Appointment in Samarra - John O'Hara [58]
Oh, swell. I saw him kind of jump there for a minute.
He jumped all right, said Frannie. She sipped her drink and she was looking around the room, over the rim of the glass. Say, look, she said. Isn’t that your boss there, just coming in?
My God! Yes, said Lute. Oh, and has he a nice package?
I ll say. That s his wife with him, isn’t it?
That s her, all right, said Lute. That s funny. They were supposed to go to the dance at the country club tonight. I know that for sure.
Oh, that s nothing, said Frannie. They often come here when they get tired of the club dances. I often hear them talking when I go to have my hair waved. They often leave the country club dances.
He s nice and drunk, all right, said Lute. He doesn’t look so drunk, said Frannie. I ve seen a lot worse.
Yes, but that boy can drink. When he s that way you can tell he had plenty. He can drink all night without showing it. When he shows it, boy, you can be pretty sure he has damn near a quart under his belt.
That s Carter Davis with him, said Frannie. I know. Carter Davis, and I can t see who the girl is.
I can t either, but wait a minute. Oh, it s Kitty Hofman. Yeah. Kitty Hofman, and there comes Whitney Hofman. I guess he was parking the car.
Yeah. I guess he was parking the car. I wonder if English drove, said Lute. Oh, I don t imagine so, said Frannie. not if Whitney Hofman had to park the car.
You can t be so sure about that. English gets that way sometimes. He can always drive when he s stinko, but a big thing like parking the car no, sir. That s asking too much.
Well, they got a good table, said Frannie. Look at that old Frenchman, What s His Name, moving that Taqua crowd around to make room for English.
To make room for Hofman, you mean, said Lute. Oh, of course. I didn’t think of that. I like that Whitney Hofman. He s so democratic.
Well, I guess if I had fourteen million bucks I imagine I d be democratic, too. He can afford it, said Lute. What are you talking about, Lute? said Frannie. They re the ones that you never see democratic, those with the money.
No, you’re wrong there. The ones with the dough, the big dough, they re always democratic, said Lute. Oh, you have everything upside down, said Frannie. The ones that have a lot of money, they re the ones you always think of as being the high-hat ones.
Not me, Frannie. I always think of the ones that really have more money than I d know what to do with, I think of them as the democratic ones. If you don t have money you’re not democratic. You don t have to be democratic. You just act natural and nobody ever thinks of it as democratic or anything else. It s like a story I heard about Jim Corbett.
Jim Corbett? Is he the one that s staying at the Y.M.C.A.? The electric engineer?
Hell, no. His name is Corbin. No, Jim Corbett was the fighter, heavyweight champion. They used to call him Gentleman Jim.
Oh, Gentleman Jim. Oh, I heard of him. I always thought he was some kind of a crook. I heard of him all right. What s the story?
Well, when he was here two years ago
Was he here? In Gibbsville? I never knew that, said Frannie. Yes, he was here for a banquet. Anyhow, one of the reporters got to talking to him about his title of Gentleman Jim, and he told the story about how he was in the subway in New York or something and somebody started pushing him around no, that s the one about Benny Leonard. Wait a minute. Oh, yes. This is it. Somebody was asking him why he was always so polite to everybody. He is the politest man in the world, I guess, and he said, Well, when you ve been heavyweight champion of the world, gentlemen, you can afford to be polite.
What did he mean by that? said Frannie. What! said Lute. Let it go, Frannie. It isn’t that important.
Well, I just don t see what that has to do with Whitney Hofman