Westlake, Donald E - Novel 50 by Sacred Monster (v1.1) Page B

easily, unintimidated, "that’s the commercial. Come on,
I want you to meet a very nice girl. Annie, this is Jack’s father.’’
                 "Hi,’’
said the pretty girl to the back of Dad’s head.
                 Dad
swiveled around, still irritable, and looked past Buddy at the pretty girl. He
reacted with surprise, and then with pleasure, and popped to his feet. Smiling
at the pretty girl, he reached into his shirt pocket and brought out a full set
of false teeth. Still smiling at the pretty girl, he inserted these teeth into
his mouth, wiped his right hand on his pants to dry it somewhat, and extended
it toward her, now flashing a smile full of gleaming teeth. "Nice to know
you,’’ he said.
                 Glazed,
the pretty girl said, "You, too." Reluctantly, she shook Dad’s hand.

18
     
                 The
sun is in my eyes. The sun is in my eyes. How can I see with the sun in my eyes?
                “I don't know," I say, to that
gray vagueness where my interviewer was wont to reside. “I don't know, I just
don't know. Maybe Mom and Dad and me, maybe the truth is we'd all grown apart
just a little bit. Just a little too far apart, somehow."
     

           FLASHBACK 15B
     
     
                 The
kitchen of the Malibu house was very modern, in white Formica and stainless steel. At the
butcher-block central island sat Hoskins, in his butler's tuxedo, obediently
looking at photos being shown to him by Mom. Jack entered the room, unwary, then saw what was going on and tried to reverse his field
and slide back on out of there. But it was too late; Mom had seen him. Looking
up, waving a handful of photos at him, she said, “Come here, Sonny. Cousin
Gertrude sent more pictures."
                 “That's
nice," Jack said, from the doorway. “You and Hoskins—"
                “I want you to see these pictures,
Sonny," Mom insisted.
                Reluctantly, Jack crossed the room,
stood beside Hoskins, and looked down at the pictures.
                “Here's Edwina on her sled,"
Mom said. “Cute?"
                “Cute," said Jack.
                “Here's Mabel's Doberman pinscher
with its new collar on," Mom said. “Isn't that adorable?"
                “Adorable," said Jack.
                "Here's Mrs. Wallace's new
refrigerator," Mom said.
                "Mom," said Jack, "I
don't even know Mrs. Wallace."
                Suddenly furious, Mom turned hot,
enraged eyes on Jack and snarled at him through gritted teeth: "You don't
have to know Mrs. Wallace to look at her new refrigerator ."
                Jack nodded, his skin paler around the eyes. He bent his head to look at Mrs. Wallace's
refrigerator.

19
     
             M y hand is in front of my eyes because
of that sunlight, that sunlight pressing down on me, like looking up through
water at the sky and seeing only white, the waves moving, the whiteness glaring on my eyeballs.
                 "Mr.
Pine?"
                 "Yes
yes yes," I say. "I'm all right. I'm here. I know what's going on.
You are interviewing me. I am telling you my story. I am telling you about Mom
and Dad, and how after a while Buddy and I decided maybe it would be better if
we moved away from the beach for a while."
     

           FLASHBACK 15C
     
     
                 The
living room without its party, without the fire crackling cozily in the central
fireplace, seemed larger and more impersonal. Moving through this space as
though it were truly large, a vast desert, was a
Guatemalan maid, slowly and ineptly dusting. Dust motes in the air followed her
lazily from place to place.
                 Mom
entered, in a vicious mood, clutching handfuls of snapshots. “Where's my Jack?”
she demanded, glowering at the maid. “Where's my Sonny Boy?”