to get good stuff in Mexico City. We could buy a Rolls-Royce and pick up some stuff in Mexico City and drive into the mountains.”
“You have money?” Esther said. “Gary, she has money?”
“Half a million.”
“Oil depletion,” Myna said.
“Half a million dollars?”
“My father wanted to send me to Bryn Mawr. So I had this decision to make. Either I could lose all my excess weight and kill my blemishes with cobalt or whatever they use and go to Bryn Mawr and be a beautiful and charming young lady and risk being supermiserable because of the responsibilities of that kind of thing. Or I could come a little west to out here and be emotional and do what I want. They’re both better than staying home and out here you don’t get nagged by responsibilities like the responsibilities of beauty.”
“What are you going to do with the money?” Vera said.
“Gary,” Esther said, “what’s she going to do with the money?”
“I don’t know.”
“She should keep it.”
“She should do whatever she wants,” Esther said.
“She should keep it,” Vera said. “She should hold on to it.”
“I don’t know much about things English. But the idea of riding around in a Rolls-Royce sounds pretty neat. And it’s her money.”
“But she shouldn’t just throw it away. She should dosomething positive with it. Maybe open a shop. I’m into handicrafts, Gary. We could think up something worthwhile.”
“She can throw it away if she wants to. It’s her money, Vera.”
“Don’t call me that. You know how much I hate that name. You know how much I loathe and despise that name, you damn bitch.”
“Our mother named her after herself,” Esther said.
“She should have named you Vera. You’re the damn Vera. I’m not that damn person. I’m just me. You’re the Vera. You’re more her than I am.”
“She gets this way, Gary. It’s a real laugh and a half, isn’t it?”
“You’re the only damn Vera in the vicinity that I know of. It’s the honest-to-goddest truth, Gary. She’s the damn Vera, not me.”
“Quiet,” I said.
“We can all go live somewhere in Mexico,” Myna said. “We can live in a house in the mountains with a garden that’s always full of flowers, the wildest colors in Mexico. We can buy a Rolls-Royce and go. Gary, you drive.”
“We can buy four Rolls-Royces,” Esther said.
“You don’t need all that money to go to Mexico and live in a garden,” Vera said.
“But we’re getting four Rolls-Royces.”
“I think we should get just one,” Myna said. “That way we stay together.”
“That’s right,” Vera said.
“That way we insure staying together. And we can all study the works of Tudev Nemkhu who’s this Mongolian science-fiction writer who’s got a real big undergroundfollowing. He’s in exile in Libya because his government frowns on sci-fi.”
“All of us in the mountains smoking our little pipes,” Vera said.
We sat around for a while longer. Myna read to us, bouncing on her haunches, pausing after certain passages to bite her nails. We heard the wind then. It came up suddenly, fanning sand into the air. We tried to cover ourselves. Esther wore a large button with the word carrots printed on it.
18
T HE FOOTBALL TEAM filled two buses and rode a hundred and twenty miles to a point just outside the campus of the West Centrex Biotechnical Institute. There the buses split up, offense to one motel, defense to another. We had steak for dinner and went to our rooms. All evening we kept visiting each other, trying to talk away the nervousness. Finally Sam Trammel and Oscar Veech came around and told us to get to bed. There were three men to a room. The regulars got beds; the substitutes were assigned to cots. Bloomberg and I had a reserve guard, Len Skink, sharing our room. For some reason Len was known as Dog-Boy. In the darkness I listened to the cars going by. I knew I’d have trouble sleeping. A long time passed, anywhere from an hour to three hours
“You have money?” Esther said. “Gary, she has money?”
“Half a million.”
“Oil depletion,” Myna said.
“Half a million dollars?”
“My father wanted to send me to Bryn Mawr. So I had this decision to make. Either I could lose all my excess weight and kill my blemishes with cobalt or whatever they use and go to Bryn Mawr and be a beautiful and charming young lady and risk being supermiserable because of the responsibilities of that kind of thing. Or I could come a little west to out here and be emotional and do what I want. They’re both better than staying home and out here you don’t get nagged by responsibilities like the responsibilities of beauty.”
“What are you going to do with the money?” Vera said.
“Gary,” Esther said, “what’s she going to do with the money?”
“I don’t know.”
“She should keep it.”
“She should do whatever she wants,” Esther said.
“She should keep it,” Vera said. “She should hold on to it.”
“I don’t know much about things English. But the idea of riding around in a Rolls-Royce sounds pretty neat. And it’s her money.”
“But she shouldn’t just throw it away. She should dosomething positive with it. Maybe open a shop. I’m into handicrafts, Gary. We could think up something worthwhile.”
“She can throw it away if she wants to. It’s her money, Vera.”
“Don’t call me that. You know how much I hate that name. You know how much I loathe and despise that name, you damn bitch.”
“Our mother named her after herself,” Esther said.
“She should have named you Vera. You’re the damn Vera. I’m not that damn person. I’m just me. You’re the Vera. You’re more her than I am.”
“She gets this way, Gary. It’s a real laugh and a half, isn’t it?”
“You’re the only damn Vera in the vicinity that I know of. It’s the honest-to-goddest truth, Gary. She’s the damn Vera, not me.”
“Quiet,” I said.
“We can all go live somewhere in Mexico,” Myna said. “We can live in a house in the mountains with a garden that’s always full of flowers, the wildest colors in Mexico. We can buy a Rolls-Royce and go. Gary, you drive.”
“We can buy four Rolls-Royces,” Esther said.
“You don’t need all that money to go to Mexico and live in a garden,” Vera said.
“But we’re getting four Rolls-Royces.”
“I think we should get just one,” Myna said. “That way we stay together.”
“That’s right,” Vera said.
“That way we insure staying together. And we can all study the works of Tudev Nemkhu who’s this Mongolian science-fiction writer who’s got a real big undergroundfollowing. He’s in exile in Libya because his government frowns on sci-fi.”
“All of us in the mountains smoking our little pipes,” Vera said.
We sat around for a while longer. Myna read to us, bouncing on her haunches, pausing after certain passages to bite her nails. We heard the wind then. It came up suddenly, fanning sand into the air. We tried to cover ourselves. Esther wore a large button with the word carrots printed on it.
18
T HE FOOTBALL TEAM filled two buses and rode a hundred and twenty miles to a point just outside the campus of the West Centrex Biotechnical Institute. There the buses split up, offense to one motel, defense to another. We had steak for dinner and went to our rooms. All evening we kept visiting each other, trying to talk away the nervousness. Finally Sam Trammel and Oscar Veech came around and told us to get to bed. There were three men to a room. The regulars got beds; the substitutes were assigned to cots. Bloomberg and I had a reserve guard, Len Skink, sharing our room. For some reason Len was known as Dog-Boy. In the darkness I listened to the cars going by. I knew I’d have trouble sleeping. A long time passed, anywhere from an hour to three hours
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