THE EINHORNS
641
alleging instruction, boisterous that I was still cherry and at last,
from kindness, she one day said that if I'd come back in the evening
I could take her home. She left me so horny I was scarcely able to
walk. I hid out in the poolroom, dreading that Einhorn would send
for me. But Clem came with a message from her that she had
changed her mind. I was bitter about that but I reckon I felt freed,
too, from a crisis. "Didn't I tell you?" said Clem. "You both work
for the same boss, and she's his little nooky. His and a couple of
other guys'. But not for you. You don't know anything and you
don't have any money."
"Why, damn her souIl"
"Well, Einhorn would give her anything. He's nuts about her."
I couldn't conceive that. It wouldn't be like Einhorn to settle his
important feelings on a tramp. But that exactly was what he had
done. He was mad for her. Einhorn knew, too, that he shared her
with a few hoodlums from the poolroom. Of course he knew. It
wasn't in his life to be without information; he had the stow.age of an
anthill for
it,
with weaving black lines of approvisioners creeping into
the crest from every direction. They told him what would be the
next tum in the Lingle case, or what the public auction schedule
would be, or about appellate court decisions before they were in
print and where there was hot goods, from furs to school supplies;
so he had a line on Lollie from the beginning to the end.
Eleanor Klein asked me sentimental questions. Did I have
a sweetheart yet? It was a thing I appeared ripe for. Our old
neighbor, Kreines, asked me too, but in a different way, and on
the q.t. He judged I was no longer a kid and he could reveal himself,
his cock-eyes turning fierce and gay.
«Schmeist du schon,
August?
You've got friends? Not my son. He comes home from the store
and reads the paper.
S'interesiert ihm nicht.
You're not too young
are you? I was younger than you and
gefiihrlich.
I couldn't get
enough. Kotzie doesn't take after me...." He much needed to
pronounce himself the better and in fact the only man in his house;
and he did look very sturdy when he massed up his teeth and
creased his out-of-doors, rugged face to smile. He saw a lot of
weather, for he went through the entire West Side on foot with his
satchel of samples. Because he had to count every nickel. And he had
the patience and hardness of steady pavement going that passes the
