someone had opened her up to get her straightened out.
“I don’t think there’s much love lost between us,” she said. “I just think we sort of accept each other for what we are, now. As soon as I have the money I’ll move out.”
She had more than seven hundred dollars, of course, from her three years of work with Martin. This year he had paid her by the month.
Katherine sighed. “You’re impossible. For years Mother’s been telling me when she tries to talk to you, you run. And you won’t even sit in the same room with Daddy unless you’re eating or the TV’s on.”
“So what?” That was as much because she knew it was what they wanted as for any other reason.
“So, you don’t let them—”
“Listen,” Theresa said, with an insincerity so palpable that she couldn’t believe Katherine wouldn’t see what she was doing. “I’m feeling a little better already, Katherine. I’m really glad we talked.”
Katherine was uncertain.
“I really . . . I’ll start eating. I’ll come out of it. You’ll see, as soon as I begin to feel better they’ll stop worrying.”
The next day she had some pretzels and the following day, dry cereal. Then tuna fish, then peanut-butter sandwiches. But it was a couple of weeks before she could eat meat again.
Meanwhile Katherine and Brooks went off to Fire Island for the summer. Katherine wanted Theresa to come with them. At first Theresa refused entirely, but Katherine kept saying she could change her mind at any time. Finally she told Theresa that Brooks’s children were going to be there in August and Theresa would really be a big help if she came. She could be like a mother’s helper. And if she didn’t like it, she could go home any time Brooks went into the city. At first Theresa said she thought not, but then she daydreamed of running into Martin, her new, svelte, peaceful-looking self, and although she didn’t believe in the possibilities of the daydream, she said she would maybe try a weekend or two in July with Brooks.
Driving out and ferrying across to the Island turned out to be the best part of the weekends. Brooks was a great talker. WhereMartin’s conversation had been clever, his conversation a series of feints and jabs, Brooks was fluid and peaceful, his conversation punctuated only by laughter at himself or the world in general.
He was one of those men who’d awakened one day at the age of forty in his home in Scarsdale, turned to look at his wife, a still attractive but very typical Scarsdale wife-mother whose greatest problem in life was getting decent maids, thought about the appointments he had in his law office that day and suddenly said to himself, “Hey! What the hell am I doing here? I’m following someone else’s plan for my life!” And a year later, after a lot of bitterness and a lot of anguish over leaving his kids, he’d had a separation and then a divorce. He’d had absolutely no intention of ever getting married again. And then one day on an airplane he’d met this absolutely beautiful girl who had no more interest in marriage than he did. Who didn’t even care what he did for a living, for Christ’s sake. Who was perfectly happy to see him for dinner, a movie and a good lay without knowing that his father had one of the three biggest Jewish law firms in Boston and he himself was a partner in one of New York’s most prestigious firms and had published a law text that was used in half the law schools in the country. Who didn’t care if he could even afford the place he was living in.
She didn’t have to care, Brooks. If she met you on an airplane doing business, she could take some things for granted.
He had to admit he’d really gone for that, but he still didn’t think he’d have gone all the way if he’d never seen the place where Kitty lived.
Kitty. No one had ever called Katherine Kitty before. Theresa wished she had a special name. Not Tessie. Not a baby name.
A shithouse! He still laughed when he
“I don’t think there’s much love lost between us,” she said. “I just think we sort of accept each other for what we are, now. As soon as I have the money I’ll move out.”
She had more than seven hundred dollars, of course, from her three years of work with Martin. This year he had paid her by the month.
Katherine sighed. “You’re impossible. For years Mother’s been telling me when she tries to talk to you, you run. And you won’t even sit in the same room with Daddy unless you’re eating or the TV’s on.”
“So what?” That was as much because she knew it was what they wanted as for any other reason.
“So, you don’t let them—”
“Listen,” Theresa said, with an insincerity so palpable that she couldn’t believe Katherine wouldn’t see what she was doing. “I’m feeling a little better already, Katherine. I’m really glad we talked.”
Katherine was uncertain.
“I really . . . I’ll start eating. I’ll come out of it. You’ll see, as soon as I begin to feel better they’ll stop worrying.”
The next day she had some pretzels and the following day, dry cereal. Then tuna fish, then peanut-butter sandwiches. But it was a couple of weeks before she could eat meat again.
Meanwhile Katherine and Brooks went off to Fire Island for the summer. Katherine wanted Theresa to come with them. At first Theresa refused entirely, but Katherine kept saying she could change her mind at any time. Finally she told Theresa that Brooks’s children were going to be there in August and Theresa would really be a big help if she came. She could be like a mother’s helper. And if she didn’t like it, she could go home any time Brooks went into the city. At first Theresa said she thought not, but then she daydreamed of running into Martin, her new, svelte, peaceful-looking self, and although she didn’t believe in the possibilities of the daydream, she said she would maybe try a weekend or two in July with Brooks.
Driving out and ferrying across to the Island turned out to be the best part of the weekends. Brooks was a great talker. WhereMartin’s conversation had been clever, his conversation a series of feints and jabs, Brooks was fluid and peaceful, his conversation punctuated only by laughter at himself or the world in general.
He was one of those men who’d awakened one day at the age of forty in his home in Scarsdale, turned to look at his wife, a still attractive but very typical Scarsdale wife-mother whose greatest problem in life was getting decent maids, thought about the appointments he had in his law office that day and suddenly said to himself, “Hey! What the hell am I doing here? I’m following someone else’s plan for my life!” And a year later, after a lot of bitterness and a lot of anguish over leaving his kids, he’d had a separation and then a divorce. He’d had absolutely no intention of ever getting married again. And then one day on an airplane he’d met this absolutely beautiful girl who had no more interest in marriage than he did. Who didn’t even care what he did for a living, for Christ’s sake. Who was perfectly happy to see him for dinner, a movie and a good lay without knowing that his father had one of the three biggest Jewish law firms in Boston and he himself was a partner in one of New York’s most prestigious firms and had published a law text that was used in half the law schools in the country. Who didn’t care if he could even afford the place he was living in.
She didn’t have to care, Brooks. If she met you on an airplane doing business, she could take some things for granted.
He had to admit he’d really gone for that, but he still didn’t think he’d have gone all the way if he’d never seen the place where Kitty lived.
Kitty. No one had ever called Katherine Kitty before. Theresa wished she had a special name. Not Tessie. Not a baby name.
A shithouse! He still laughed when he
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