DANIEL ASA ROSE
565
Roy awoke with a familiar but ghastly pain in his chest.
Carefully he took himself out of the bedroom, out of the house,
and across the dark yard. He slumped in the middle seat of the
family station wagon and groaned in privacy for an hour until
the sun came up and the pain subsided. Thereupon he walked
into the house and put on the kitchen radio softly. When Rita
came downstairs he was fixing an omelette with chopped ham,
green peas and red pepper. Rita activated the oven fan and
removed herself
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the living room, where twelve pillows were
lying in wait for their Sunday fluffing. She went around the
room giving each pillow four wallops, little by little loosening
her yellow blouse from her black short-shorts. By her fourth
pillow she had worked up a sweat above her lip, and by her sixth
pillow she had worked up a rage. Physical activity first thing in
the morning, when what she rea ll y wanted to do was lounge in
bed, could always be counted upon to rouse some rage. She did it
to herself deliberately, as if she were two people, one a sleepy–
headed camper and the other a bugle-mouthed counselor on a
campaign to make life miserable for all spoi led slugabeds. Rise
and shine, you pampered bitch! Eight, nine, ten-each pillow
was socked harder than the last - and the twelfth was carried
furiously into the kitchen. "Wi ll you p lease wake our darling
young son!" she demanded over the racket of the fan.
Roy took the skillet with its bubbling omelette up to
Ricky 's room. "Oh Ricky boy ... " he sang to the tune of
"Danny Boy," waving the dish, filling the dark, draped bedroom
with an adventurous odor, " ... your parents want you dow–
hown stairs." " Ugh," said Ricky. "Oh yes they do ... " began
the father again, " ... or they wil l fry your fa-an-ny," humor–
ously touching the ski ll et
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the appointed mound in the
blankets. "Leave me a lone!" snarled the boy, turning his head
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the wall, "I'll be down in a minute." Roy started to leave as there
came, from under the pillow, an exclamation like a defiant
"Good night!"-but lewd.
His chest seized up and Roy hurried out of the room.
The morning heated; telephone arrangements were made to
receive refugees from Riverside Drive; at around eleven the not–
quite-sporty Datsun crunched up the driveway with H enrietta at
