Read Online When the Messenger Is Hot by Elizabeth Crane - Free Book Online
Authors: Elizabeth Crane
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gets off the phone. Josie has a hard time concealing her embarrassment and Hyman, in a surprising turn of sensitivity, offers as consolation a story about a time when he was in bed with a lover in New York and his father called to remind him to water the plants.
Josie returns to New York and starts her job at the network. She is assigned to the traffic department, which she is to learn is not about actual traffic, where she will be an assistant. She is assigned to the overnight shift. She will work one to nine. She will pay her dues. Josie does not anticipate how this will actually affect her. Josie will come to understand and appreciate manic depression. Trying to sleep during daylight hours in a two-bedroom apartment with an unmedicated manic-depressive opera singer and her husband will give Josie a certain appreciation for the breaking down of normal mental functions. After five days of working the one-to-nine shift Josie will take short breaks to cry in the bathroom, after eight days of working the one-to-nine shift Josie will cry for a good portion of any time not spent sleeping, and after ten days of working the one-to-nine shift Josie will turn in her resignation with a plan to enroll in the International Bartenders School.
Josieâs mother says, Well, that was hasty. Because we were hoping youâd have found your own place by now. Look at your cute doggie socks! None of this is helped by Hymanâs presence in town for the debut of his piece at City Center. Josie welcomes the distraction in spite of his repeated requests for a fuck, which she obliges without ever voicing her objection to this particular use of the word. Josie tells her mother sheâs got a lot of job interviews and instead spends a lot of time with Hyman during the day. Hyman loves an afternoon fuck anyway and admonishes Josie for the deception but admits to getting an additional thrill from foiling the plans of anyoneâs mother. Josie and Hyman spend the afternoon of February the 14th at the Guggenheim Museum on which day the only mention made of St. Valentineâs Day is a sideways glance and a mumble of foolish American contrivance from Hyman to a woman blissfully carrying a bouquet of daisies in one hand, an adoring date in the other, and a satisfied look in her eye, a February 14 wherein they move up the Guggenheimâs spiral at a snailâs pace, Hyman lingering at each painting for what seems to Josie like an hour to describe juxtapositions of color and light and balance and whatever else endlessly to the point where Josie is forced, after only one rotation around the spiral, into blurting out, Do you like it? , which direct question neither gets answered nor makes what she thought was a fairly obvious point, which question results only in Hyman stroking Josieâs hair with deceptive affection, suggesting a more sophisticated haircut now that sheâs out of college and requesting an afternoon fuck, possibly somewhere in Central Park. Josie says, Maybe tomorrow . Josie is tired of the word fuck now. Josie returns home to a valentine from Hayes made from the Wall Street Journal and a lot of red glitter. Josie is no more interested in Hayes than she ever was, but she is a little less interested in Hyman.
Josie and Hyman meet at Cafe La Fortuna for cappuccino the following afternoon. Hyman wastes no time reaching under the table and in between Josieâs legs. Hyman , Josie says, pushing his hand away, not smiling, as Hyman is, I want to talk about where this is going . Hyman says, Okay well then letâs have a big discussion then, ha ha . Josie canât even begin to guess what is funny to Hyman in this moment but when he sees that Josie is not also laughing he mentions his SAT scores yet again in evidence of the fact that they are very different, that he is four years older than she is and therefore he will always be ahead of her and furthermore that she clearly has unresolved issues with her mother that she
Josie returns to New York and starts her job at the network. She is assigned to the traffic department, which she is to learn is not about actual traffic, where she will be an assistant. She is assigned to the overnight shift. She will work one to nine. She will pay her dues. Josie does not anticipate how this will actually affect her. Josie will come to understand and appreciate manic depression. Trying to sleep during daylight hours in a two-bedroom apartment with an unmedicated manic-depressive opera singer and her husband will give Josie a certain appreciation for the breaking down of normal mental functions. After five days of working the one-to-nine shift Josie will take short breaks to cry in the bathroom, after eight days of working the one-to-nine shift Josie will cry for a good portion of any time not spent sleeping, and after ten days of working the one-to-nine shift Josie will turn in her resignation with a plan to enroll in the International Bartenders School.
Josieâs mother says, Well, that was hasty. Because we were hoping youâd have found your own place by now. Look at your cute doggie socks! None of this is helped by Hymanâs presence in town for the debut of his piece at City Center. Josie welcomes the distraction in spite of his repeated requests for a fuck, which she obliges without ever voicing her objection to this particular use of the word. Josie tells her mother sheâs got a lot of job interviews and instead spends a lot of time with Hyman during the day. Hyman loves an afternoon fuck anyway and admonishes Josie for the deception but admits to getting an additional thrill from foiling the plans of anyoneâs mother. Josie and Hyman spend the afternoon of February the 14th at the Guggenheim Museum on which day the only mention made of St. Valentineâs Day is a sideways glance and a mumble of foolish American contrivance from Hyman to a woman blissfully carrying a bouquet of daisies in one hand, an adoring date in the other, and a satisfied look in her eye, a February 14 wherein they move up the Guggenheimâs spiral at a snailâs pace, Hyman lingering at each painting for what seems to Josie like an hour to describe juxtapositions of color and light and balance and whatever else endlessly to the point where Josie is forced, after only one rotation around the spiral, into blurting out, Do you like it? , which direct question neither gets answered nor makes what she thought was a fairly obvious point, which question results only in Hyman stroking Josieâs hair with deceptive affection, suggesting a more sophisticated haircut now that sheâs out of college and requesting an afternoon fuck, possibly somewhere in Central Park. Josie says, Maybe tomorrow . Josie is tired of the word fuck now. Josie returns home to a valentine from Hayes made from the Wall Street Journal and a lot of red glitter. Josie is no more interested in Hayes than she ever was, but she is a little less interested in Hyman.
Josie and Hyman meet at Cafe La Fortuna for cappuccino the following afternoon. Hyman wastes no time reaching under the table and in between Josieâs legs. Hyman , Josie says, pushing his hand away, not smiling, as Hyman is, I want to talk about where this is going . Hyman says, Okay well then letâs have a big discussion then, ha ha . Josie canât even begin to guess what is funny to Hyman in this moment but when he sees that Josie is not also laughing he mentions his SAT scores yet again in evidence of the fact that they are very different, that he is four years older than she is and therefore he will always be ahead of her and furthermore that she clearly has unresolved issues with her mother that she
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