CHAPTER 17

“Doug Martin called again," Erika said. She put the last plate in the cupboard and hung up the dish-towel, not looking at Kate.

"What did he want this time?"

"Same thing he wanted last time. You."

Kate pulled the kitchen stool out from under the shelf and sat down, hooking her feet over the top rung. "Erika, you're imagining things."

"Not at all. Do you think nobody ever looked at me that way? I know what it means."

"To hell with him. I wish he'd let us alone."

"We can't shut ourselves away from people." Erika's face tried to smile, but failed. "Doug's all right. Would it kill you to go out with him one time?"

"It's such a waste of time."

"So are student recitals. So are examinations. Nobody has ever found a way to live without wasting time."

"I see enough people at work. I won't have any man coming between you and me."

"The worst that would happen would be not much, I think. He isn't a caveman type."

"I don't want him to like me."

"He likes you the way men like women. Can't you see this is natural for most people? It might even be good for you. You ought to have more contact with other people."

"I suppose so," Kate said, "if you're thinking about what other people think. I know as well as you what that Osgood son of a bitch told Mrs. Brownlee. I'm not stupid."

"I'm sorry."

"Well, it's not your fault. It's the way society's organized."

"In a way it's my fault," Erika said. "What you had before didn't count. I got you into this."

"I'm glad you did."

"Don't go with him, then. It doesn't concern me, it's for you to decide."

Kate unfolded and stood up. "All right," she said grudgingly. "I’ll go if you think I should. He better not get fresh, though."

No question about it, Doug Martin was becoming a problem. He had helped them settle into the new apartment, had brought Erika a good six dollar desk from the Catholic Salvage and talked a friend into helping them carry it upstairs, take it apart and reassemble it on the other side of the door. Kate hadn't been home. She had called from the neighborhood movie house and, hearing they were there, had seen the entire bill a second time, getting home red-eyed and resentful at midnight. "A fine thing. I can't even get my sleep because those idiots don't know enough to go home."

"Doug likes you."

"Tell him I'm drunk. That'll do it."

Privately, Erika doubted it. But she did suggest, when Doug dropped in again, that Kate had a liquor problem. "For God's sake don't ever bring us anything to drink." But it didn't seem to alienate him. She told Kate later, "He's the kind of man who likes to take care of people. The kind who marries a girl that's plain or handicapped or something. Now he feels protective to you.”