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PARTISAN REVIEW
gency. As he drove along, he spoke to his passenger, turning the
edge of his profile carelessly in the process .
"Well, she is no longer with us," he said both to himself and to
the passenger.
"Yes."
"A remarkable woman . There aren't many like her." And he
pressed the car horn, barely missing a pedestrian.
For a time he maintained a morbid silence . Then he said, "I
know you . That is, not personally, but Bessie told me all about you.
She showed me your picture. That's how 1 recognized you."
"Are you a relative?"
"No, hardly that. We got to know each other about a year ago,
and right off it turned, so to speak, into a friendship . She held
nothing back, told me all there was to know, and 1 respected her for
it. What's the point in bluffing? No one would expect a woman her
age to be a virgin ."
He abruptly braked the car for a red light. For a while neither
of them spoke . Then the driver began again : "What was it that hap–
pened between you two? Why didn't you get married?-But like 1
say, it's all fate. There is nothing one can do to forestall destiny . 1
wanted her to come to some sort of a decision . I'm not rich, mind
you , but she would have had a good life with me. Both my daughters
are married. I'm in real estate . I build bungalows.
If
I wanted to, 1
could retire today . I offered to take her to Europe, to Israel,
wherever she wanted. My sons-in-law don't need my money and you
can't take it with you, so why the hell save and skimp? But she kept
putting it off, putting it off.
-"Hey,
where do you thinkyou're going?"
He
suddenly yelled to a passerby.
"You damned bum!"
For a time he was silent . "Do you smoke? I smoke ten cigars a
day . The doctors say it's bad for a man of my age, but one thing is
sure, I won't die young anymore . And as long as I live, I want to en–
joy myself. Once you're on the other side, it's already too late . Yes
sir, it looked as if Bessie and I would hit it off real fine until that
other party horned in -"
"The
other
party?"
"That Levy guy. She didn't tell you? I was under the impres–
sion that you'd remained friends ."
"No, she didn't tell me."
"Yes, the dentist. What she saw in him I'll never know, but
what do we men know about women's taste? He talks real fancy and
runs to concerts at Carnegie Hall. He is also some kind of a big shot
