480
JOYCE CAROL OATES
SHELLEY:
It
is Arthur?
PETER: Arthur belongs to the past.
An
extreme personality, but
charming - not that I blame him for what he did to you. He
had every right. I don't defend him because I am a man, de–
fending another man; I defend him because his taste turned out to
be better than I had suspected. No, Arthur is gone.
SHELLEY: Then it's ... Brockwood? Brockway? What was his name
again ...?
PETER: Brockway disappeared, the bastard. Forget about him and
fix yourself up for your new husband Martin. Martin Raven.
Now do you remember?
SHELLEY
(slowly):
I remember him. I think I remember him. You
took me to your place, and to the bathroom there . . . you ran hot
water in the sink ... you washed my hair.... You were so loving,
your hands, the smell of the shampoo ... did you love me then?
(PETER
is looking through a small notebook he has taken out of
his pocket; he pays no attention to
SHELLEY) Yes, you loved me.
My knees kept buckling and you held me steady with your own
knees, your legs, your thighs . . . you loved me . . . you washed
my hair, you shampooed it with green shampoo that burst into
lovely white bubbles, sliding through your fingers, like blossoms ...
you were whistling under your breath.... The soap ran into my
eye and I screamed because it stung so. You had to hold me still.
I was crazy that day, so strung-out ... I don't blame you. ... You
had to press my face down in the water to make me stop scream–
ing. . . . And then you rinsed my hair out and dried it in a big
white towel. You, yourself, drying my hair! Peter himself! With
so much work and so many people hanging on you, needing you
... you took the time to wash my hair and then you dried it for
me and then you put my dress on me and zipped it up the back,
and helped me walk ... and we met this man, this new man ...
what is his name again ...?
PETER: You aren't as stupid as you pretend! Wake up!
SHELLEY: I can almost remember him. . . . We were sitting in a
parked car? Was that it?
PETER
(shaking her):
Martin Raven is his name!
SHELLEY: Martin Raven. Martin. Yes. Martin Raven. Martin Raven.
Martin Raven.
PETER : You could do a little more with yourself. Perfume behind
