OCEAN
IS
"Oh, Mommy," Stephen complained, ascending the semi-circular
steps at the shallow end of the pool.
.
"Look at you! Look at your eyes, they're bloodshot. You
won't be happy until you tum into a fish. Come on now," Mommy
said, taking Stephen's hand and leading him towards the Mah Jong
table. "I want you to go inside and change your suit. Come; I'll
give you the bathhouse key."
"There he is! There's my angel," Aunt Ida glowed.
«Unbesch–
reiblich,
Hattie, is that a doll!"
"Stevie," Mommy coached, "give Aunt Ida a
kiss."
"Hello, Aunt Ida," Stephen said. Kiss! "Hello, Aunt Fanny."
Kiss.
"Huhwo, wuffie," Aunt Fanny gabbled, her mouth, as always,
packed with pralines.
"What about
me?"
Mrs. Tishman asked. "Don't
I
get a
kiss?"
"Hello, Mrs. Tishman." Kiss. "Hello, Mrs. Kanig." Kiss.
"All right, darling," Mommy said. "Here's the key. Now go
and change your suit."
Stephen did as he was told: took the key and trotted around
the pool towards the bathhouses.
As
he did so, Aunt Ida repeated
the word
unbeschreiblich,
and Stephen thought: there are just too
many words like that-like pung and kong and Mah Jong-that don't
make any sense ...
As
he entered Row A of the bathhouses, Stephen
slowed down to a walk to protect his bare feet from the splintery
boards. He loved this part of the Casino. Its long, narrow, east–
west streets, intersected by shorter, broader avenues, constituted
a city for him- a city in which he could explore and hide and chase
around for hours without ever really getting lost or run over.
Occasionally, among the million, identical, gray wooden doors (each
with its six-inch diamond cut way above the level of a grown–
up's eyes) Stephen would discover one that wasn't locked- a bath–
house that had not been rented for the summer I-and appropriate
it for himself, turning it into a tower or dungeon, a place in which
to
think
his private thoughts, hold dialogues with imaginary friends,
store treasures and eavesdrop on
his
neighbors. It was in one of
these dark cells that he had first overheard the words: "Hauptman,"
"F. D. R.," "tits" and "excruciate," before some officious attendant
