From Here to Eternity_ The Restored Edit - Jones, James [497]
Stark turned around and looked at him disbelievingly, the CKCs still hanging from his hand.
“But they can make more money than that out front,” Mrs Kipfer said carefully, “on a day like this.”
“I doubt it,” Warden said irrepressibly. “I sincerely doubt it. But I tell you what I’ll do. I’ll go up to two hundred bucks, if you’ll provide us with a bunch of steaks and half a dozen bottles.”
“Steaks!” Mrs Kipfer exclaimed. “Where on earth would I get steaks.”
“Dont kid me,” Warden grinned. “Dont try to snow an old bull like me, Gert. I know you keep steaks around here for when the big brass comes down from Shafter for a party. Now what do you say? Two hundreds bucks, and you throw in the steaks and whiskey.”
“Well—” Mrs Kipfer said dubiously.
“We’ll cook them ourselves,” Warden said. “I love to cook steaks. The Texan here is the best Mess/Sgt in the Army. If you furnish your own steak, I’ll have him cook you one, too.”
“Heavens, no!” Mrs Kipfer said. “If I ate a steak today, the nervous strain I’m under, it would kill me. I dont know,” she said doubtfully.
“Yes, you do,” Warden grinned. “You know you’ll never get a better deal. And if you think you can get any more, you’re crazy. Two hundred bucks is all I got. What do you say? Its nearly noon.”
“Its ten-thirty,” Mrs Kipfer corrected.
“Its nearly noon and we’ll have to leave at five-thirty to make it home before the curfew. How about it? Take it or leave it. Is it a deal?”
“Well,” Mrs Kipfer said.
“Its a deal!” Warden said irresistibly. “Its a deal. If you love me, Gert. You always said you did.” He grabbed Mrs Kipfer and danced her, capering, around the hallway.
“For goodness sake!” Mrs Kipfer said breathlessly. “Let go of me!” She stepped back, blushing, and smoothed her hair. “I’ll go out and get them. You know where the icebox is. And the stove.”
“I want that new gal,” Warden said, wiggling his eyebrows. “That Jeanette.”
“All right. Who do you want Maylon?”
Stark, who liked to spend money himself, but who had been too flabbergasted to say anything at all, scratched his head. “I dont know. Lorene?”
“Lorene left on the Lurline today,” Mrs Kipfer said. “But Sandra’s still here. She’s not leaving till next month.”
“Well,” Stark said.
“Thats all right,” Warden put in irrepressibly. “Thats all right. We’ll suffer that inconvenience. This time.”
“Sure, thats all right,” Stark said.
“All right,” she said. “I’ll go get them.”
“Come on,” Warden said as she left. “Lets fry a steak. Right now, I’m hungry as hell. Come on, lets fry all four of us a steak.”
“We got to get into these uniforms first,” Stark said.
“I’ll put the steaks on,” Warden said. “You go ahead. I’ll be right with you.”
“You know something?” Stark said excitedly. “Something’s happened to me. I’m not drunk at all. I used to have to be drunk as hell. I’m changed.”
“You used to be an American male,” Warden said. “Now you’re a man of the world, like me. Its the same thing as going to Europe and seeing the uncensored movies before they cut them in this county. You’re never the same again.”
“Its something,” Stark said.
“Would you like your steak rare, medium or well?” Warden said. “We serve them all ways.”
“Rare,” Stark said.
When the two girls came in and locked the big metal door against the hubbub behind them, the smell of the frying porterhouses was already floating through the place.
“Oh!” the little dark girl Jeanette, the new one, squealed. “This is going to be a lovely party. I love lovely parties.”
“Thank the man there,” Stark said.
Warden, standing at the stove, laid down the spatula and bowed. “Come here, little thing,” he said. He sat down and picked her up and set her on his knee like a doll. “Tell me, are you French?”
“Wheres the liquor?” Stark said.
“My momma and pappa are,” Jeanette said. “Oh, this is going to be a lovely