Lanark_ a life in 4 books - Alasdair Gray [215]
“So you’re going to leave me alone again. I see. Why did you ring that bell? Are you sure you weren’t drunk?”
“I rang it because I was happy then. Why are you attacking me?”
“To defend myself.”
“I’m sorry I shouted at you, Rima. I was surprised and angry. I’m very glad to be back with you.”
“Yes, it’s easy for you to live in a box, you can run off to your towers and committee meetings whenever you like. When will I get some freedom?”
“Whenever you need it.”
“And you’ll stay here and look after Alex?”
“Of course. That’s only fair.”
Rima sighed and then smiled and rolled up her knitting. She came to the bed, kissed him quickly on the brow, then went to the chest of drawers and peered at her face in a mirror.
Lanark said, “Are you leaving already?”
“Yes, Lanark. I really do need a change.”
She made up her mouth with lipstick. Lanark said, “Who gave you that?”
“Frankie. We’re going dancing. We’re going to get ourselves picked up by a couple of young young young boys. You don’t mind, do you?”
“Not if you only dance with them.”
“Oh, but we’ll flirt with them too. We’ll madden them with desire. Middle-aged women need to madden somebody some times.”
“You aren’t middle-aged.”
“I’m no chicken, anyway. When Alex wakens you can change his nappy—there’s a clean one in the top drawer. Put the dirty one in the plastic bag under the bed. If he cries you must heat some milk in the kitchen—not too hot, mind. Test it with your finger.”
“Aren’t you breastfeeding him?”
“Yes, but he has to learn to drink like an ordinary human being. But I’ll probably be back before he wakens. How do I look?”
She posed before him, hands on hips. He said, “Very young. Very beautiful.”
She kissed him warmly and left. He lay back on the bed, missing her, and fell asleep.
He was wakened by Alexander crying so he changed his nappy and carried him to the kitchen. Jack and Frankie were eating a meal at a table there. Frankie said, “Hullo, passionate man. How’s Rima?”
He stared at her, confused, and blushed hotly. He muttered, “Gone for a walk. The boy needs milk.”
“I’ll make him a bottle.”
Lanark strayed round the kitchen murmuring nonsense to Alexander, for there was a strange appalling pain in his chest and he didn’t want to talk to adults. Frankie handed him a warm bottle with teat folded in a white napkin. He muttered some thanks and went back to the cubicle. He sat on the bed and held the teat to Alexander’s mouth but Alexander twisted aside, screaming, “NononononoMumumumum!”
“She’ll be back soon, Sandy.”
“NononononononononononoMumumumumumumumumum!” Alexander kept screaming and Lanark walked the floor with him. He felt he was carrying a dwarf who kept hitting him on the head with a stick, a dwarf he could neither disarm nor put down. People in neighbouring cubicles began banging their walls, then a man came in and said, “There are folk trying to sleep in this building, Jimmy.”
“I can’t help that, and I’m not called Jimmy.”
The man was tall and bald with white stubble on his cheeks, a single black tooth in his upper jaw, and wore a dirty grey raincoat. He stared at Lanark for a while then pulled a brown bottle from his pocket and said, “Milk’s no use. Give him a slug of this—it’s a great quietener.”
“No.”
“Then take a slug yourself.”
“No.”
The man sighed, squatted on a stool and said, “Tell me your woes.”
“I have no woes!” yelled Lanark who was too plagued to think. Alexander was screaming “Mumumumumumumumumum!”
“If it’s woman trouble,” said the man, “I can advise you because I was married once. I had a wife who did terrible things, things I cannae mention in the presence of a wean. You see, women are different from us. They’re seventy-five percent water. You can read that in Pavlov.”
Alexander fastened his gums on the teat and started sucking. Lanark sighed with relief. After a moment he said, “Men are mostly water too.”
“Yes, but only seventy percent. The extra five percent makes the difference. Women have notions and feelings like us but they’ve got tides