488
JOYCE CAROL OATES
FATHER:
Can she - can she hear us? Can she understand what
we're saying?
FATHER:
Shelley....
PETER:
Shelley, come here ! Look at her! She's playful as a kitten,
as a puppy! There's something so innocent about her. . . . She's
a piece of matter the spirit has left, it's drained out and left her
very innocent. Her soul drained out through the cracks of her
darling little body, through its various delicate clefts and holes!–
isn't that right, Shelley? Come here and stand by me. You can
lis–
ten to us if you want to. I sn't she beautiful? She pretends to
be
sicker than she is. They all do. They want to be pitied and cuddled
and then they change their minds, they get afraid, they run away,
and then they change their minds again and weep because they
have no one to hold them, they can't determine the limitations of
their bodies unless someone is always with them, embracing them.
Oh, they change their minds twenty times a day! They slip
in
and
out of their minds like clothing ! All of them want to die in a man's
embrace, the life squeezed out of them, a big bear hug, a cosmic
bear hug ! Look at her. Between her legs the universe opens up–
that darkness, that lovely dark machinery! - but she doesn't know
it, she's too far gone.
FATHER:
What's wrong with her ...?
PETER:
We must talk man to man. Of course you're not her father.
You've looked me up to make a deal with me; you want the girl
for yourself. Right?
FATHER:
Shelley, are you ready to come home with me?
S HELLEY
laughs wildly, waving him away. She «poses," arching
her back, moving conquettishly.
PETER
rubs his hands.
PETER:
If
I seriously thought you were this girl's father, barging in
here to ruin her life, to take her back to that prison, I would call
the police and have them beat you up. After all, this building is
mine ! I bought it for $10,000 on a land contract last May
and
only three years ago it was worth $110,000 - think of that! Every–
thing is falling - prices, the tax base, the sidewalks, the streets,
everything ! It's a time when people like myself have only to stoop
to pick up prizes; all we have to do is bend over. Our talent thrives
in such troubled times! Ah, we are the truest Americans, the truest
talents! - Are you listening to me? I don't believe you're this girl's
father. Tell us who you are.
