I'ARTISAN
REVIEW AND ANVIL
his like a closeup in a movie. She had a young rarely kissed
new pink look. Her mouth was moving. He could see it mak-
ing clucking noises, but a noise like long distance in his ears
kept him from hearing what she said. It was only when he
was talking he didn't
feel scared.
"Look here young
woman . . .", he could hear himself talking. He was en-
joying hearing himself talking. "I'm payin'
my bills in this
hospital and I'm gain' to have every thin' just how I want it.
What's the use of ha-vir,' the dough if I can't have every-
thin' just exactly the way I want it ....
I want you to sit
here an'
listen while I talk,
see. Let's see what was
I tellin' that bird about? He may be a doctor but he looks
like William Kaiser the butcher to me.
"There's somebody to see you Mr. Anderson. \Vould you
like me to freshen your face up a little?"
"What's her name? ...
Be sure to ask her name."
Charley turned his eyes. The screen had been pushed open.
In the grey oblong of the door there was Margo. She was in
green. She was looking at him with eyes round as a bird's.
"You're not mad, lVlargery, are you?"
"I'm worse than mad, I'm ,vorried ...
you poor unfor-
tunate son of a bitch."
"Every thin's goin' to be oke, Margo. I got a swell saw-
bones from New York. He'll patch me up. He looks like
William Kaiser the butcher all except the mustaches
.
what do you know about that I forgot the mustaches
.
Gosh you look shot, kid ....
Don't look at me funny like
that. I'm all right, see. I just feel better if I talk, see.
"Say Charley are you well enough to write out a check?
I've got to have some jack. You know you were gain' to give
me a commission on that airport deal. And I've got to hire
a lawyer for you. That county attorney's sworn Out a war-
rant. I brought your New York check-book."
"He can't do any thin'
...
the girl's all right ain't she?
Jesus Margo I may have made a certain amount of jack
but I'm not the Bank of England."
"Maybe your memory's gettin'
short, but you said you'd
open an account for me for ten grand." Her face was all hard
lines under the makeup.
"Gimme a chance to get out of the hospital ....
Don't
let this get you Margo. I'm afraid you're lettin'
it get you."
"Charley, you poor unfortunate bastard ...
you don't
think it's any fun for me to worry you at a time like this
•.. but I've got to eat like other people
an' if I had some
jack I could fix that county attorney up
and keep the
stuff out of the papers and everything. You know the kind
of story they'll make out of it ...
but I got to have money
quick."
"All right, make out a check for five thousand ....
Damn
lucky for you I didn't break my arm."
The pretty pink nurse had come back. Her voice was cold
and sharp and icy. "I'm afraid it's time," she said.
Margo leaned over and kissed him on the forehead.
Charley felt like he was in a glass case. There was the touch
of her lips, the smell of her dress, her hair, the perfume she
used,but he couldn't feel them. Like a scene in a movie he
watched her walk out, the sway of her hips under the tight
cnen dress, the little nervous way she was fluttering the
checkunder her chin to dry the ink on it.
"Say Nurse it's like a run on a bank ....
I guess they
think the old institution's not so sound as it might be ....
I'm givin'
orders now see, tell 'em down at the desk, no
more visitors, see? You and me an' Dr. Kaiser William there
that's enough see....
The Bank of England wants a little
quiet, see?"
"Anyway now it's time for a little X-ray," said the pretty
pink nurse, in a cheerful voice as if it were a show or a
baseball game they were going to. "First we'll rinse your
mouth out."
An orderly came in. The room started moving away from
the cot, a grey corridor was moving along, but the moving
made blind spasms of pain rush up through him from his
legs. He sank into sour puking blackness again. When it
was light again it was very far away. A
SOrt
of reddish
mist was over everything. He was talking but way off some-
where. He could feel the talk coming out of his throat but
he couldn't hear it. What he heard was the doctor's voice
saying
peritonitis
like it was the finest party in the world,
like you'd say
baseball game.
There were other voices. His
eyes were open, there were other voices. He must be delirious.
There was Jim sitting there with a puzzled sour gloomy look
on his face like he used to see him when he was a kid on
Sunday afternoons going over his books.
"That you Jim? How the hell did you get here?"
"We flew," answered Jim. It was a surprise to Charley
that people could hear him, his voice was so far away.
"Everything's all right Charley ....
You mustn't exert your-
self in the least way. I'll attend to everything."
"Can you hear me, Jim? It's like a bum long distance
phone connection."
"That's all right Charley ....
We'll take charge of every-
thing. You just rest quiet. Say, Charley, just as a precaution
I want to ask you did you make a will?"
"Say was it
p"eritonitis
I heard somebody say? That's bad
ain't it?"
Jim's long horse face was white. "It's ...
it's just a little
operation.
I thought maybe you'd better give me a power
of attorney superseding all others, so that you won't have
anything on your mind, see. I have it all made out, and I
have Judge Grey here as a witness and Hedwig'll come in
a minute ....
Tell me are you married to this woman?"
"Me married? After Doris? Never again ....
Good old
Jim always wantin'
people to sign things. Too bad I didn't
break my arm. \Vell what do you think about planes now,
Jim? Not practical yet ... eh? But practical enough to make
more money than you ever maJe sellin' tin lizzies ....
Don't
get sore Jim ....
Say Jim be sure to get plenty good doc-
tors ....
I'm pretty sick do you know it? ...
It makes you
so hoarse ....
Don't do to save on the doctors ....
I want
to talk like we used to when you know up the Red River
fishin' when there wasn't any ....
I feel like I was passin'
out again. Make that doctor give me somethin'. That was a
shot. Thank you, nurse, made me feel fine, clears everything
up. I tell you Jim things are hummin'
in the air ...
mail
subsidies, airports ...
all these new airliners ...
we'll be in
on the ground floor on all that ....
They thought they had
me out on my ass but I fooled 'em ....
Jesus Jim I wish
I could stop talkin'
and go to sleep. But this passin' out's
not like sleep it's like ..• somethin'
you don't come out of."
He had to keep talking but it wasn't any use. He was too
hoarse for them to hear. He was dropping spinning being
sucked down into. . . .
5
