384
PARTISAN REVIEW
"Where will you live?"
"I bought a co-op off Gramercy Park. It's more Illana's style
than Bedford."
"God works in mysterious ways," Michael laughs.
"Never mind God," his father says. "There are no mysteries in
real estate, Michael. Even when I was organizing, I understood the
simple equations . Buy cheap, sell dear. Then try to buy cheaper and
sell dearer. It's all in the progressions . Nothing so violent it rocks the
boat. You don't learn that from reading Marx."
"Don't you?" Michael says.
His father waves his hand, dismissing his question. "Illana
wants stability . She's pregnant . Your father is about to become a
father ."
"I'll be twenty-five in another four months," Michael says .
"And I'll be forty-nine in another three weeks. So what? I've got
you and the girls . Now I'll have a baby . It's a funny world."
Funny enough , Michael thinks. For here he is now, a year
later, lying in his parents' bed next to Miriam. In front of him is the
blank television screen, the same set he and Miriam would watch
when she used to sit for his sisters . And she has just announced she is
bisexual in a voice she might have used to ask him whether he liked a
yellow turtleneck sweater. His new sister is five months old and
ensconced in a large apartment in what the real estate ads now called
"a distinguished pre-war apartment residence ," while her mother
pores through booklets from the Dalton School and Ethical Culture
and the Lycee . "Illana says it's never too early," his father had told
him at dinner two nights earlier. He and his father now had dinner
once a week, usually in the Irish bar across the street. "She wants the
best for Katherine. "
"What do you want for Katherine?"
"What I want for the girls . Or for you ."
"Name it," Michael demands, unable to force the irritation
from his voice . "Name the legacy . Real estate . Antiques. Securities ."
"You want to be a writer, Michael," his father says, right index
finger tapping the rim of the shot glass on the table in front of him,
"so be a writer. But not on my ass . Don't confuse it with virtue . I
knew your mother's friends. There wasn't one of them who didn't
pant after his dollar. In this world , Michael. And I don't know of
any other."
"I don't know of any other either," Michael admits . He is angry
