I started out of the room. This cigarette thing has gotten hold of me; sometimes I just have to have one.
“Clinton.” Soft voice again. “Clinton, listen a minute. Families must not quarrel among themselves. I was wrong about your pulling the blankets out. That was just nervousness on my part. I happen to be more comfortable with my feet safe, but it’s individual preference. Now will you sit down here for a minute. I want to ask you something, just two friends, no umbilical cords. Ooh! What a disgusting word!” I sat down at the table. “Clinton, do you honestly think all I care about is Mother’s Day presents?” She laughed. “Oh golly, how little we understand each other. But listen, little baby, we have love, don’t we? And that surpasseth all. Now tell me what you did all those days?”
I considered telling her.
“Fifty-seven days, Clinton. And it’s not just a matter of playing a little hookey, you didn’t even go to register. Did you?”
“No.”
“In other words, you have never once set foot inside of John J. Pershing High School?”
“No.”
“Where did you get those books you carry?”
“They’re last year’s.”
She did various things with her face, lip-biting, eye work, etc. Then she said, “If you prefer the Old Neighborhood so much, would you like to commute every day and take up again at Central? You can get student fares on the streetcar, and I’ll pack your lunch.”
“They won’t let you. You have to live in a certain district.”
“You mean you’ve tried?”
“Yeah. And then I got to hanging around over there and pretty soon a lot of time had passed and . . .”
“Fifty-seven days?”
“No, I stopped going over there about a month ago.”
“And are you going to tell me you’ve spent the last four weeks sitting in the Aloha Sweet Shop on Mound Road?”
“More or less.”
“But, Clinton, doing what? It doesn’t make sense!”
I thought for a minute, then I decided to blurt it out.
“I’ve done about twenty-five more notebooks.”
Her mouth fell open, then she leaned back, closed her eyes, and as her breath came out, she sort of intoned it. Gradually she pulled herself together again and sat forward, touching my wrist with her fingertips. “Thank you for telling me the truth. We won’t talk any more just now, but thank you.”
I started into the bedroom with my coffee.
“Clinton?” I stopped walking. She talked to my back. “Are you going in there now and shut your door?” I nodded. “I see. And get everything all caught up to date? Is that it?”
I said, “Can I go now?”
“Yes. And make sure you don’t leave anything out.”
I don’t think I have. There was some more about the blankets, but it was repetitious.
Later there were a couple of telephone calls, too. The first one from the Gas Company. Talk not very interesting. Annabel had sent Water Board check to Gas Company and vice versa.