After Phyllis left, Marie threw out the invoice and started doing the dishes. She felt a little better now, she even felt a little sympathetic to Tommy. After all, they hadn't screwed in six months—can't expect a man like Tommy not to get restless. It hadn't always been like that, especially in the beginning. That first time in Tommy's parents' house—bled like a gusher. Tommy cried when he came, in the beginning he always cried when he came. The white sheets—when they'd finished Tommy saw the bloodstains and said, "Hey! It's a Jap flag!" He scrubbed like crazy at the stain, throwing out the sheets, throwing out the mattress, throwing out the box spring, scrubbing the floor. We had a fire, Dad. I think Louie dropped a live butt on the bed. I took care of it. Chubby got grounded for two weeks, wouldn't talk to Tommy for a month. Until the wedding. Gave us rubber sheets and a fireman's hat for a present. Elsie gave us a toaster. Mama gave us a thousand dollars and great-grandma's dinner linens. Lefty and Sy and Frankie Finnegan chipped in for a movie projector. Gabby and Blossom got us that phonograph. Chubby talking about this skinny Jewish girl he met named Phyllis. Tommy's father kissing Tommy. Chubby crying. Tommy's father dancing with Mama. Tommy's mother puking on the dais. Theresa Finnelli had a crush. Caught the flowers. Married a lawyer. Bought a house on Pelham Parkway and changed her name to Inez. Niagara Falls. From the rear. Too scared. Never again. First anniversary. Too drunk. Too dry. No Vaseline. Tommy wanted to use toothpaste. This way I can eat you out and brush my teeth at the same time. Slap. He slapped back, walking out. A terrific cry. Lonely. Called Mama. So sad. Mama said... what did she say? Tommy came back two hours later with flowers. Corny. Put toothpaste in his eggs. His balls so big they would spill out of my palm. Like to hold them when he...

Marie realized that she was washing dishes she had just washed a minute before, taking them out of the drainboard and then putting them back.

***

Stony ambled into Butler's store, his hands behind his back. Behind the counter Butler looked up, then returned his attention to an order form from a hosiery jobber. Stony watched him in silence. Butler couldn't concentrate, but he refused to look at Stony. Stony produced a champagne bottle from behind his back, and smacked it down on the order form.

"Here, yah dumb fuck. If you're gonna bury yourself in here, at least do it in style."

Butler glanced at the bottle, smirked, then reached over the counter and hugged Stony. "Asshole." Butler lightly patted his back.

Stony disengaged himself. "You got glasses?"

"I got some paper cups in back." Butler moved to the rear.

"Class, real class. I bring in champagne an' he comes up with the sanitary Lilys."

"Whatta you bitchin' about? That's a three-dollar bottle a Cold Duck."