All these considerations were soon interrupted by a procession on the stairs. Clinton was able to distinguish one of Annabel’s sentences: “You’ll sleep in Berry-berry’s room, it’s much comfier than the guest room and has the best mirror in the house”; and he heard clearly a protest of Ralph’s concerning the luggage: “What, heavy? These? Christ, no! What you got in them, cotton candy?” And as the noisy parade drew nearer, Clinton was able to discern a new voice as it spoke a sentence he would remember all of his life:

“Clinton’s the one I want to meet. Where’s Clint? He’s my guy.”

It is worth dwelling for a moment on the voice of Echo O’Brien. It was akin to her eyes. It might even be said that there was a twinship in the sound and in the look of her: one evoked a sense of the other. Her bigness of eye could be heard in the depth of her voice, a full octave lower than the average range of a woman; and the color was there, too, if you thought about it, a blue-green coolness, slightly rough, and infinitely lonesome.

Now she appeared at the door of Clinton’s room, flanked by Ralph and Annabel. Indeed she had won his parents so completely that they now seemed like trophies that decorated her arms. Leaving them behind for a moment, she came toward Clinton and leaned with both hands on the iron railing at the foot of his bed.

“Hi, Clint,” she said. “I’m the old maid from Toledo.”

And from that moment, Clinton Williams was in love with Echo O’Brien,

[Clinton’s Notebook]

July 3.
ECHO O’BRIEN FROM UP CLOSE.

Dark circles underneath her eyes make them look bigger. Also a considerable amount of paint. Her mouth is a good size to begin with, but she adds on a little the way women do with lipstick. Usually I’m not too crazy about this stunt, as it’s easy as hell to spot, but on Echo it’s quite fabulous as a matter of fact. Also her teeth stick out a tiny bit even when her mouth is shut. Actually she’s got all kinds of these really sensational flaws that nobody in their right mind would change even a speck. Her hair is short and dark brown, very straight and it glows and comes to a point over each ear, so that you can’t see anything of these ears except the very bottom of them. From the side, I’d say roughly her head looks like the top of a question mark, with the earring making the little dot at the bottom. All her eyebrows are plucked away and she’s got these long straight lines drawn on instead. Plus she seems to have a damn good figure, the kind you keep on thinking about after she’s left the room. Naturally, chances are she’s got falsies on, but even so they don’t look completely impossible.

She came upstairs alone just especially to talk me into eating dinner at the table. No doubt it was a put-up job, but Echo made it like I’d be doing her a big personal favor, so finally I broke down and thought to hell with it, I been sick long enough anyway.