5
A: Why arent you?
Q: So they picked up guys there. . .
A: I believe they went there quite often.
Q: Open, blooming. . .
A: We talked a lot. I think of it as a series of conver?sations. A series of ordinary conversations. Simple as pie. They were very good people. I miss them.
Q: Did they ever go to Fizz?
Q: The ants are plunging toothpicks into your scro?tum, as it were. As they withdraw the toothpicks, little particles of flesh like shreds of ground beef adhere to the toothpicks.
A: More like anthills. Splendid, stinging anthills.
A: They came and went. They enjoyed the city. They went to Bloomingdales and the Met. They went to the Cloisters. They went to Astis and banged on their water glasses while the Anvil Chorus was being sung.reａｄ.９9ｃｓw.ｃoｍ They went to Sweet Basil and heard Wynton Marsalis. I went with them that night, he played very well, had his brother Branford on tenor. They went to the Museum of Modern Art and bought postcards in the gift shop. They went to Lincoln Center and saw various things, the film festival and all that. They got excited by the Strand and came back with books. They went to the Palladium and saw Lily Tomlin or some?body. They didnt always go together. Sometimes Veronica and Dore went, sometimes Anne went by herself, and so on. Sometimes they went together to Balduccis and came home with various exotic foods. They cooked together, sometimes. I remember a partic?ularly good Cream of Four Onion soup. They spent a lot of time just wｈtｔｐs://reａｄ•9９csｗ.ｃｏmalking around looking at things. I think they were happy. Although in limbo.
Q: Where were you?
Q: Limbo.
Q: Im not inexperienced.
A: Something like that.
Q: How did that make you feel?
A: Not exactly like lotus blossoms.
A: Postcards.
Q: Do you hear from them?
A: They kept saying, This is so good of you. The other thing they said was, Probably you can sell the beds after we go. Theyd sent all their money to Africa. To fight hunger.
A: By what standard?
Q: Sometimes I think I should have been a shrink.
A: For a year. The owners had left me the bare es?sentials, dishes, towels, that sort of thing. A few pieces of furniture.
A: They did, I suppose. They may have been just playing, just exercising. . .
A: I didnt like it.
A: I went to this bed store and bought three beds. The guy said for an extra fifty he
九*九*藏*書could deliver them by eight oclock. He had his own truck, he said. Got them there right on the button. We stripped off the card?board and plastic and set them up. Two in the back room and one in the little room in the front.
Q: These women spread out before you like lotus blossoms. . .
Q: All in all, then, it was on the stressful side.
Q: What went on there?
A: I had the bedroom in the middle. I already had a bed.
Q: Did the women like it?
Q: Did they just hang around all day, or what?
A: I imagine them thinking, talking to each other. . .
Q: Youd sublet this place.
A: I dont know, of course. I imagine they were care?ful, thoughtful. Direct.
Q: Generally accepted standards.
A: Good Lord no. Maybe worried that it wouldnt. Those women were power
九*九*藏*書ful presences. Took up a lot of space, made a lot of clatter. There were days when I couldnt hear myself think.A: They were in an in-between state, it was hard on them. Id come in and Anne would be sitting on the couch, weeping. The couch wasnt much. Some kind of dull gray fabric. Ask her why shes weeping and shed say she didnt know. Veronica hit me once. Hauled off and slugged me in the chest. It was just frustration. Still, I wondered what in her gave her permission to slug me. Then she made a pie, a blueberry pie --
A: Very much like that. How did you know?
Q: What did they say to each other?
Q: You fall face down onto an anthill.
A: It was a meat rack, a heterosexual meat rack. From what theyve told me.
Q: Its not medicine.
Q: You got the beds.