dinner? A candle sputters. She fingers the bottle’s long, graceful neck. Suddenly there is a shower of liquid emeralds.
Mansard was taller than Gladys, who, of Gladys, Mansard and Dean, was not the shortest
.
‘He beats me,’ she explained. ‘He makes me have children I don’t want. He doesn’t want them either. He makes me go out and work, while he just lays around the house, guzzling two kinds of beer. My motherhates his guts. She’ll be glad when I divorce him.’
The
Stallion
is a westernized shirt, extremely tapered, of cotton chambray. Why be bald?
‘Everyone just hates his guts,’ she explained. ‘He even hates himself. Only I understand and love and cherish him. Or maybe it’s only hate. Well, anyway, at least he loves his kids.’ Minnesota has 99 Long Lakes and 97 Mud Lakes.
‘Why don’t we just pick up and go to Europe?’ Mansard asked, glancing at himself in the lake. ‘Or somewhere else?’
‘Oh, I couldn’t leave the kids. They don’t get along with Deanie too well. They just don’t get along.’ Gladys put down her mop and pail and accepted a cigarette from the gold case he proffered. Satin sheets and pillow cases are a must for the compleat bachelor’s apartment. The Doggie Dunit makes an ideal gift memento or ‘ice-breaker’ at parties. So realistic your friends will gasp. Mansard’s hand trembled as he lit two cigarettes with a special lighter, then handed one to Gladys.
‘Do you smoke?’
‘Oh, no thanks. But you go ahead. I like the smell of a man’s cigarette.’
Exhaling a cloud of aromatic smoke, he said, ‘Let me think, now … ’
She lit two cigarettes and handed him one. When he had lighted their cigarettes, Mansard closed his eyes.
He consumed her with his eyes: her cold-reddened nose, print dress, feet swelling out of water-stained wedgies. His apartment, a penthouse over the supermarket, was filled each evening with soft Muzak. Alone at night, he’d listen, smoking one of his specially blended cigarettes in the dark. The apartment could take her for granted; why couldn’t he?
‘How can you love him?’ he said, touching his glass to hers. ‘He even hates himself!’
But she would not speak. ‘It’s no good, our meeting like this,’ she said, ‘Mansard. Secret rendezvous in elegant nite spots. Dancing till dawn in posh cafes. Moonlit rides with the top down. Our own flower code. Losing a cool ten G’s at Chuck-A-Luck and laughing like the crazy fools we are. “The wrong hotel room.”
Billets-doux
. Smoking menthol by mountain rills. Appearing nightly in an exclusive engagement. Sailing. In fact, all water sports, including snow and ice as water. And finally, my love, leaping down a volcano, together.’ She seemed unable to speak.
Mansard thought of Dean. Just place the International audio wall probe against any wall, and pick up sounds, voices, in the next room. Dual listening device, used by law enforcement officers on a world-wide basis, attaches to any phone. The Snooper – world’s only private listening device, used by law enforcement officers, amplifies sound 1,000,000 times. Looks like a briefcase. Peeping Tom snooper scope is no bigger than a fountain pen, yet gives 6x magnification.
‘I want to meet this “Dean”,’ Mansard said suddenly.
‘So you want to degrade yourself,’ said Dr Sky. ‘Why, do you think? Has it anything to do with the time my father strapped me to my littlepotty chair?’
‘His father did nothing of the kind,’ said Mansard evenly. ‘I never said he strapped me
down
, only strapped me.’
‘Why did we feel trapped?’
‘Re did strappado me once,’ said Mansard. ‘He had some notion it would make me grow taller, have more confidence with tall women, business associates. As usual, he was right.’
‘So we tell ourselves.’
Mansard recalled. ‘He used to force-feed me. Vivisected my dog, to explain to me the mysteries of biology. Poor Spike.’
‘Or poor you, you mean.’
‘Yes, Dad never
Mansard was taller than Gladys, who, of Gladys, Mansard and Dean, was not the shortest
.
‘He beats me,’ she explained. ‘He makes me have children I don’t want. He doesn’t want them either. He makes me go out and work, while he just lays around the house, guzzling two kinds of beer. My motherhates his guts. She’ll be glad when I divorce him.’
The
Stallion
is a westernized shirt, extremely tapered, of cotton chambray. Why be bald?
‘Everyone just hates his guts,’ she explained. ‘He even hates himself. Only I understand and love and cherish him. Or maybe it’s only hate. Well, anyway, at least he loves his kids.’ Minnesota has 99 Long Lakes and 97 Mud Lakes.
‘Why don’t we just pick up and go to Europe?’ Mansard asked, glancing at himself in the lake. ‘Or somewhere else?’
‘Oh, I couldn’t leave the kids. They don’t get along with Deanie too well. They just don’t get along.’ Gladys put down her mop and pail and accepted a cigarette from the gold case he proffered. Satin sheets and pillow cases are a must for the compleat bachelor’s apartment. The Doggie Dunit makes an ideal gift memento or ‘ice-breaker’ at parties. So realistic your friends will gasp. Mansard’s hand trembled as he lit two cigarettes with a special lighter, then handed one to Gladys.
‘Do you smoke?’
‘Oh, no thanks. But you go ahead. I like the smell of a man’s cigarette.’
Exhaling a cloud of aromatic smoke, he said, ‘Let me think, now … ’
She lit two cigarettes and handed him one. When he had lighted their cigarettes, Mansard closed his eyes.
He consumed her with his eyes: her cold-reddened nose, print dress, feet swelling out of water-stained wedgies. His apartment, a penthouse over the supermarket, was filled each evening with soft Muzak. Alone at night, he’d listen, smoking one of his specially blended cigarettes in the dark. The apartment could take her for granted; why couldn’t he?
‘How can you love him?’ he said, touching his glass to hers. ‘He even hates himself!’
But she would not speak. ‘It’s no good, our meeting like this,’ she said, ‘Mansard. Secret rendezvous in elegant nite spots. Dancing till dawn in posh cafes. Moonlit rides with the top down. Our own flower code. Losing a cool ten G’s at Chuck-A-Luck and laughing like the crazy fools we are. “The wrong hotel room.”
Billets-doux
. Smoking menthol by mountain rills. Appearing nightly in an exclusive engagement. Sailing. In fact, all water sports, including snow and ice as water. And finally, my love, leaping down a volcano, together.’ She seemed unable to speak.
Mansard thought of Dean. Just place the International audio wall probe against any wall, and pick up sounds, voices, in the next room. Dual listening device, used by law enforcement officers on a world-wide basis, attaches to any phone. The Snooper – world’s only private listening device, used by law enforcement officers, amplifies sound 1,000,000 times. Looks like a briefcase. Peeping Tom snooper scope is no bigger than a fountain pen, yet gives 6x magnification.
‘I want to meet this “Dean”,’ Mansard said suddenly.
‘So you want to degrade yourself,’ said Dr Sky. ‘Why, do you think? Has it anything to do with the time my father strapped me to my littlepotty chair?’
‘His father did nothing of the kind,’ said Mansard evenly. ‘I never said he strapped me
down
, only strapped me.’
‘Why did we feel trapped?’
‘Re did strappado me once,’ said Mansard. ‘He had some notion it would make me grow taller, have more confidence with tall women, business associates. As usual, he was right.’
‘So we tell ourselves.’
Mansard recalled. ‘He used to force-feed me. Vivisected my dog, to explain to me the mysteries of biology. Poor Spike.’
‘Or poor you, you mean.’
‘Yes, Dad never
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