'Is it up to you?' I said.
She almost blushed.
'Not yet, not now,' she said. 'I've got too much to do here. Three Fillies is a huge operation, Daddy can't run it by himself anymore.'
'Gee, he looks fine,' I said.
'Oh, he is. But he's got too much money now. He's… too important. He travels a great deal now. He and Dolly. He just can't concentrate anymore on the day-to-day grind of it.'
'How about the sons-in-law?' I said.
She shrugged. 'They're married to his daughters,' Penny said.
'Isn't Cord the executive VP?'
'Yes.'
'And Pud is…?'
'VP for marketing.'
'Are they real jobs?' I said.
'Well, you come straight at it too, don't you?'
'Susan does subtle,' I said. 'I'm not smart enough.'
'Of course you're not,' Penny said. 'No, they aren't real jobs. I think Daddy hoped they would be. But Pud is… well, you saw Pud.'
'I saw him at his worst,' I said.
'True, and he's not always that bad. When he's sober he's kind of a good old boy.'
'When is he sober?'
'Almost every day,' Penny said, 'until lunch.'
'And Stonie's husband?'
'Cord.'
I nodded. She looked out at the line of stalls. Hugger Mugger, third from the end, was looking out of his stall past the Security South guard as if he were pondering eternity.
'You think he's pondering eternity?' I said.
'Hugger? He's pondering lunch,' Penny said.
'How about Cord?' I said. 'Is he a good old boy, when he's sober?'
She looked almost startled.
'No, Cord isn't a drinker,' she said. 'A little white wine to be social, maybe.'
'And as an executive VP?'
She shook her head. 'Cord's very artistic.'
'So was Wallace Stevens,' I said.
'Isn't he some kind of poet?'
'Yes. He was also vice president of an insurance company.'
'Isn't that odd,' Penny said. 'Cord isn't really interested in business, I'm afraid.'
'What's he interested in?'
'Are you being a detective again?'
'I'm always being a detective,' I said.
'Why do you want to know about Cord?'
'Because I don't know. Part of what I do is collect information. When I have collected enough I sometimes know something.'
'Well, I think it's time to stop talking about my family.'
'Sure,' I said.
We were quiet for a while.
'I know I introduced the topic,' Penny said.
I nodded. Penny smiled. Her teeth were very white against her honeyed tan.
'So I guess I can unintroduce it,' she said.
'Sure,' I said.
'I don't want you to think ill of us,' Penny said. 'All families have their problems. But all in all, we're a pretty nice group.'
