LYDIA DAVIS
131
Grouch is more comfortable with three. Old Mother thinks the Grouch
should be comfortable with two. The Grouch, on the other hand, says,
"I think you like to be cold."
Old Mother does not mind running out of supplies and often forgets
to shop. The Grouch likes to have more than they need of everything,
especially toilet paper and coffee.
On a stormy night the Grouch worries about his cat, shut outdoors
by Old Mother.
"Worry about me," says Old Mother.
Old Mother will not have the Grouch's cat in the house at night
because it wakes her up scratching at the bedroom door or yowling
outside it. If they let it into the bedroom, it rakes up the carpet. If she
complains about the cat, he takes offense: he feels she is really complain–
ing about him.
Friends say they will come to visit, and then they do not come. Out
of disappointment, the Grouch and Old Mother lose their tempers and
quarrel.
On another day, friends say they will come to visit, and this time the
Grouch tells Old Mother he will not be home when they come: they
are not friends of his.
A phone call comes from a friend of hers he does not like.
"It's for you,
angel,"
he says, leaving the receiver on the kitchen
counter.
Old Mother and the Grouch have quarrelled over friends, the West
Coast, the telephone, dinner, what time to go to bed, what time to get
up, travel plans, her parents, his work, her work, and his cat, among
other subjects. They have not quarrelled, so far, over special sale items,
acquisitions for the house, natural landscapes, wild animals, and several
other subjects.
A woman dressed all in red is jumping up and down in a tantrum.
It
is Old Mother, who cannot handle frustration.
If Old Mother talks to a friend out of his earshot, the Grouch thinks
she must be saying unkind things about him. He is not right: often, by
the time he appears glowering in the doorway, she has gone on to other
