BUM'S RUSH IN MANHATTAN
Edward Newhouse
W
HEN MY RENT
was three days overdue the woman came into the
room and said, "Mister, I waited ... "
"Don't wait any longer. I have no money."
I began to get my bundle together. She stood in the doorway. She
said,
"If
you don't mind my saying so, I'm sure I saw that young lady
before, the lady last week. I've been wanting to place her."
"She's a great wearer and smoker of nationally advertised products,"
I said, "Chesterfield cigarettes."
.
"That's her, that's the .lady. Once I see a face, I don't forget it.
If
you don't mind my saying so, couldn't she help you
i'
A woman ought
to see her man tide over."
"It's a nice day,"
I;
said.
"Seasonal weather," the woman said, "I hate to see a young man like
you down on his luck. She ought to help you instead of buying them
expensive clothes."
"How's business?" I said.
"No good. But I wouldn't be saying nothing to you about rent. This
is one of my best rooms. From here you can see the clock on the Metro–
politan Life Insurance Building."
I had the bundle ready. "That's true," I said, "I hadn't noticed. It's
four o'clock: and that makes thirty-two hours I haven't eaten."
She stood aside to let me pass. "I ain't got a thing in the house," she
said.
I walked down Fifth. At first hunger came in waves, then it settled
into the marrows. I had supposed hunger would hit the stomach hardest
but it affected me in the head. Little flames licked the inside of my
skull and sometimes my head was like a toy balloon, so light, really lighter
than air, straining my neck, upward. The urge to walk persisted until
I came to Washington Square where I drank much water.
I sat on a bench and it seemed my eyes had distended and were staring
widely and unnaturally at objects in a strange penpective. Vague phrases
32
