Read Online The Pursuit of Other Interests: A Novel by Jim Kokoris - Free Book Online Page B

clients. Everyone hated me at the agency. Except maybe Georgia. I don’t know why. I wasn’t that great to her either.” Charlie collected himself and cleared his throat. “Listen, I don’t need the money. I made four hundred and twenty-five thousand last year. I didn’t get a bonus, though. Not even a token. Besides, I didn’t really get fired. I quit my job to pursue other interests. I have lots of other interests. I brush my teeth, I shave. I’ll probably just do that full-time now.”
    Poor Rafael was speechless.
    “I’m bottoming out right now. I’ll be hitting the bottom soon. After I do that, I’ll be okay. Can I ask you a question, Rafael?”
    “Yes.”
    “Have you ever bottomed out?”
    Rafael looked down at the floor. “I don’t think so,” he said.
    “Well, I’m about to do it now. Any minute. It looks like I’m standing here, but I’m actually falling.”
    Rafael swallowed and nodded. He slowly folded the bills up again and put them in his back pocket. “I am sorry, sir,” he said.
    “Don’t worry about it. No biggie. I was in advertising. Did you ever hear of the Bagel Man commercials? Ever see them?”
    Rafael just stared at him.
    “They were very popular a while ago. I made them at another shop. The place I should have stayed. I never should have left that place. Never. My wife told me not to quit that job. I should have listened to her. She has excellent intuition. She wanted me, us, to go to counseling. Marriage counseling. She blames my career. She hates it. She’s very down-to-earth. I met her when she was nineteen. Man, you should have seen what she looked like back then.” Charlie shook his head in wonder. “Legs up to here. She’s forty-eight and she still looks pretty good. Hasn’t even gone gray yet. Everyone thinks she dyes her hair, but she doesn’t. It’s still black. It’s that weird Irish thing. We never talk much anymore. I’m always gone. When she sees me, she just attacks me now anyway, so what’s the point in talking to her, right, I mean, what’s the point, right? I mean, am I right? I just try to avoid her. Except now I can’t. I got nowhere to go. I got to face her now, maybe make things better.”
    Rafael nodded.
    Charlie shook his head again. The room was starting to spin. “It’s good I can talk about this with someone, I need to talk. Can I tell you something else?”
    “ Sí. Yes.”
    “I never told anyone this before, so can you keep this quiet? It’s a secret, a very big secret, so I’m counting on you to be discreet, you know, secretive.”
    Rafael was expressionless.
    “I have low sperm count.”
    “ Por qué? What?”
    Charlie clutched his groin and spoke loudly. “The sperm. Nada count. For making the babies, los niños .” He clutched his groin again.
    Rafael looked at Charlie, confused. Then he said, “Oh, sí , sí ,” and looked at the floor.
    “Yeah, I know. We didn’t think we could have kids. Kyle is a miracle. Low sperm count. You can’t tell by looking at me, but I do. I mean, I look normal. Even when I’m naked, I look fine. Donna wanted kids, more kids. We should have adopted. That would have made her happy, kept her busy. She wanted to adopt, but I didn’t.”
    Rafael now looked at the floor.
    Charlie made his way over to the bed and sat down. “Anyway,” he said.
    “Are you all right, sir?”
    “Fine. I’m fine. I just have low sperm count.”
    Rafael bowed and made his way to the door.
    “Hey, wait, before you leave, can I ask you something? How many hours do you work a week? Can I ask you that?”
    “Forty hours, sir. I work forty hours.”
    “Forty hours. See, I work about, I don’t know, eighty hours a week. I’m nuts. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I don’t think I even really like my job anymore, but that’s all I can do. That’s not normal, is it? I mean, there’s something wrong there, something’s out of whack, but I can’t stop. I can’t. I didn’t use to be this way, but I