“It’s all right. They didn’t take anything.”

He started the car and turned it around and pulled onto the narrow street. The boys were standing on the far sidewalk. As the car came by, the one Colin had manhandled stepped off the curb between parked cars, and spat. Colin threw up his arm and jammed on the brake. It happened so quickly that Norma was thrown toward the dash. The boys were running the other way. Colin took her arm and pulled her back in the seat.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes,” she said. “What did they do—oh! Those little pigs!”

He wiped the side of his face with his handkerchief. He put up his elbow to keep her away from him. He rubbed his face hard so that his skin reddened from the pressure. “Did I get it all?”

“Yes. Oh, I’m sorry, honey. I’m so sorry.”

“Forget it.” He started forward, still holding the handkerchief. He threw it over the side of the door. After a block he turned on the radio, then snapped it off again. She sat quietly. When they got out of the neighborhood she reached for his hand.

“Don’t touch me,” he said. “Wait until I wash.”

She looked up from the table to Leland. “After a while we stopped and I waited in the car while he went into a cocktail lounge and washed. When he came out he said, ‘I still feel crummy. I can smell him.’ We sat through the movie, but he was uncomfortable. He couldn’t sit still. When we got home he showered and shaved. The shave was unnecessary. I sat on the toilet seat, watching him. He kept staring at his face, in the mirror. ‘Ah, Christ,’ he said. ‘For Christ’s sake.’ I made him come to bed. Funny, but my memory of this tried to twist itself around. I wanted to think he was tired and just a little depressed. Your wife has tried to make you forget something by doing something special, hasn’t she?”

“Sure. If I’m not too tired, I usually take over.”

“Yes, yes, that’s it. That’s what I mean, and that’s what happened. He took his time. Who says, ‘I like a man who takes his time’?”

“Mae West. She’s one of Karen’s favorites. When she wants to, Karen can do a pretty fair imitation of her.”

She thought about that. “Colin said that it was no great trick to make love three times in an hour if you’re in good health and you’ve had a day or two off, but it was something if you could make one—the first one—last for an hour.”

“I couldn’t do it. I don’t mind telling you, either.”