“Open another charge account. Tell him you’re Springer Motors and offer a Toyota for security.”

“Harry, you mustn’t be so hostile. You sent me off myself. You said, that night, I’ll never forget it, it was the shock of my life, ‘See him if you want to, just so I don’t have to see the bastard.’ Those were your words.”

“Hey, that reminds me, I did see him the other day.”

“Who?”

“Chas. Your dark and swarthy lover.”

“How?”

“He ambushed me after work. Waiting in the alley with a dagger. Oog, I said, you got me, you Commie rat.”

“What did he want?”

“Oh, to talk about you.”

“What about me? Harry, are you lying, I can’t tell any more. What about me?”

“Whether or not you were happy.”

She makes no comeback, so he goes on, “We concluded you were.”

“Right,” Janice says, and hangs up.

the days before the Bessemer furnace.

Old faded photographs of Weiser Street show a prosperous-appearing avenue of tasteful, low brick buildings with horsedrawn trolly tracks promi-with horse-drawn trolly traks prami-with horsed-rawn trolleyyyfff etaoin etaoinshrdlu etaoinshrdlucmfwpvbgkqjet

He asks her, “What did you and the kid do today?”

“Oh, nothing much. Hung around the house in the morning, took a drive in the afternoon.”

“Where to?”

“Up to Mt. Judge.”

“The town?”

“The mountain. We had a Coke in the Pinnacle Hotel and watched a softball game in the park for a while.”

“Tell me the truth. Do you have the kid smoking pot?”

“Whatever gave you that idea?”

“He’s awfully fascinated with you, and I figure it’s either pot or sex.”

“Or the car. Or the fact that I treat him like a human being instead of a failed little athlete because he’s not six feet six. Nelson is a very intelligent sensitive child who is very upset by his mother leaving.”

“I know he’s intelligent, thanks, I’ve known the kid for years.”

“Harry, do you want me to leave, is that it? I will if that’s what you want. I could go back to Babe except she’s having a rough time.”

“What kind of rough time?”

“She’s been busted for possession. The pigs came into the Jimbo the other night and took about ten away, including her and Skeeter. She says they asked for a bigger payoff and the owner balked. The owner is white, by the way.”

“So you’re still in touch with that crowd.”

“You don’t want me to be?”

“Suit yourself. It’s your life to fuck up.”

“Somebody’s been bugging you, haven’t they?”

“Several people.”

“Do whatever you want to with me, Harry. I can’t be anything in your real life.”

She is standing before him in the living room, in her cutoff jeans and peasant blouse, her hands held at her sides slightly lifted and open, like a servant waiting for a tray. Her fingers are red from washing his dishes. Moved to gallantry, he confesses, “I need your sweet mouth and your pearly ass.”

“I think they’re beginning to bore you.”