury, I hear.”
She shrugged.
“What did Phuong do for you?”
“I teach her about business, but she not really interest in things I know, all how deal really works. She want to know about market research and demographic , whatever that is. She say she like big business stuff, not little.” Tien Joubert said it all with distaste, as if holding a rodent out by the fingertips.
“All real business is little stuff, she don’t learn that yet. So I get her what she want, I take her to Orange County Industrial League, and she get to do research on real big stuff. She love it, like cat in clover.”
He didn’t think cat was quite the right animal but he let it go. Curiously he found himself liking her artlessness and candor. It was like being in one of those experimental plays of the ’30s with the actors speaking their Freudian subtexts aloud.
“She still good kid, I like her. Big heart. Like American.”
“Do you have any idea why she might have
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