They all talked about him as if he were deaf.
And in fact, he was, for he had fallen asleep almost as soon as he got into the cab.
“Does he do this all the time?” Laura asked Burr.
“He’s a great guy, Laura,” Burr said, as if trying to bolster Jack in Laura’s eyes. “He just flies off the handle now and then. I guess he’s got problems.”
At the apartment Laura got out first. Burr said, “I’ll wake him up, Laura,” but she protested. “Just let him sleep,” she said. “I’d hate to interrupt his dreams.”
“I heard that,” said a ragged voice from the shadow inside the car. “You’re a doll, Mother. Sleep well.”
“Good night,” Laura said, smiling.
She was under the covers and almost asleep when Marcie tiptoed in after bidding Burr goodnight. She moved around the room for a few minutes, getting ready for bed. Laura was just barely aware of her. After a little while she heard her turn the light off and cuddle the covers around herself. The silence, up above the city late at night, was deep, lulling, almost country-like. Only an occasional stray horn filtered up to their level. It sounded like a far-off echo. “Laura? Are you asleep?” Marcie whispered.
“Yes.”
“Oh.” She was quiet for a minute. Then she whispered, “I have to ask you something.”
“Don’t marry him. It’ll never work.”
“No, I don’t mean that. I mean—does it make you feel funny to see those people?”
“What people?”
“Queers?”
“They aren’t queer, Marcie. That’s a cruel word.” Her eyes were wide open now in the dark.
“What are they, then?”
“Homosexuals.” She said it shyly.
“That’s too long. Well, does it make you feel funny?”
“I don’t know what you mean, Marcie.”
“Well, I mean like the butch in the ladies’ room. Didn’t she make you feel queer—I mean funny—” She laughed. “—looking at us like she was a man, or something?”
“I guess so.”
“She was looking at us when she was at the bar, too.”
“She was?” Laura was amazed that Marcie would notice such a thing. “How do you know?”
Marcie laughed again. “I was looking at her,” she said.
“You what?”
“Oh, not the way you think. I was just sort of looking around and she was looking at our table. I think she wanted to come up and talk to us but she didn’t dare with the boys there. She knew we weren’t gay.”
“Is that what they call it—gay?”
“Yes. You know, it gave me the funniest feeling, her staring at us like that.”
Laura turned over in her bed, very wide awake. She said to herself, I won’t ask her about it, but she couldn’t help asking. “What sort of feeling?” she whispered.
“Well, it was like … if I tell you you won’t think I’m like them, will you?”
“Oh, no! Of course not.” Laura felt the blood beating in her throat.
“It was like I wanted to know what she’d do to me. If we were alone, I mean. I was sort of curious. I wondered what it would feel like. Not that I’d ever let a girl—I mean—Laura, did you ever kiss a girl?”
“No,” Laura said. In the dark she could lie pretty well. Her blushing cheeks didn’t show.
“I did, once.”
Laura put her hands to her throat and tried to still her breathing. “Did you like it?” she whispered.
“Not much. But I didn’t dislike it. I was at that age. She was a friend of mine in Junior High. Maybe she turned out queer. I mean homosexual. She probably thinks I turned out queer,” and she laughed. “She was always wanting to touch tongues.”
Laura shivered. “Did you?”
“A couple of times. It gave me the creeps. With a man it’s so lovely.” Laura heard her turn in her bed to face her. “Didn’t you ever do that when you were little? We used to do it a lot, just because it felt so awful. But Lenore was always wanting to do it with me when we got older. We were sort of best friends for a while.”
Laura was sitting up, shivering, on the edge of her bed. She thought, Dear God, if there is a God, help me now. Don’t let me touch her. Please don’t let me.
Suddenly Marcie got up and crossed the small aisle between the beds. She felt Laura and sat beside her. “Stick out your tongue,” she commanded, giggling.
“No!”
“Come on. I want to feel twelve years old again. I feel silly. Stick your tongue out.” She was teasing and Laura could see the flash of gold hair in the moonlight that struck them from the window by the bed.
“Marcie, don’t do this! Don’t! You’re playing with fire. Please, this is crazy.” But her voice dwindled to a whisper as Marcie took her face in her hands, and she was powerless to resist. She let herself be pulled toward Marcie, felt Marcie’s soft wet tongue searching for her own. Laura opened her mouth with a slight gasp. Her arms went out to grasp Marcie’s slender body as a groan escaped her.
Suddenly the phone rang. Laura gave a little scream of shock. They were both utterly silent and motionless until it rang again. Then Marcie began to laugh. “Oh, wouldn’t you know!” she said. “Saved by the bell. Saved from a life of sin.” The phone rang again. “I’ll get it,” Marcie said. She sprang up from the bed. Laura sat frozen where she was, hugging herself, trembling and miserable. “It’s probably Burr wanting to apologize for being such a skunk,” Marcie said. She threw herself across her bed and lifted the receiver. “Hello? … Laura, it’s for you.” She put her hand over the mouthpiece and said, “It’s Jack.”
“I don’t want to talk to him.”
“Don’t be silly. Talk to him.”
Unwillingly Laura took the phone, sitting on the bed beside Marcie. She was so conscious of Marcie’s body stretched out there beside her that she had trouble concentrating on Jack.
He said, “Mother, I’ve been an ass.”
“I know.”
“Forgive
