was getting god damn sick of Toby; hearing about him and having anything to do with him was nothing but a pain in the ass, and it was too easy to imagine her doing the things she was talking about. I kept my prick in her mouth and made her suck it until I thought I was going to shoot, and then I yanked it away from her.
“Go on and shoot if you want to. Don't mind about me; you can't stop now,” Ruth said.
“The hell I can't.” I stood up and shoved my prick back in my pants. I almost shot anyway, and I would have if she had managed to hold onto it a couple of seconds longer.
“Get your clothes on and let's get the hell out of here,” I said.
I went into the front room and smoked a butt and played Louis Armstrong's “Gut Bucket Blues” and the first movement of Koussevitzky's recording of Sibelius' Second, and then Ruth came out all dressed up and we went out.
There was all kinds of shit at the bank when we tried to cash the checks, but I found a teller who knew me and we walked out with more money than we had had in a long time. Ruth wanted to eat at Uncle's so she could flash one of the century notes on him, but I said to hell with that and we went to a place where the food was decent. Ruth talked about going to the country on our money, and the way she told about it was better than anything I have ever heard about the country, and I finally began to almost believe that it would be the way she said it was. There was a lot of talk about drinking milk and sleeping late in the morning, and I liked that, and there was some more about taking a typewriter and me doing some work and I wasn't so sure about that part, but most of it sounded pretty good, and I didn't see why we shouldn't try it.
The place will probably be full of nice little farm girls who don't know anything,” Ruth said. “I hear that they are awfully easy to lay. It's all the nice fresh air and the eggs they eat. It makes them healthy, and being healthy makes them easy to get.”
She was giving the country a real build-up, and I said finally that it was all right with me if we tried it, but I wasn't going to come back with the Great American Novel all nicely typed and tied with blue ribbon. We decided that we would figure it all out later, and we went out to get the books I wanted.
There was only one fellow in the book store, and as soon as we walked in I noticed that Ruth was interested in him. He was all right, I guess, but I wished to hell she wouldn't do that when she was with me. She started to talk to him about some book and she got him back of one of the counters, and I knew then that she was getting the poor bastard so hot that he could hardly hold himself. I changed my mind about buying the books just then, and after I had picked out a couple I paid for them and we went out. I was sore about that business, and I didn't try to hide it when we were outside of the place.
“Jesus, you're a bitch! Can't you even give me a chance to buy some books?” I said.
“Oh Bill, you should have seen his face when I moved up against him behind the counter! He kept looking at you, and he was afraid you'd notice, but he couldn't keep himself from getting a hard on.”
“You don't understand anything. Sometimes I believe you don't feel anything either. Do you think I can go back there and buy books now?”
“He's a perfectly nice boy. He'd never remember you anyway, because they have a lot of trade at that place.”
“Sure,” I said. “And every man who comes in brings along a woman who gives the clerks a free feel. My god, you're sloppy.”
“It's all right for you to say that; you had a fuck already today. And what the lousy hell have I had? Toby.”
“If you mention him again I'll slam you,” I said. “I don't want to hear that nancy's name.”
We were passing Uncle's, and Ruth took my arm and we went in. We had our drinks at a table, and Ruth moved her chair around by mine and commenced to feel for my prick.
“Damn it,” I said, “if you don't stop I'll throw you on the bar with the other tidbits.”
“I'll have to suggest something like that to Uncle. A slice of bologna and a slice of ass. With the clientele he's got that would be a knock-out.”
“You're going to have us thrown out of here again. Uncle doesn't like to have you around since the time you came in here with just your coat.”
“I'll spit in Uncle's ravioli if he gets tough with me. I'll do worse than that. Bill, for god's sake, will you take me someplace and throw a fuck into me? I think I'm going crazy.”
“No,” I said. “I'm going to buy some books.” I stood up: “By myself.”
“If you don't fuck me. I'll go back there and ask the book clerk to do it. I mean it.”
“Now you've done it. I knew it. Here comes Uncle.”
Uncle lumbered like a bear on his sore feet.
“Something's wrong?” he asked. “The drinks ain't no good, maybe?”
“Everything's all right. Everything's fine.”
Ruth took one of the hundred dollar bills from her purse and gave it to him. He crumpled it up in his hand and smelled the drinks and then went back to the bar. He was standing at the cash drawer looking at the bill when we started out.
“Is this real?” he said.
“Of course it's real,” Ruth said. “See the threads in it?”
“Then I can't change it.”
“I guess this drink is on you then,” said Ruth.
She folded the bill and put it in her purse and we walked out of Uncle's place. That was the first free drink I'd ever had in there, and now that I saw how easy it was I thought I would try to do it more often.
“What are you going to do now?” I asked Ruth.
“I'm sorry I goosed the cook, or whatever it is I've done,” Ruth said. “Do you still want to take me to the country with you, Bill?”
“I guess so. I'm stoical, like the Indians.”
“Then let's do it right now. Let's fix it so we can go tomorrow. Do you know how you go to the country? All I know is that you take a bus.”
“I think Charlie Hodges went to the country once,” I said. “He ought to be home right now, too. I'll call him.”
We went into a cigar store, and Charlie was home and said to come up. He said he knew all about the country and even knew of a farm house we could get. I hung up and waited to see if my money would come back, but it didn't, and I went out and told Ruth what Charlie had said. There was a taxi stand at the corner, and because we had money now we started for that instead of the street car stop.
“We're going to the country! The CUNT-ery!” Ruth sang.
She started to skip, and I ran after her.
Chapter II
Well-Charlie and Ruth had known each other for a long time and they got along all right now. They hadn't gotten along so well at first because Charlie wanted to take her apart and put her back together the way he thought she ought to be. When he forgot that idea they got along pretty well.
We sat around in his place and he told us about the old farm house he had lived in one summer. It sounded all right, and he said that he could wire to the people who owned it and if it was to be had we could probably go up in a couple of days. Ruth didn't want to wait that long.
“It won't be a good idea in a couple of days,” she said.
Charlie said that he supposed he could telephone, and fix it up, so we had him do that. Then, while he was on the phone the doorbell rang and I answered it. I didn't know the fellow who walked in, but Charlie waved at him and he sat down and poured himself a drink. Ruth was in the bathroom just then, and she didn't come out until Charlie had finished talking to the people who owned the farm.
“It's all right,” Charlie said when he clicked the receiver down. “You can go up tomorrow if you want to.”
“Introduce me to the girl,” said the fellow who had just come in. “I want to talk to her.”
Charlie said the words and mixed another shakerful of drinks. “If we're going up there tomorrow we'd better
