He turned away and walked across the yellow linoleum to the kitchen door and looked out at the bare yard. Animation pumped into him and on the wave of it he saw that he must never lose Gert. Whatever her faults she was necessary to him; he would need another woman if she ever left him. The cleanliness of the sky and the stripped branches of the tree brought him to a sense of opportunity, as though from this barrenness a purer life could start, all undefield by what had gone before. Tonight he would begin. Make her forget the whole nightmare, he thought, just enjoy what they had so much of. And there would be peace. If only you wanted peace enough, he felt, you could get it.

Turning from the door as she came down the stairs he felt the privacy of winter around him very powerfully, and it shut out the world beyond the tightly closed windows. He walked into the parlor to meet her, the old faint longing for happiness stirring in his smile.

Fur around her face this way softened her expression. As they walked he leaned his head over and brushed against her fox collar. She glanced at him, surprised, and allowed herself to smile.

He laughed.

The moon was down behind the houses somewhere. He looked and could not find it. ‘Look at the stars, Gert,’ he said.

She looked up. ‘Nice,’ she said.

He held her arm against his side. ‘Are you cold?’

‘No, it’s nice out. We’ll go to the Beverly, heh?’ she asked.

‘Fine. It’s closer any way. What’s playing?

‘I don’t know, but I’m sick of musicals. They’re all the same. The Beverly’s got that new boy … what’s his .name?’

They had passed Finkelstein’s store and she had not stiffened. The store looked nice and warm. Through the door window he could see Finkelstein sitting there with his daughter, who was reading a comic magazine.

They turned the corner onto the wide, tree-lined parkway, which in this section was residential with many barren lots separating the houses. After a few blocks in the direction they were going it became a business street with two movie houses several blocks apart. He liked knowing that Finkelstein stayed open till late, thought of it for a moment.

‘I know the one you mean but I can never remember actors’ names,’ he said to her.

She talked about the new star with enthusiasm. His comparative lack of glamor appealed to her. ‘He’s like a person, somebody you could meet,’ she said.

They had gone a block and could now make out the lights of the stores six blocks ahead. The movie marquee which they still could not read sent up a snowy glow against the night sky. Gradually his attention fixed on a dark, broad tree trunk on the next corner. But it was out of line with the other trees … Now it moved, became the silhouettes of several men standing in a group talking. Or were they boys?