Appointment in Samarra - John O'Hara [68]
Your wife took it upstairs with her. She wanted to read it.
How do you know? Maybe she wanted to build a fire with it, he said, on his way out. There ain t no fireplace upstairs, smartie.
He had to laugh. He had to laugh, and pour himself a drink, and he was putting the top back on the bottle, which had a little chain holding a plate marked Scotch around the neck, when she brought in the large breakfast tray. He wanted to help her with it, but he would be damned if he would. Maybe she s asleep now and I can get the paper, said Mrs. Grady. No, thanks, don t bother, said Julian. He had a suspicion that Caroline not only was not asleep, but had heard every move he made from the time he got up. She was sleeping in the guest room again. Will you be coming home for lunch?
No, said Julian, although he had not given it any thought. Well, then, about the stuff for the party tonight.
Oh, God. I forgot about it, said Julian. Well, Mrs. English says to tell you to leave a check for the liquor and champagne wine. It s to be delivered this afternoon
How much, did she say?
She said to make it out to cash and she d fill in the amount when Grecco brings it. Grecco. She would bring that up. And it was strange that Caroline wanted him to make out the check. She had her own money; right now she had more than he had. She had her own money, and always when they gave parties she would pay for the liquor when it was delivered, if she happened to be home, and they would settle it up later. On a party like this, which was as much hers as his, he would buy the liquor and she would pay for everything else. He wished there was going to be no party. He finished his breakfast and drove downtown to the John Gibb Hotel, where every morning he stopped to have his shoes shined. John, the Negro who had the shine concession, was not there. He ain t been in this morning yet, said one of the barbers. I guess he had too much Christmas cheer, like a lot of us. Julian watched the man carefully, but he did not seem to mean anything by the remark; and Julian reflected that his conduct the night before was not something that would be talked about in barber shops. Friends meant something, and they did not talk about that sort of thing in barber shops. Still, on his way out to the car he remembered that last night was only the second of two big nights for him, and it was extremely likely that barbers and everyone else had heard about his performance with Harry Reilly. Good God, he said, remembering. This morning he had forgot all about Harry Reilly. He changed his mind about driving out to the garage right away. Harry Reilly had an office in the bank building and he decided to call on Harry there. It was two blocks from the hotel, and he might get a ticket for parking, but if he couldn’t get the ticket fixed, it was worth the two-dollar fine to have things straightened out with Harry. Some places the sidewalk was all clean, some places there was only a narrow path cleared away, and the snow got down in his shoes when he stepped out of the way for women. Another minor annoyance. In front of J. J. Gray s jewelry store he met Irma Fliegler. Hello, Julian, she said. Hello, Irma, he said, and stopped. She was wearing a raccoon coat and she had some packages under her arm. It was still so cold that from a short distance away women did not seem to have any distinctive features, but close up she became Irma Doane, or at least Irma Fliegler, again; still pretty, a bit on the stout side, but stout in a way that did not make her unattractive. You knew that she was not going to get stouter, or definitely fat. She had very pretty legs and hands. You remembered how pretty her hands were when you saw them with gloves on. Well, you certainly were a fine example of the young mother last night, said Julian. He knew it was the wrong thing to say, but some mention had to be made of last night. Better to make some mention of it than to be self-conscious about not bringing it up.