turns out that Jeannie’s been taking the money I’ve been giving her and her father’s been giving her and spending it before she manages to pass it on to the landlord. There was this Chanel skirt she had to have, it’s only like eighteen hundred bucks, and she’s been flying first class down to South Carolina, and then she reminds me I participated in consuming that quarter ounce she bought a few weeks ago and there have been some eighths here and some grams there since then, just to keep her going. A new set of golf clubs for Frank’s birthday—that was a real good investment. One thing and another.
So get the money from your father, I say.
I can’t, she goes. He’ll kill me. What about Dean? she says.
Right, I say. I’m going to hit up this guy I just met two weeks ago for five thousand dollars? Think again, babe.
What are we going to do? Jeannie says as she bends over the mirror and snorts a big line.
I’m going out to do the town with Dean, I say. Then Dean’s going to do me. The question is, what are
you
going to do?
That sounds harsh, but I mean,
really
.
Dean has tickets for this hot play but first he takes me to Petaluma for a drink. The waiter’s Mike from my acting class, he tells me that Didi showed up at closing time last night, really fucked up.
She was probably just waking up, I say. She’s not really good till after midnight.
Girl has a problem, Dean says.
The play is
Fences
, I’ve been wanting to see it all spring and I’m definitely not disappointed. It’s basically about how a father can screw up the life of his kid and I’m like, absolutely.
There’s this one incredible scene where James Earl Jones’s son, spits in his face. My acting teacher told us that at rehearsals for the play the guy who was playing the son couldn’t bring himself to spit in James Earl Jones’s face so the director started to insult him and spit in
his
face and tell him that James Earl Jones was nothing special. Right. That guy’s so powerful he’s like the ultimate father where you can’t tell if he’s God orSatan or what, and when the boy spits in his face you think lightning’s going to come down and zap the kid into ashes. Afterwards Dean keeps talking about the structure and character development and I wish he’d shut up, I’m just thinking about that moment.
After the play we go to Nell’s. I’m looking forward to showing up with Dean, making it sort of official, you know, like—here we are, everybody. Okay, so I’m an exhibitionist. Of course, it could be dangerous. On any given night there could be eight or ten of my old flames slipping around in there.
My friend Whitney is working the door. Whitney was like Phi Beta Kappa at some Ivy League school, she was really straight, studied all the time and then she went to Columbia Law School but one night Francesca introduced her to this guy in Elvis Costello’s band and she disappeared for about two weeks and now she works the door and does some modeling on the side. She has two big guys with her. She points to people and the boys pull back the rope to let them pass. There are about fifty people waiting. I feel bad walking right in, but what can you do? Okay, that’s not true, I feel good. It’s a mean old world, right?
Whitney checks Dean out, winks at me and goes, not bad.
It’s pretty crowded inside, considering it’s only midnight, but we get a table. A guy comes over and gives Dean a big hug and Dean goes, Alison, this is Phil, Didi’s cousin. Phil’s abig, athletic-looking guy. He’s wearing a black T-shirt so you can see he’s got this great young body but his face looks ten years older than the rest of him, like forty or something. He’s got crow’s-feet, wrinkles, skin that looks like it’s seen a lot of wind from high-speed living.
And Phil goes, so you’re a friend of Didi’s. How is she? I haven’t seen her in ages.
I look at Dean and he looks at me and we’re both like, what do you want, the truth?
So
So get the money from your father, I say.
I can’t, she goes. He’ll kill me. What about Dean? she says.
Right, I say. I’m going to hit up this guy I just met two weeks ago for five thousand dollars? Think again, babe.
What are we going to do? Jeannie says as she bends over the mirror and snorts a big line.
I’m going out to do the town with Dean, I say. Then Dean’s going to do me. The question is, what are
you
going to do?
That sounds harsh, but I mean,
really
.
Dean has tickets for this hot play but first he takes me to Petaluma for a drink. The waiter’s Mike from my acting class, he tells me that Didi showed up at closing time last night, really fucked up.
She was probably just waking up, I say. She’s not really good till after midnight.
Girl has a problem, Dean says.
The play is
Fences
, I’ve been wanting to see it all spring and I’m definitely not disappointed. It’s basically about how a father can screw up the life of his kid and I’m like, absolutely.
There’s this one incredible scene where James Earl Jones’s son, spits in his face. My acting teacher told us that at rehearsals for the play the guy who was playing the son couldn’t bring himself to spit in James Earl Jones’s face so the director started to insult him and spit in
his
face and tell him that James Earl Jones was nothing special. Right. That guy’s so powerful he’s like the ultimate father where you can’t tell if he’s God orSatan or what, and when the boy spits in his face you think lightning’s going to come down and zap the kid into ashes. Afterwards Dean keeps talking about the structure and character development and I wish he’d shut up, I’m just thinking about that moment.
After the play we go to Nell’s. I’m looking forward to showing up with Dean, making it sort of official, you know, like—here we are, everybody. Okay, so I’m an exhibitionist. Of course, it could be dangerous. On any given night there could be eight or ten of my old flames slipping around in there.
My friend Whitney is working the door. Whitney was like Phi Beta Kappa at some Ivy League school, she was really straight, studied all the time and then she went to Columbia Law School but one night Francesca introduced her to this guy in Elvis Costello’s band and she disappeared for about two weeks and now she works the door and does some modeling on the side. She has two big guys with her. She points to people and the boys pull back the rope to let them pass. There are about fifty people waiting. I feel bad walking right in, but what can you do? Okay, that’s not true, I feel good. It’s a mean old world, right?
Whitney checks Dean out, winks at me and goes, not bad.
It’s pretty crowded inside, considering it’s only midnight, but we get a table. A guy comes over and gives Dean a big hug and Dean goes, Alison, this is Phil, Didi’s cousin. Phil’s abig, athletic-looking guy. He’s wearing a black T-shirt so you can see he’s got this great young body but his face looks ten years older than the rest of him, like forty or something. He’s got crow’s-feet, wrinkles, skin that looks like it’s seen a lot of wind from high-speed living.
And Phil goes, so you’re a friend of Didi’s. How is she? I haven’t seen her in ages.
I look at Dean and he looks at me and we’re both like, what do you want, the truth?
So
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