Boys and Girls Together by William Saroyan Page B

I’ve got better clothes than you have. But don’t worry, I’ve made up my mind to be more thoughtful of theneedy from now on, and I’m going to send you one of my old things, a Christian Dior that I wore once. I never wear any of them more than once unless poor Oscar can’t get romantic unless I wear a certain dress, and then, of course, I wear it in the morning, I wear it at lunch, I wear it in the evening, and I wear it to bed. Don’t I, darling?’
    â€˜You’ve got two dresses,’ the villain said, ‘both of them bought at May’s in Los Angeles, not counting whatever the hell that was you had in your suitcase when you came to live with me. I suppose some of those rags were
supposed
to be dresses.’
    They were all smiling or laughing all the time, drinking and talking and making fun of themselves because that’s the best thing for the soul there is.
    â€˜They were dresses I inherited from my mother,’ Alice said. ‘You know my mother, darling. Remember when she telephoned and said: “Mr. Bard, I’d like to speak to my daughter if you don’t mind. I understand she’s studying acting with you. She’s nineteen years old, you know.” You remember Mama, don’t you, darling?’
    â€˜Well, between the two of you,’ Oscar said, ‘you made it. You must have planned the whole thing very carefully. Otherwise how did she know where you were? How did she get my unlisted number? But the joke’s on you, because I couldn’t have been more delighted. I mean, to have you move in with me and be bored to death for five, ten, maybe fifteen years.’
    â€˜What do you mean?’ Alice said. And then imitated her mother, ‘
If you don’t mind
.’
    She and Daisy laughed about this a long time.
    The man saw the fox stop and turn, and then lope on. The villain chuckled because the joke
was
on her, it
was
on her mother, and not on him. To be past sixty and nothing much (you had to know you weren’t much) and to have a luscious piece like that fall into your bed wasn’t anything like what you could call bad luck.
    â€˜Five, ten, maybe fifteen years?’ Alice went on. ‘Five, ten, fifteen years until
what
. Divorce? Are you planning to unload me when I’m old? Is that it? Well, I’m not going to
let
you unload me. I’ve got so much on you already, you’ll never be able to unload me.’
    â€˜You look absolutely gorgeous,’ the woman said to Alice. ‘Doesn’t she, darling?’
    â€˜Alice? She looks as if she might very well be the best piece of tail in Hollywood.’
    â€˜What’s the matter with New York?’ Alice said.
    â€˜What’s the matter with Sacramento, too?’ Daisy said. She turned on the man with mock anger. ‘Don’t you dare say she’s the best.’
    â€˜I said she
might
be.’
    â€˜Anything like that you’ve got to say about anybody, say about me, and never mind the
might be
part, either.’
    â€˜O.K.’ That Rosey—she looked just like her mother. Would she make out all right? No bawl that way, orscream, or bite her fingernails, or wonder what to do next for fun? Telephone New York or ask a casual acquaintance in the street to come over after dinner or badger an old New York girl friend to get up in the middle of the night and drag her husband to San Francisco? Would Rosey have a little better luck than her poor mama? Her poor mama must have had very bad luck somewhere along the line. Would Rosey have to tell lies and believe they were the truth, or not care that they weren’t, or would she have better luck than her poor mama?
    â€˜O.K.?’ the woman said. ‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’
    â€˜What I said. The best.’
    â€˜You know
that’s
the truth. You know
you
never had any better.’
    â€˜No, I never did.’
    â€˜I swear on my mother, it’s all the