JOYCE CAROL OATES
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treating rather wistfully at the crown of his head. "Your husband seems to
bear the gift of happiness," Charlotte Carson told Ceci Riegel. Charlotte
sometimes spoke too emotionally and wondered now if she had too clearly
exposed her heart. But Ceci simply smiled one of her mysterious smiles.
"Yes. He tries."
In any social gathering the Riegels were likely to be, without visible
effort, the cynosure of attention. When Paul Riegel strode into a crowded
room wearing one of his bright ties, or his familiar sports-coat-sports-shirt–
open-collar with well-laundered jeans, people looked immediately to him and
smiled . There's Paul Riegel! He bore his minor celebrity with grace and
even a kind of aristocratic humility, shrugging off questions in pursuit of the
public side of his life. If, from time to time, having had a few drinks, he told
wildly amusing exaggerated tales, even, riskily, outrageous ethnic or dialect
jokes, he told them with such zest and childlike self-delight his listeners were
convulsed with laughter.
Never, or almost never, did he forget names.
And his wife Ceci - petite, ash-blond, impeccably dressed, with a deli–
cate classically proportioned face like an old-fashioned cameo - was surely his
ideal mate. She was inclined at times to be fey but she was really very
smart. She had a lovely whitely glistening smile as dazzling as her husband's
and as seemingly sincere. For years she had been an interior designer in
New York City and since moving to the country was a consultant to her
former firm; it was rumored that her family "had money" and that she had
either inherited a small fortune or spurned a small fortune at about the time
of her marriage to Paul Riegel.
It
was rumored too that the Riegels ran through people quickly, used
up friends. That they had affuirs.
Or perhaps it was only Paul who had affairs.
OrCeci.
Imperceptibly, it seemed, the Carsons and the Riegels passed from be–
ing friendly acquaintances who saw each other once or twice a month to be–
ing friends who saw each other each week, or more. There were formal
dinners, and there were cocktail parties, and there were Sunday brunches -
the social staples of suburban life. There were newly acquired favorite
restaurants to patronize and, under Ceci's guidance, outings to New York
City
to
see plays, ballet, opera. There were even picnics from which bicycle
rides and canoe excursions were launched - not without comical misadven–
tures. In August when the Riegels rented a house on Nantucket Island they
invited the Carsons to visit; when the Riegels had house guests the Carsons
were almost always invited to meet them; soon the men were playing
squash together on a regular basis. (Paul won three games out of five, which
