Appointment in Samarra - John O'Hara [92]
Mrs. English would be able to tell you better. I think you ought to ask her, because it s really her party. I d rather not talk to the press, because after all it is her party.
Oh, I see, said Miss Cartwright. Oh, don t hang it up. Just put it on the chair or some place. This is awfully strong. I m not used to drinking. I don t suppose I average more than a drink a week, all year round.
I ll give you some more ginger ale.
This is an awfully attractive house. Did Mrs. English do it herself?
Yes.
She has terribly good taste. Oh! Foujita! I love Foujita! Is it a real Foujita or a copy? I mean
It s a print. You look quite different without glasses.
I have to wear them when I m driving or walking. I couldn’t get a license unless I wore them and if I drive without them I m liable to be fined or have my license taken away. Why don t you try a Spud?
No, thanks. I can t get used to them.
That s what I thought, but I did finally, and now I can t smoke any other kind. I hope I m not keeping you from anything, Mr. English.
Far from it. I m glad you came.
I shouldn t have come, but I did want to get the list of guests right. People are so touchy. Not that Mrs. English is. She s very considerate, and believe me, that s a lot. But I ve made some mistakes lately about who was at whose party and so on, and some of the Gibbsville matrons have raised the devil down at the office. So I only have this list we printed in Gwen Gibbs a month ago and I wanted to be sure if there were any changes. Additions and so on, to the original list.
It s a tough job, isn’t it?
Oh, is it ever tough? It isn’t really, most of the time, but once in a while we have a sort of wave of indignation or something. Women call up and just raise the devil because names were left out or parties weren t given the prominence they thought they ought to have. And of course I always get it in the end, they pass the buck to me. Some people named Bromberg, Jews, they almost got me fired last week. They took out their ad and everything, just because I didn’t use a story they sent in about some imported English perambulator they bought for their baby. You should have seen the story! I couldn’t possibly use it or the paper would have been a joke, but did they back me up? They did not. I finally had to run a half a stick about it, but I killed the gushy part, and so the Brombergs put their ad in again and I have to lick everybody s boots and kowtow to everybody that appears on the society page. Not Mrs. English, but I can t say as much for some of your friends. Well, thanks very much for the drink and I m sorry you’re not having the party. It s very nice to have met you. I often see you driving those beautiful Cadillacs around town. When we first came to Gibbsville I used to wonder who you were. & My goodness, what made me say that?
Have another drink before you go. Stay and tell me more.
Oh, yes. Oh, my yes. Can t you just see me? No, I better go while the going s good. Oh, I don t mean that the way it sounds, Mr. English, but people talk so much in this town. Julian had a quick recollection of a story about the Baptist minister s daughter going without stockings. Unwillingly he looked at her legs, and she apprehended the look. That s it, she said. You heard it yourself. I ll never live it down, going without stockings. It s all right in front of Queen Mary, but not in Gibbsville. Well, thanks again. See you again some time.
Don t go, he said. Unaccountably he liked her. More than that, he didn’t want her to put on her glasses. She wasn’t bad-looking. She wasn’t pretty. But she wasn’t bad-looking, and she had an interesting figure; not sensationally good, but you could have fun with it. He hated himself, but he had an enormous desire to discover this girl. What time is it? she said. It isn’t even ten o clock. It s still in the nine class. Nine-thirty-five, nine-thirty-seven, something like that. It s very early.
Well, one more drink, although why you want me to stay I don t