«Lie down there,» I said, pushing Irma gently back on the divan.
Irma took my hand and pulled. «You lie down too,» she said.
I raised the glass to my lips and as it was slipping down my throat the light went out. I heard Dolores saying—«No, don't do that,
When I arrived at Riverside Drive it was almost dawn. Mona had not returned. I lay listening for her step. I began to fear that she had met with an accident—worse, that perhaps she had killed herself, or tried to, at least. It was possible too that she had gone home to her parents. But then why had she left the cab? Perhaps to run to the subway. But then the subway was not in that direction. I could of course telephone her home, but I knew she would interpret that badly. I wondered if she had telephoned during the night. Neither Rebecca or Arthur ever bothered to leave a message for me; they always waited until they saw me.
Towards eight o'clock I knocked at their door. They were still asleep. I had to knock loudly before they answered. And then I learned nothing—they had come home very late themselves.
In despair I went to Kronski's room. He too was muffled in sleep. He didn't seem to know what I was driving at.
Finally he said: «What's the matter—has she been out all night again? No, there wasn't any call for you. Get out of here... leave me alone!»
I hadn't slept a wink. I felt exhausted. But then the reassuring thought came to me that she might telephone me at the office. I almost expected a message to be lying on my desk waiting for me.
Most of the day went by in taking cat naps. I slept at my desk, my head buried in my folded arms. Several times I called Rebecca to see if she had received any message, but it was always the same answer. When it came time to close shop I lingered on. No matter what had happened, I could not believe that she would let the day pass without telephoning me. It was just incredible.
A strange, nervous vitality possessed me. Suddenly I was wide awake, more wide awake than I could have been had I rested three days in bed. I would wait another half hour and if she didn't phone I would go directly to her home.
As I was pacing back and forth with pantherish strides the stairway door opened and a little shaver with dark skin entered. He closed the door behind him quickly as if he were shutting out a pursuer. There was something jolly and mysterious about him which his Cuban voice exaggerated.
«You
«Well, well,» I said, chuckling and stroking him under the chin—he was the size of a midget and looked like one—«so you're a poet? Then I'm surely going to give you a job.»
«I'm an acrobat too,» he said. «My father had a circus once. You will find me very speedy on my legs. I love to go hither and about with zest and alacrity. I am also extremely courteous and when delivering a message I would say, 'Thank you sir', and doff my cap respectfully. I know all the streets by heart, including the Bronx. And if you would put me in the Spanish neighborhood you would find me very effective. Do I please you, sir?» He gave me a bewitching grin which implied that he knew very well how to sell himself.
«Go over there and sit down,» I said. «I'll give you a blank to fill out. To-morrow morning you can start in bright and early—with a smile.»
«Oh I can smile, sir—beautifully,» and he did.
«You're sure you're eighteen?»
«Oh yes, sir, that I can prove. I have all my papers with me.»
I gave him an application blank and went to the adjoining room—the rink—to leave him in peace. Suddenly the telephone rang. I bounded back to the desk and picked up the receiver. It was Mona speaking, in a subdued, restrained, unnatural voice, as though she had been drained hollow.
«He died a little while ago,» she said. «I've been at his side ever since I left you...»
I mumbled some inadequate words of consolation and then I asked her when she was coming back. She wasn't sure just when, she wanted me to do her a little favor... to go to the department store and buy her a mourning dress and some black gloves. Size sixteen.
«It's all right, Juan,» I said, «everybody has to die some time.»
«Was that your wife who telephoned?» he asked. His eyes were moist and glistening.
«Yes,» I said, «that was my wife.»
«I'm sure she must be beautiful.»
«What makes you say that?»
«The way you talked to her... I could almost see her. I wish I could marry a beautiful woman some day. I think about it very of ten.»
«You're a funny lad,» I said. «Thinking about marriage already. Why, you're just a boy.»
«Here's my application, sir. Will you kindly look it over now so that I may be sure I can come tomorrow?»
I gave it a quick glance and assured him it was satisfactory.
«Then I am at your service, sir. And now, sir, if you will pardon me, may I suggest that you let me stay with you a little while? I don't think it is good for you to be alone at this moment. When the heart is sad one needs a friend.»
I burst out laughing. «A good idea,» I said. «We'll go to dinner together, how's that? And a movie afterwards—does that suit you?»
He got up and began to frisk about like a trained dog. Suddenly he became curious about the empty room in the rear. I followed him in and watched him good-naturedly as he examined the paraphernalia. The roller skates intrigued him. He had picked up a pair and was examining them as if he had never seen such things before.
«Put them on,» I said, «and do a turn. This is the skating rink.»
«Can you skate also?» he asked.
«Sure I can. Do you want to see me skate?»
«Yes,» he said, «and let me skate with you. I haven't done it for years and years. It's a rather comical diversion, is it not?»
We slipped the skates on. I shot forward with hands behind my back. Little Juan Rico followed at my heels. In the center of the room there were slender pillars; I looped in and around the pillars as if I were giving an exhibition.
«I say, but it's very exhilarating, isn't it?» said Juan breathlessly. «You glide like a zephyr.»
«Like a what?»
«Like a
«Oh,
«I wrote a poem once about a zephyr—that was long ago.»
I took his hand and swung him around. Then I placed him in front of me and with my hands on his waist I pushed him along, guiding him lightly and dexterously about the floor. Finally I gave him a good push and sent him skedaddling to the other end of the room.
«Now I'll show you a few fancy turns that I learned in the Tyrol,» I said, folding my arms in front of me and raising one leg in the air. The thought that never in her life would Mona suspect what I was doing this minute gave me a demonic joy. As I passed and repassed little Juan, who was now sitting on the window-sill absorbed in the spectacle, I made faces at him—first sad and mournful, then gay, then insouciant, then hilarious, then meditative, then stern, then menacing, then idiotic. I tickled myself in the arm-pits, like a monkey; I waltzed like a trained bear; I squatted low like a cripple; I sang in a cracked key, then shouted like a maniac. Round and round, ceaselessly,
