The Brass Bed
- Автор: Флора Флетчер
- Год: 1956
- Язык: английский
- Год: Lion Books
- Жанр: Романы для взрослых
Электронная книга - «The Brass Bed». Краткое содержание книги:
...and the root of it all lay hidden in the secret of THE BRASS BED.
“What am I supposed to do in your opinion?”
“Felix, I am positive that you are not so stupid as to need to ask that question seriously, and I consider it further evidence of your determination to be sly and unreasonable. It is clearly apparent that Jolly is not only end-over-elbows in love with you but also quite eager, now that the way is clear, to have you start doing something about it. The trouble is, you have done absolutely nothing and do not show any signs of beginning.”
“Even if I were inclined, it’s a little early, isn’t it? Unless they’ve pushed things pretty fast, Kirby hasn’t even been put away yet.”
“That’s very interesting, Felix. To hear you say that, I mean. It reveals a great deal about your character and explains why it is so seldom that you ever get anywhere with anything.”
“All right. I’m weak.”
“I’m sorry to say it, Felix, but that’s what you are, at least in this matter, and I would never have suspected it up to this time. On the other hand, Sid, of whom no one ever expected anything but foolishness, is behaving with a decision that is admirable, I have to admit, even though he is making a damn fool of himself in the process.”
“In what way is Sid behaving with decision?”
“Don’t you even suspect? Not at all? Well, it’s a fact that he has been silly about Jolly forever and is now making quite a bit of hay with her while you are procrastinating and doing little or nothing.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“Nevertheless it is true. I am certain that he has been to bed with her at least once, and what bothers me about it is that Jolly does not love him and will only permit it a few times at most out of kindness and gratitude for Sid’s being so faithful and devoted and all.”
“Are you serious?”
“Of course I’m serious, Felix,” she said sharply. “Do you think I am talking only to hear my head rattle?”
“That’s carrying kindness rather far, even for Jolly, don’t you think?” I asked her.
“No. Not for Jolly. Jolly is definitely one of the kindest persons I have ever known, and most people would not believe how kind she can be.”
“How do you know all this?”
“Well, I called Sid very late the other night, which is something I often do because I am always worrying about him and looking after him, and he wasn’t at home, so I then called Jolly, and he was there. I talked to him and gave him hell for being out so late without letting me know where he was going and all, and the significant thing is that he was in his pajamas at that very time.”
“In his pajamas? How could you tell by talking to him on the telephone?”
“That’s very simple. There is always something in a person’s voice on the telephone that tells you whether or not he is in his pajamas, and I have found this to be infallible.”
“Oh, for God’s sake!” I banged down the schooner on the table.
“You may scoff if you like, Felix, but it’s true just the same, and out of consideration for your feelings I will not tell you what I learned from Jolly’s voice as to what she was or was not wearing.”
“Thank you for sparing me.” I tried to sound indignant.
“Well, the point is, as I said, it is only kindness on Jolly’s part, but Sid is a greedy little devil and will not be happy with a temporary thing, and it breaks my heart to think how miserable he will be when Jolly decides that he has been sufficiently humored, and he might even do something desperate, for he is far more sensitive than many people think. I am convinced, however, that he will suffer less if it is over sooner rather than later, and it is for this reason that I wish you would quit procrastinating and start making hay with Jolly yourself. You are the one she loves, and she is only being kind to Sid while she is waiting for you to do something.”
“With me it would be more than kindness. Is that what you think?”
“That goes without saying, Felix. Surely you understand that.”
“No, I don’t. I don’t understand anything or anyone. I don’t understand Jolly or you or Sid or even myself, and the only thing I do understand vaguely is that we are surely all crazy.”
“Nothing of the sort, Felix.” She shook her head, looking at me across the popcorn. “Jolly has told me that you don’t think at all clearly, and I must agree with her. As I see it, this is a very simple problem that can be solved very simply by your doing something instead of nothing.”
Not long ago I had stood on the gravel bar at the river and laughed because I couldn’t help it, and now I felt the same way and wanted to laugh the same way, but I prevented it by taking three grains of popcorn and chewing them slowly and swallowing.
“I’m sorry,” I said, “but I don’t feel that I can do as you ask.”
“Why not, Felix? It’s for your own good as well as Sid’s.”
“Is it? Anyhow, I can’t do it.”
“Very well. I can see that it’s no use insisting, and I won’t.” She looked into her schooner and saw that it was empty. “Will you have some more beer to go with the popcorn?”
“No, thank you.”
“The beer and the popcorn are both quite good, but they are even better together. Don’t you agree?”
“I agree, but I don’t feel like having any more.”
“In that case, it isn’t necessary for you to remain unless you want to. I have given up getting you to cooperate and now have nothing more to say.”
“Are you angry with me?”
“No. I was angry in the beginning, but now I’m not. I have merely given up.”
“Would you like me to take you somewhere?” I inquired tentatively.
“I think not. I intend to stay here until I’m sure Jolly is home from the funeral, and then I intend to go to her place in a taxi.”
“Perhaps I’ll see you later,” I said.
“Possibly,” she said. “It’s not at all unlikely.”
I left her. But I was going to see her again....
12
The second week of August, which was the last week of the summer session at the college, was much cooler than is usual in August, and there was rain every day for five days. The mornings broke clear, but always before noon the thunderheads would boil up over the edge of the sky and come scudding across before a wind, and it would rain very hard. The gutters of the streets ran full, and after the rain was over, and sometimes before it was over, the kids in the block would be out racing stick boats on the swift water, and it was pretty good to sit in the window with the cool, rain-washed air coming in and watch them and listen to them and remember how it was when I was a kid myself.
Monday evening of that week Jolly called, and I hung up quietly as soon as I heard her voice, and Tuesday evening she called again, and I hung up again, and Wednesday evening she didn’t call. I sat at the window and watched the kids racing stick boats in the gutter and waited for the telephone to ring, but it didn’t. It seemed to me then that it was surely over between us, and I was very glad that the summer session was practically over too, and in a few days I would get out of town, and after a while, with the passing of a little time, life would perhaps be sensible and acceptable and all right again.
This feeling was abortive, however, because she called again Thursday evening, and the first thing she said after I’d said hello was, “Please don’t hang up, Felix,” and I was weak and didn’t. This weakness was not admirable, which I admit, but perhaps it was excusable by reasonable standards of behavior, because it is a rare man, I believe, who can be strong two times in succession without taking the third time out for a rest.
“All right,” I said.
“Are you willing to talk with me?” she said.
“Willing is not quite the word. Let’s say that I’m prepared.”