From Here to Eternity_ The Restored Edit - Jones, James [211]
Mrs Kipfer was still smiling at him sideways. “You know, I vastly admire your taste, my dear. But there is always such a heavy call for Lorene on Payday, and there are two or three other girls available in the waiting room.”
“Listen,” he said, wanting now to laugh at her, “I aint in no hurry. Just tell me where to find her.”
Mrs Kipfer, smiling, shrugged. “Very well. She’s in number nine. Straight down the hall. The best way is to wait and catch her in the hall. Excuse me theres the door.”
He grinned after her, still wanting to laugh at how she didnt know near what she thought she knew, and turned away down the hall.
“I’m sorry, boys,” Mrs Kipfer was saying through the slot “We’re just completely filled—
“There just isn’t a bit of room—
“I’m just awfully sorry—
“Well,” she said. “If thats the way you feel, you just go right ahead. I’m sorry.
“Oh, Prew-ew,” she called.
“Yes?”
“Drunk as lords,” she whispered, coming back. “I wanted to ask you how Sergeant Warden was?”
“Who?”
“Milt Warden. He’s still with the company, isnt he?”
“Yes,” he said. “Yes, he is.”
“He hasnt been in for such a long time now I thought perhaps he had been transferred back to the Mainland. Will you remember me to him?”
“Yes. Well,” he said. “Yes, I’ll do that.” He would do just that, walk up to The Warden after Reveille and tell him exactly that.
“You know,” Mrs Kipfer said, “you boys are lucky to have a man like that for your first sergeant.”
“You think so?” Prew said. “I think so, too. Oh, in fact, we all think that.” Well, well, he thought, well, well. But The Warden! Well, well. Will wonders never cease?
The door of number nine was open and a Marine tech sergeant with the bar under his chevrons instead of the rocker was coming out tying his tie. It was remarkable how every detail of him seemed so very clear and personal to Prew. Prew watched him absorbedly as he went off up the hall.
Lorene came out after him, moving at a swift walk that jarred the spike heels down staccato-ly and he saw her suddenly, heart-jumpingly, as if she had been photographed life size in mid-stride and stuck there and then walked right out of the print into the hall, the unzippered dress held together with one hand that also clutched one white poker chip, a brimming bottle of dark liquid in the other that she swung slightly to keep from spilling the way a waitress swings a cup of coffee. She was moving fast, and she swung her shoulders sideways to pass him in the narrowness of the crowded hall.
“Hey,” he said. “Lorene.”
“Hello, dear,” she said.
“Hey! Wait a minute, will you?”
“I’ve got to hurry, dear, theres three or four ahead of you.”
Then she saw him. She stopped. “Oh, its you. Hello. How are you?” She glanced down the hall.
“How am I?” Was that all she had to say? He hunted desperately for an eternity through a mind that was suddenly completely blank. “I’m fine,” he said lamely. “How are you?”
“Well thats nice,” Lorene said, glancing down the hall. “Listen, dear, I can take care of you in—” she looked at her watch “—say half an hour? Thats the best I can do, honey.”
“Yeah?” Prew said, feeling his throat close up as if he had swallowed alum. “Say,” he said. He had to work hard to get it said. “Say, do you remember me?”
“Of course I remember you, silly,” she said, leaning back and looking down the hall. “Did you think I could forget you? Listen, I just cant talk now, dear. You could come back in an hour, why dont you try that?”
“Ah, forget it. To hell with it.” He stepped back, still blankly.
“I guess that wouldnt have worked anyway,” Lorene said. “There’ll probably be more than four waiting by then anyway.”
“Yeah. Mrs Kipfer told me you was popular. Just forget it, I dont want to put you out any.”
“I’ll tell you what,” she said. She looked down the hall. “I dont see any of them around. Maybe I can slip you in ahead, how would that be?”
“Dont do me no goddam favors.”
Lorene looked at him then, her eyes coming alive with an anxiety, alive for the first time, as if she was just