The New Yorker Stories Part 36

"You're insane," Verna said, running toward the porch, cuc.u.mbers and lettuce spilling out of the basket.

Gerald was laughing loudly. Verna ran onto the porch, dropped the basket, and stomped into the kitchen. Henry considered going inside to find out if she still wanted him to love his brother. Gerald trained the hose on one chaise after another. Then he aimed it at the roses again, no longer laughing. His face had the rigidity of a soldier pointing a rifle. Henry watched until Gerald dropped the hose and headed for the spigot outside the porch to turn off the water.

"You're losing it, darling," Henry said.

Sally's daughter, Laurel, was too shy to stand up with the rest of the group for a birthday toast. She was half under the picnic table, petting a neighbor's cat.

"To me!" Carl said heartily, raising a thermos cap full of champagne.

Gerald had given him the thermos for his birthday. Carl was also wearing the swimming trunks, with knee-high black socks and black cordovans. "To the birthday boy at the end of his forty-ninth year, and"-he turned toward Sally-"to new friends." He raised the cup higher. "To the sailboat I'm buying," he said.

"What sailboat?" Verna said.

"A white one," he said.

"You're going to buy a sailboat sailboat?" Verna said.

"A white one," he said.

"Telephone!" Gerald said, running down the lawn toward the house.

"Why not a sailboat?" Carl said. "Business was very good this year, considering. No one asks me how business is. It's fine, thank you." He raised his cup. He had still not had a drink of champagne. Sally sipped her champagne. Henry's mug was empty. He walked over to the table, knocking the box top with the pieces of puzzle onto the lawn with his elbow as he took the bottle out of the cooler and poured. Champagne foamed out of his mug. He held it away from him, then licked his wrist.

"Excuse me," Sally whispered to Henry. "I'm going to the bathroom." She handed him her empty mug. Head down, she walked down the hill toward the house.

Carl, sitting on a chaise now, said, "I was really expecting a new sand wedge for my birthday."

Verna sat on the bench by the picnic table. "Perhaps when Gerald gets back we should have the cake," she said.

"I'll get the cake," Henry said, and walked toward the house. Laurel caught his eye and ran to his side when he opened the porch door. She was still holding the cat. It jumped out of her arms and ran under a bush. He wished she'd stayed with the others; he thought that Sally had gone to the bathroom because his family had made her uncomfortable, and he wanted to talk to her.

"Where's Mommy?" Laurel said.

"In the bathroom," he said, pointing.

"Anything. Anything, if only you'll have me back," Gerald was saying on the telephone. "Counseling-h.e.l.l, I'd have electroshock therapy. Anything. Anything. Anything."

Henry stood in the hallway, looking at his brother. Gerald looked at him and smiled. "Wrong number," he said, and hung up.

"Mommy, the cat likes it here," Laurel said, skipping to the bathroom door. "It didn't go home or anything."

The birthday cake was on the kitchen table, sitting on top of a paper doily on top of a footed cake stand-a tall chocolate cake, with "Happy Birthday" written in loopy white icing. A packet of candles and a book of matches lay beside it, ready for the occasion. Henry tapped out some candles and began to press the little wicks upright, stiffening them between his thumb and forefinger.

"Mommy, that cat has a real short tail," Laurel said.

The telephone rang, and Henry picked it up.

"Gerald?" a woman said.

"No. This is Henry."

"Henry-it's Cora. Is Gerald there?"

"Did you just call?" he said.

"Yes."

"I think he's had a few drinks. Maybe you ought to call back later."

"I should have known better. I'm at the emergency room, waiting to have a broken ankle set. I fell off a d.a.m.ned stone wall. I called to see if he had that card with the insurance-policy number on it."

"Do you want me to go get him?" Henry said.

"No," she said. "I just remembered that even on the rare occasions when I can communicate with him it's never worth the price." She hung up.

Laurel walked on her heels through the kitchen, calling over her shoulder, "Mommy said I could play with the cat." Henry heard the door slam. He continued to push wicks upright. Then he arranged the candles in two concentric circles. Sally had been in the bathroom too long. He went to the bathroom door.

"Sally," he said.

"What?" she said.

"After we have the cake, let's leave, O.K.?"

"This is the way families turn out," she said.

"No, it isn't," he said.

"Rick got remarried this week. To that woman with the kid that we ran into on Sixth Avenue. Laurel hates the kid. She's going to have to spend July with them."

He put his fingertips to the door. "It's only June," he said.

Sally laughed.

"Sally," he said.

"I don't know how to act around your parents," she said. "I'm not doing anything right."

"You do more things right than anybody I can think of," he said.

She sniffled. She had been crying. "What if I was really going to the bathroom? It would be embarra.s.sing, with you standing right up against the door."

"Nothing's changed between us," he said. "This is one day. My father's in a bad mood. My brother's nuts. I told you about my brother."

"I have to pee," she said. "Please get away from the door."

Laurel was sitting on a chair in the kitchen, facing the table and the cake. "I wish I could have that cat," she said.

Out the window Henry saw his father and brother wrestling. Verna was still on the bench, sipping champagne. The cat, standing by a tree, seemed to be watching what was going on. Henry saw Verna's face turn stony; she put her mug on the table and smacked her hands. The cat ran away, taking high leaps like a rabbit moving through tall gra.s.s. He picked up more candles and poked them into the inner circle of the cake.

"I'm not afraid of matches," Laurel said.

The birthday cake had gotten her attention. She swung her feet back and forth, eyes riveted on it. Her barrette had slipped; it was clamped below her ear, holding only a few strands of hair. Laurel picked up the book of matches. "Light one and give it to me," she said.

He struck a match and held it out to her. For a second, her fingers touched his. They were so thin that it didn't seem she could hold anything heavier than a match. He watched her, intent on seeing that she didn't burn her fingers-so intent that the whole ring was aflame and the match blown out before he realized the problem. The inner circle of candles was unlit, and now there was no way to light them. She knew it, too. "What should I do?" she said softly.

"Hurry up," he said, putting his hand on her back, tilting her forward. "Blow them out. Start again."

Laurel took a deep breath and blew out half the candles. She sucked in her breath and blew again. The others went out, and a little blue cloud rose above the cake. When the candles didn't flare up again-when he saw that this time they weren't those joke candles that somehow reignite themselves after a few seconds-he crouched and put his arm around Laurel. Outside, the light had almost disappeared. No one was coming toward the house yet, but things wouldn't stay the way they were much longer.

Heaven on a Summer Night

Will stood in the kitchen doorway. He seemed to Mrs. Camp to be a little tipsy. It was a hot night, but that alone wouldn't account for his shirt, which was not only rumpled but hanging outside his shorts. Pens, a pack of cigarettes, and what looked like the tip of a handkerchief protruded from the breast pocket. Will tapped his fingertips on the pens. Perhaps he was not tapping them nervously but touching them because they were there, the way Mrs. Camp's mother used to run her fingers over the rosary beads she always kept in her ap.r.o.n pocket. Will asked Mrs. Camp if she would cut the lemon pound cake she had baked for the morning. She thought that the best thing to do when a person had had too much to drink was to humor him, so she did. Everyone had little weaknesses, to be sure, but Will and his sister had grown up to be good people. She had known them since they were toddlers, back when she had first come to work for the Wildes here in Charlottesville. Will was her favorite, then and now, although Kate probably loved her more. Will was nineteen now, and Kate twenty. On the wall, above the sink, was a framed poem that Kate had written and ill.u.s.trated when she was in the fifth grade: Like is a cookieLove is a cakeLike is a puddleLove is a lake

Years later, Will told her that Kate hadn't made up the poem at all. It was something she had learned in school.

Mrs. Camp turned toward Will, who was sitting at the table. "When does school start?" she said.

"There's a fly!" he said, dropping the slice of cake back onto his plate.

"What?" Mrs. Camp said. She had been at the sink, rinsing gla.s.ses before loading them into the dishwasher. She left the water running. The steam rose and thinned out as it floated toward the ceiling. "It's a raisin," she said. "You got me all worried about a raisin."

He plucked some more raisins out of the pound cake and then took another bite.

"If you don't want to talk about school, that's one thing, but that doesn't mean you should holler out that there's a fly in the food," Mrs. Camp said.

A year ago, Will had almost flunked out of college, in his soph.o.m.ore year. His father had talked to the dean by long distance, and Will was allowed to continue. Now, in the summer, Mr. Wilde had hired Will a tutor in mathematics. Mornings and early afternoons, when Will was not being tutored or doing math problems, he painted houses with his friend Anthony Scoresso. Scoreboard and Will were going to drive to Martha's Vineyard to paint a house there at the end of August. The house was unoccupied, and although she was a little hesitant about doing such a thing, Mrs. Camp was going to accept Will's invitation to go with the boys and stay in the house for the week they were painting it. Scoreboard loved her cooking. She had never been to the Vineyard.

Now that they were older, Will and Kate included Mrs. Camp in many things. They had always told her everything. That was the difference between being who she was and being a parent-they knew that they could tell her anything. She never met one of their friends without hearing what Will or Kate called the Truth. That handsome blond boy, Neal, who told the long story about hitchhiking to the West Coast, Will told her later, was such a great storyteller because he was on speed. The girl called Natasha who got the grant to study in Italy had actually been married and and divorced when she was eighteen, and her parents never even knew it. Rita, whom Mrs. Camp had known since first grade, now slept with a man as old as her father, for money. It pleased Kate and Will when a worried look came over Mrs. Camp's face as she heard these stories. Years ago, when she told them once that she liked that old song by the Beatles, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," Will announced gleefully that the Beatles were singing about a drug. divorced when she was eighteen, and her parents never even knew it. Rita, whom Mrs. Camp had known since first grade, now slept with a man as old as her father, for money. It pleased Kate and Will when a worried look came over Mrs. Camp's face as she heard these stories. Years ago, when she told them once that she liked that old song by the Beatles, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," Will announced gleefully that the Beatles were singing about a drug.

Kate's car pulled into the driveway as Mrs. Camp was rinsing the last of the dishes. Kate drove a little white Toyota that made a gentle sound, like rain, as the tires rolled over the gravel. Will got up and pulled open the screen door for his sister on his way to the liquor cabinet. He poured some gin into a gla.s.s and walked to the refrigerator and added tonic water but no ice. In this sort of situation, Mrs. Camp's mother would have advised keeping quiet and saying a prayer. Mrs. Camp's husband-he was off on a fishing trip on the Chesapeake somewhere-would never advise her to pray, of course. Lately, if she asked him for advice about almost anything, his reply was "Get off my back." She noticed that Will noticed that she was looking at him. He grinned at her and put down his drink so that he could tuck in his shirt. As he raised the shirt, she had a glimpse of his long, tan back and thought of the times she had held him naked as a baby-all the times she had bathed him, all the hours she had held the hose on him in the backyard. Nowadays, he and Scoreboard sometimes stopped by the house at lunchtime. With their sun-browned bodies flecked with paint, they sat at the table on the porch in their skimpy shorts, waiting for her to bring them lunch. They hardly wore any more clothes than Will had worn as a baby.

Kate came into the kitchen and dropped her canvas tote bag on the counter. She had been away to see her boyfriend. Mrs. Camp knew that men were always going to fascinate Kate, the way her tropical fish had fascinated her many summers earlier. Mrs. Camp felt that most men moved in slow motion, and that that was what attracted women. It hypnotized them. This was not the way men at work were. On the job, construction workers sat up straight and drove tractors over piles of dirt and banged through potholes big enough to sink a bicycle, but at home, where the women she knew most often saw their men, they spent their time stretched out in big chairs, or standing by barbecue grills, languidly turning a hamburger as the meat charred.

Kate had circles under her eyes. Her long brown hair was pulled back into a bun at the nape of her neck. She had spent the weekend, as she had every weekend this summer, with her boyfriend, Frank Crane, at his condominium at Ocean City. He was studying for the bar exam. Mrs. Camp asked Kate how his studying was going, but Kate simply shook her head impatiently. Will, at the refrigerator, found a lime and held it up for them to see, very pleased. He cut off a side, squeezed lime juice into his drink, then put the lime back in the refrigerator, cut side down, on top of the b.u.t.ter-box lid. He hated to wrap anything in wax paper: Mrs. Camp knew that.

"Frank did the strangest thing last night," Kate said, sitting down and slipping her feet out of her sandals. "Maybe it wasn't strange. Maybe I shouldn't say."

"That'll be the day," Will said.

"What happened?" Mrs. Camp said. She thought that Frank was too moody and self-absorbed, and she thought that this was another story that was going to prove her right. Kate looked sulky-or maybe just more tired than Mrs. Camp had noticed at first. Mrs. Camp took a bottle of soda water out of the refrigerator and put it on the table, along with the lime and a knife. She put two gla.s.ses on the table and sat down across from Kate. "Perrier?" she said. Kate and Will liked her to call everything by its proper name, unless they had given it a nickname themselves. Secretly, she thought of it as bubble water.

"I was in his bedroom last night, reading, with the sheet pulled up," Kate said. "His bathroom is across the hall from the bedroom. He went to take a shower, and when he came out of the bathroom I turned back the sheet on his side of the bed. He just stood there, in the doorway. We'd had a kind of fight about that friend of his, Zack. The three of us had gone out to dinner that night, and Zack kept giving the waitress a hard time about nothing. Sa.s.sing a waitress because a dab of ice cream was on the saucer when she brought it. Frank knew I was disgusted. Before he took his shower, he went into a big thing about how I wasn't responsible for his friends' actions, and said that if Zack had acted as bad as I said he did he'd only embarra.s.sed himself."

"If Frank pa.s.ses the bar exam this time around, you won't have anything to worry about," Will said. "He'll act nice again."

Kate poured a gla.s.s of Perrier. "I haven't told the story yet," she said.

"Oh," Will said.

"I thought everything between us was fine. When he stopped in the doorway, I put the magazine down and smiled. Then he said, 'Kate-will you do something for me?' " Kate looked at Mrs. Camp, then dropped her eyes. "We were going to bed, you know," she said. "I thought things would be better after a while." Kate looked up. Mrs. Camp nodded and looked down. "Anyway," Kate went on, "he looked so serious. He said, 'Will you do something for me?' and I said, 'Sure. What?' and he said, 'I just don't know. Can you think of something to cheer me up?' "

Will was sipping his drink, and he spilled a little when he started laughing. Kate frowned.

"You take everything so seriously," Will said. "He was being funny."

"No, he wasn't," Kate said softly.

"What did you do?" Mrs. Camp said.

"He came over to the bed and sat down, finally. I knew he felt awful about something. I thought he'd tell me what was the matter. When he didn't say anything, I hugged him. Then I told him a story. I can't imagine what possessed me. I told him about Daddy teaching me to drive. How he was afraid to be in the pa.s.senger seat with me at the wheel, so he pretended I needed practice getting into the garage. Remember how he stood in the driveway and made me pull in and pull out and pull in again? I never had any trouble getting into the garage in the first place." She took another sip of Perrier. "I don't know what made me tell him that," she said.

"He was kidding. You said something funny, too, and that was that," Will said.

Kate got up and put her gla.s.s in the sink. It was clear, when she spoke again, that she was talking only to Mrs. Camp. "Then I rubbed his shoulders," she said. "Actually, I only rubbed them for a minute, and then I rubbed the top of his head. He likes to have his head rubbed, but he gets embarra.s.sed if I start out there."

Kate had gone upstairs to bed. Serpico Serpico was on television, and Mrs. Camp watched with Will for a while, then decided that it was time for her to go home. Here it was August 25th already, and if she started addressing Christmas cards tonight she would have a four-month jump on Christmas. She always bought cards the day after Christmas and put them away for the following year. was on television, and Mrs. Camp watched with Will for a while, then decided that it was time for her to go home. Here it was August 25th already, and if she started addressing Christmas cards tonight she would have a four-month jump on Christmas. She always bought cards the day after Christmas and put them away for the following year.

Mrs. Camp's car was a 1977 Volvo station wagon. Mr. and Mrs. Wilde had given it to her in May, for her birthday. She loved it. It was the newest car she had ever driven. It was dark, shiny green-a color only velvet could be, the color she imagined Robin Hood's jacket must have been. Mr. Wilde had told her that he was not leaving her anything when he died but that he wanted to be nice to her when he was above ground. A strange way to put it. Mrs. Wilde gave her a dozen pink Depression-gla.s.s wine goblets at the same time they gave her the car. There wasn't one nick in any of the rims; the gla.s.ses were all as smooth as sea-washed stones.

As she drove, Mrs. Camp wondered if Will had been serious when he said to Kate that Frank was joking. She was sure that Will slept with girls. (Will was not there to rephrase her thoughts. He always referred to young girls as women.) He must have understood that general anxiety or dread Frank had been feeling, and he must also have known that having s.e.x wouldn't diminish it. It was also possible that Will was only trying to appear uninterested because Kate's frank talk embarra.s.sed him. "Frank talk" was a pun. Those children had taught her so much. She still felt a little sorry that they had always had to go to stuffy schools that gave them too much homework. She even felt sorry that they had missed the best days of television by being born too late: no Omnibus, Omnibus, no no My Little Margie, My Little Margie, no no Our Miss Brooks Our Miss Brooks. The reruns of I Love Lucy I Love Lucy meant nothing to them. They thought Eddie Fisher's loud tenor voice was funny, and shook their heads in disbelief when Lawrence Welk, looking away from the camera, told folks how nice the song was that had just been sung. Will and Kate had always found so many things absurd and funny. As children, they were as united in their giggling as they were now in their harsh dismissals of people they didn't care for. But maybe this gave them an advantage over someone like her mother, who always held her tongue, because laughter allowed them to dismiss things; the things were forgotten by the time they ran out of breath. meant nothing to them. They thought Eddie Fisher's loud tenor voice was funny, and shook their heads in disbelief when Lawrence Welk, looking away from the camera, told folks how nice the song was that had just been sung. Will and Kate had always found so many things absurd and funny. As children, they were as united in their giggling as they were now in their harsh dismissals of people they didn't care for. But maybe this gave them an advantage over someone like her mother, who always held her tongue, because laughter allowed them to dismiss things; the things were forgotten by the time they ran out of breath.

In the living room, Mr. Camp was asleep in front of the television. Serpico Serpico was on. She didn't remember the movie exactly, but she would be surprised if Al Pacino ever got out of his dilemma. She dropped her handbag in a chair and looked at her husband. It was the first time she had seen him in almost two weeks. Since his brother retired from the government and moved to a house on the Chesapeake, Mr. Camp hardly came home at all. Tonight, many cigarettes had been stubbed out in the ashtray on the table beside his chair. He had on blue Bermuda shorts and a lighter blue knit shirt, white socks, and tennis shoes. His feet were splayed on the footstool. When they were young, he had told her that the world was theirs, and, considering the world her mother envisioned for her-the convent-he'd been right. He had taught her, all in one summer, how to drive, smoke, and have s.e.x. Later, he taught her how to crack crabs and how to dance a rumba. was on. She didn't remember the movie exactly, but she would be surprised if Al Pacino ever got out of his dilemma. She dropped her handbag in a chair and looked at her husband. It was the first time she had seen him in almost two weeks. Since his brother retired from the government and moved to a house on the Chesapeake, Mr. Camp hardly came home at all. Tonight, many cigarettes had been stubbed out in the ashtray on the table beside his chair. He had on blue Bermuda shorts and a lighter blue knit shirt, white socks, and tennis shoes. His feet were splayed on the footstool. When they were young, he had told her that the world was theirs, and, considering the world her mother envisioned for her-the convent-he'd been right. He had taught her, all in one summer, how to drive, smoke, and have s.e.x. Later, he taught her how to crack crabs and how to dance a rumba.

It was eight o'clock, and outside the light was as blue-gray as fish scales. She went into the kitchen, tiptoeing. She went to the refrigerator and opened the door to the freezer. She knew what she would find, and of course it was there: bluefish, foil-wrapped, neatly stacked to within an inch of the top of the freezer. He had made room for all of them by removing the spaghetti sauce. She closed the door and pulled open the refrigerator door. There were the two containers. The next night, she would make up a big batch of spaghetti. The night after that, they would start eating the fish he'd caught. She opened the freezer door and looked again. The shining rectangles rose up like steep silver steps. The white air blowing off the ice, surrounding them and drifting out, made her squint. It might have been clouds, billowing through heaven. If she could shrink to a fraction of her size, she could walk into the cold, close the door, and start to climb.

She was tired. It was as simple as that. This life she loved so much had been lived, all along, with the greatest effort. She closed the door again. To hold herself still, she held her breath.

Times

It was almost Christmas, and Cammy and Peter were visiting her parents in Cambridge. Late in the afternoon on the second day of their visit, Cammy followed Peter upstairs when he went to take a shower. She wanted a break from trying to make conversation with her mother and father.

"Why is it that I always feel guilty when we're not at my parents' house at Christmas?" he said.

"Call them," she said.

"That makes me feel worse," he said.

He was looking in the mirror and rubbing his chin, though he had shaved just a few hours ago. Every afternoon, she knew, he felt for a trace of beard but didn't shave again if he found it. "They probably don't even notice we're not there," he said. "Who'd have time, with my sister and her au pair au pair and her three kids and her cat and her dog and her rabbit." and her three kids and her cat and her dog and her rabbit."