Mildred Pierce - James M. Cain [37]
"I never heard of such goings-on in my life."
"Well, Mother, it seems to me wholly proper."
"Does Letty go in swimming?"
"Certainly not."
"What does she do?"
"She sits by the pool and waits, as she should."
"For Miss Veda, I suppose?"
"She knows her place, I hope."
"Well hereafter, there'll be no more Miss Veda. And if she goes with you to the pool, she goes in her own clothes, and she has a swim. If she hasn't a suit, I'll get her one."
"Mother, it shall be as you say."
Little Ray, who had been listening to all this with vast delight, now rolled on the floor, screaming with laughter, and kicking her heels in the air. "She can't swim! She can't swim, and she'll get drownded! And Red will have to pull her out! He's the life guard, and he's stuck on her!"
At this, Mildred began to understand Letty's strange conduct, and had to laugh in spite of herself. Veda thereupon elected to regard the inquest as closed. "Really, Mother, it seems to me you made a great fuss over nothing. If you bought the uniforms for her, and certainly I can't imagine who else you could have bought them for—then why shouldn't she wear them?"
But Veda had slightly overdone it. In a flash, from the special innocence with which she couldn't imagine who else the uniforms could have been bought for, Mildred divined that she knew the truth, and that meant the whole thing had to be dealt with fundamentally. For Veda's purpose, in giving Letty the uniform, might be nothing more sinister than a desire to make a peafowl's progress to the pool, but it might be considerably more devious. So Mildred didn't act at once. She sat looking at Veda, the squint hardening in her eye; then she scooped up Ray in her arms, and announced it was time to go to bed. Undressing her, she played with her as she always did, blowing into the buttonholes of the little sleeping suit, rolling her into bed with a loud whoosh and a final blow down the back of her neck. But all the time she was thinking of Veda, who never took part in these frivolities. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her, camped in front of the dressing table for a period of primping, whose main object seemed to be the spreading of as many combs, brushes, and bottles in front of her as the table would hold. She was none too agreeable about it when Mildred finished with Ray, and ordered her to the den for more talk. She got up angrily and threw down a brush. "Yee gods—what now?"
When they -got to the den, Mildred closed the door, sat down in the armchair, and stood Veda in front of her. "Why did you give Letty that uniform?"
"For heaven's sake,. Mother, haven't I told you once? How often do I have to tell you? I won't have you questioning methis way. Good night—I'm going to bed."
Mildred caught her arm, pulled her back. "You knew, when you gave it to Letty, that that was my uniform, didn't you?" -
"Your uniform?"
Veda's simulation of surprise was so cool, so calculated, so insolent, that Mildred waited longer than she usually did, when angered. Then she went on: "I've taken a job as a waitress in a restaurant in Hollywood."
"As a—what?"
"As a waitress, as you very well know."
"Yee gods! Yee—"
Mildred clipped her on the cheek, but she gave a short laugh, and brazenly finished: —"gods and little fishes!"
At this, Mildred clipped her a terrific wallop on the other cheek, that toppled her to the floor. As she lay there, Mildred began to talk. "So you and your sister can eat, and have a place to sleep, and a few clothes on your backs. I've taken the only kind of a job I could get, and if you think I'm going to listen to a lot of silly nonsense from you about it, you're mistaken. And if you think your nonsense is going to make me give up the job, you're mistaken about that, too. How you found out what I was doing I don't know—"
"From the uniform, stupid. You think I'm dumb?"
Mildred clipped her again, and went on: "You may not realize it, but everything you have costs money, from the maid that you