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content to let his words ferment. He felt heavy-headed from the beer.
 Wish I could think of a way to get rid of her, Jerry finally said.
 Well, Paul said carefully, hiding his elation,  there s always a way. You need the house for some
reason. Maybe a relative?
 We don t have any relatives, not close by.
Paul smothered a snort of disgust.  She doesn t need to know that.
 I m no good at making stuff up, lying to people, you know. They know it when I do.
 Look, Jerry. Why do you need a reason? You re just making one up to spare her feelings. It s your
house, man. Don t we still have property rights in this country?
 By God you re right, Brother! Jerry clinked Paul s mug with his own and took a deep draught.
 You get three hundred for the place, Paul said, his head thick from the beer, trying to sift through
his thoughts and gauge Jerry.  Tell you what. You re getting her out of my hair as well as yours before
she hurts either Carolyn or Dorothy. When the Hunter woman moves out I ll give you a hundred for your
trouble, pay the rent till you rent it again.
 That s crazy. Jerry shook his head vigorously.  No way I need you to do that, Brother.
They argued good-naturedly comrades now before Jerry agreed he would accept a case of
Moosehead beer for his trouble, that Paul would take him to the next Raiders game. They sealed their
bargain with a handshake and another round of beer.
 I really think you could get three-fifty for the place, Paul told him.  I know you could get it.
 I dunno. It s awful small, Brother. No bathtub, carpets only so-so. And the kitchen 
 Three and a quarter, then. Ask that much. You can always come down.
 You re one mighty smart fellow. Always told the wife that.
Paul suggested,  I don t think you ought to go into much detail about this with Dorothy.
 Don t worry about that. The Hunter woman doesn t have much to do with Dorothy. Anyway, the
wife always goes along with what I do. Jerry rose, and with a belligerent swagger made his way to the
men s room.
Paul contemplated his wavery reflection in the shiny surface of the table. He raised his beer mug. He
murmured,  Congratulations, Brother.
Astounded, Carolyn was staring at Val.
Chapter 24
Val chuckled dryly.  I must ve looked just like you do when Jerry Robinson told me. He wouldn t
look at me, Carrie. I asked if Neal had done anything, and he acted like he wanted to crawl into a hole.
Everything I said, he repeated that business about wanting the house for a relative.
 I ll talk to him. Better yet, I ll ask Paul to. They talk out in the yard, they 
 No. Val s tone was decisive.  I don t care about his reasons. I don t want to be anywhere I m not
wanted. He told me to take all the time I need to find another place. I intend to. Will you help me?
 Of course. But this is ridiculous. I don t understand 
 There s nothing to be done. Put it down as one of life s little X factors.
Ignoring Paul s indifference, his increasing irritation, she insisted on talking about Jerry Robinson.
 In the year and a half we ve lived here the only relative who visited them was that brother from
Hawaii, remember? The Robinsons insisted we come over and meet him. He won t rent to any relative
 
 How do we know? There may be another relative. His voice was sharp, exasperated.  What the
hell do I care?
She said coldly,  I ll be spending a lot of time helping her. It won t be easy finding the right place
for an artist.
 I m sure, he said with heavy sarcasm.
But it was only ten days later when Val said,  This is it, Carrie. Look at the light in here, all these
big windows. A little ramshackle but it s cheap compared to what we ve been looking at and it ll clean
up, don t you think?
 Yes, Carolyn said, her throat thick with misery at the three shabby rooms converted from previous
office space above a down at-the-heels drugstore, with noisy traffic below them on heavily traveled
Magnolia Boulevard. She had loved the tiny yellow house&  We can fix it up, Val, make it comfortable.
With Carolyn helping, Val moved in at the end of the month, the last Sunday in September. After
Neal went to bed that night, Val flung herself onto the sofa.  Carrie, if I m this tired you must be
exhausted.
 I m fine. She would not admit that she had never worked so hard, had never been more tired in her
life.  You did four times as much as me. You ll be sore tomorrow& Come over, she urged.  The pool
will be good 
 Too much to do. Why don t you come here? I m on your way home now. I promise not to make you
work. We ll have more time together.
 You re right, Carolyn said thoughtfully, happy with the idea of more time with Val.  There s
usually some advantage in any change even if it doesn t seem like it at the time.
 This place is brighter, more open, Val said tiredly.  To tell you the truth, I was having occasional
attacks of claustrophobia in that little house.
When Carolyn returned from getting a drink of water, Val was slumped down in a corner of the sofa,
asleep. It wouldn t hurt, Carolyn decided, for her to sleep in her cutoffs. She lifted Val s feet; Val curled
her length into the short sofa. Carolyn found a blanket in the big box of linens, covered her gently, and let
herself out of the flat.
Monday, after visiting Val, Carolyn slowed her car as she recognized the orange and white polyester
pants of Dorothy Robinson; she was carrying two bags of groceries. Carolyn regarded her pensively. If
the Robinsons did not actually intend to rent their place to a relative, then why had they evicted Val? She
pulled over and picked up Dorothy Robinson.
When Paul arrived home she was standing in the living room, arms crossed. He did not appear to
notice that she had not answered his greeting; he folded his jacket carefully across the back of the white
armchair and came toward her.  Lenny was telling me today about a house, he was saying,  three blocks
from him in Encino, the owner s desperate. We might 
 You rotten son of a bitch.
He halted in midstride.
 You did it to Val. You.
 What are you talking about?
His blue eyes were calm, but she had heard all she needed to know in his voice. She had irrationally
hoped that Dorothy Robinson was somehow wrong.
 Is this how you look when you re screwing somebody in a business deal? This cool and innocent?
She could not control the trembling of her body nor the reflection of it in her voice.  Jerry Robinson lied
to Val Hunter but he doesn t lie to his wife. Dorothy Robinson didn t know about it until after it was done.
She thinks it s dreadful how you and Jerry got rid of a woman who hadn t done anyone any harm.
He did not reply. The remoteness of his eyes reminded her of a science fiction movie she had seen
the night before, with people whose eyes were blank, their bodies taken over by aliens.
She said,  I see now how it s been. It s not only my friends or the hours I work, it s my entire life. It
always has been. You own me. I didn t really know it before because it never really mattered before.
 That s not true. Everything we had together before was wonderful. We were happy before, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]