“More or less.”
“I’m sorry I said she was no good. She really has a voice. She might improve, with more work... Maybe I was jealous of her.”
“It’s all right.”
“You see—”
“To hell with it. You said just what I’ve been thinking all along, so why apologize? She has a voice, and yet she’s no good. And yet—”
“You’re crazy about her.”
“Yes.”
She twisted my hair a while, and then started to laugh. “You could have knocked me over with a straw when I saw Hugo Lorentz coming out there to the piano.”
“You know him?”
“Known him for years. I hadn’t seen him since he played for me in Berlin last winter, and what a night that was.”
“Yeah?”
“After the concert we walked around to his apartment, and he wept on my shoulder till three o’clock in the morning about some cold-blooded bitch that he’s in love with, in New York, and that does nothing but torture him, and every other man she gets into her clutches for that matter. Oh, I got her whole life history. Once a year she’d send Hugo a phonograph record of herself singing some song they had worked on. He thought they were wonderful, and he kept playing them over and over again; till I got so sick of that poop’s voice—” There was a one-beat pause, and then she finished off real quick: “—Well, it was a night, that’s all.”
“And that was where you heard my wife’s voice, wasn’t it?”
“What in the world are you talking about?”
“Come on, don’t kid me.”
“... I’m sorry, Leonard. I didn’t mean to. From what Hugo said, I had pictured some kind of man-eating tigress, and when that dainty, wistful, perfectly beautiful creature came out there today, it never once entered my mind. It didn’t anyhow, until just now.”
“Then it was?”
“Yes, of course.”
“I’ve had my suspicions about Hugo.”
“You needn’t have.”
“I thought he was taking her for a ride.”
“He’s not. She’s taking him.”
“What about these other men she’s got her clutches on?”
“For heaven’s sake, can’t a woman that good-looking have a little bit of a good time? What do you care? You’re having a good time, aren’t you? Right now? I’ll sock you if you say you’re not.”
“Believe it or not, this is my first offense.”
“—And, you’ve got her haven’t you?”
“No.”
“What?”
“I’m just one other man she’s got her clutches on, one more sap to torture. I happen to be married to her, that’s all.”
“You poor dear. You are crazy about her, aren’t you?”
“Come on, what about these other men?”
She thought a long time, and then she said: “Leonard, I’m not going to tell you any more of what Hugo said, except this: That no man gets any favors from her, if that’s what you’re worried about. And especially Hugo doesn’t. She sees that they keep excited, but inside she’s as cold as a slab of ice, and thinks of nothing but herself. I think you can take Hugo’s word on that. He knows a lot more about women than you do, and he’s not kidded about her for one second, even if he is crazy about her. Does that help?”
“Not much. You’re not telling me anything I don’t know, though. I’ve kidded myself about it for seven years, but I know. Lorentz, I think, he has the inside track on the rest, but only on account of the music.”
“That’s what Hugo says.”
“What?”
“That she thinks of nothing but her triumphs, feminine, social, and artistic, and especially artistic. She’s crazy to be a singer. And that’s where he fits in.”
“Her triumphs. That’s it. Life in our house is nothing but a series of triumphs.”
“Leonard, I have an idea.”
“Shoot.”
“I hate that woman.”
“I spend half my time hating her and half my time insane about her. What’s she got, anyway?”
“One thing she’s got is a face that a man would commit suicide for. Another thing she’s got is a figure that if he wasn’t quite dead yet, he’d stand up and commit suicide for all over again. And another thing she’s got is a healthy professional interest in the male of the species, that enjoys sticking pins into it just to see them wriggle. But if you want her, I’m determined you’re going to have her. And really have her. You see, I like you pretty well.”
“I like you a little, myself.”
“That woman has got to be hurt.”
“Oh, hurt hey? And you think you could hurt Doris? Listen, you’d be going up against something that’s forgotten more about that than you’ll ever know. You go and get your head lock on her and begin twisting her neck. See what happens. She’ll be out in one second flat, in one minute flat she’ll have you on the floor, and in five minutes she’ll be pulling your toenails out with red-hot pliers. Yeah, you hurt her. I’m all sore from trying.”
“You didn’t hurt her where it hurt.”
“And where does it hurt?”
“In that slab of ice she uses for a heart. In the triumph department, baby. You go get yourself a triumph, and see her wriggle out of that.”
“I won the club championship at billiards year before last. It didn’t do a bit of good.”
“Wake up. Did you hear what I said about your voice?”
“Oh my God. I thought you had an idea.”
“You’re going to sing in Town Hall.”
“I’m not.”
“You are. And will that fix her.”
“So I’m going to sing in Town Hall? Well in the first place I can’t sing in Town Hall, and in the second place I don’t want to sing in Town Hall, and in the third place it’s just plain silly. And in addition to that, wouldn’t that fix her? Just another boughten recital in Town Hall, with a lot of third-string critics dropping in for five minutes and another gang of stooges out there laughing at me. And in addition to that, I don’t go out and drum up another crowd. I’ve had enough.”
“They won’t be third-string critics and it won’t be a drummed-up crowd.”
“I know that racket, so does she, and—”
“Not if I sing with you.”
“What do you want to do, ruin me?”
“I guess that wouldn’t do, at that... Leonard, you’re right. The Town Hall idea is no good. But... Carnegie, a regular, bona fide appearance with the Philharmonic, that would be different, wouldn’t it?”
“Are you crazy?”
“Leonard, if you put yourself in my hands, if you do just what I say, I’ll have you singing with the Philharmonic in a year. With that voice, I guarantee it. And let her laugh that off. just let her laugh that off. Baby, do you want that woman? Do you want her eating out of your hand? Do—”
I opened my eyes to razz it some more, but all of a sudden a picture popped in front of my eyes, of how Doris would look out there, listening to me, and I started to laugh. Yes, it warmed me up.
“What’s the matter?”
“It’s the most cock-eyed thing I ever heard in my life. But... all right. We’ll pretend that’s how it’s going to come out. Anyway, I’ll have an excuse to see you some more.”
“You don’t need any excuse for that.”
“Me, in soup and fish, up there in front of a big orchestra, bellowing at them.”
“You’ll have to work.”
“I’m used to work.”
“You’ll have to study music, and sight-reading, and harmony, and languages, especially Italian.”
“Perche devo studiare l’italiano?”
“You speak Italian?”