“Cause it’ll make you feel good. It’ll make you feel powerful.”
“Why I need to feel that?”
“Just do it,” she says. “Just this one time. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to do it again.”
I didn’t much want to, but it seemed harmless enough, you know? Wadn’t but a little bit of white powder. An so I done it. Made me sneeze.
“I’ve waited a long time for this, Forrest,” she says. “I want you.”
“Ah, well,” I says, “I thought we had a sort of workin relationship, you know?”
“Yeah, well, it’s time you get to working!” she pants, an begun to undo my tie an grap at me with her hands.
Well, I didn’t know what I was sposed to do. I mean, I had always heard it was a mistake to git involved with persons you work with—”Do not foul your own nest” was what Lieutenant Dan used to say—but at this point, I am truly confused. Miss Hudgins was certainly a beautiful woman, an I had not been with a woman, beautiful or otherwise, in a long time… an after all, you are not sposed to say no to a lady… an so I done made all the excuses I could think of in the time allowed, an the next thing I knowed, Miss Hudgins an I was in bed.
After it was over, she smoked a cigarette an thowed on her clothes an left, an I was there alone. She had lit the fire in the fireplace an the logs was flickerin low an orange, an I was not feelin good, like I reckon I was sposed to, but sort of lonely an scared, an wonderin where my life is headed up in New York City. An as I am lyin there, starin at the fire, lo an behole, there suddenly appeared Jenny’s face in the flames.
“Well, bozo, I spose you’re proud of yourself,” she says.
“Oh, no, I’m not, in fact, I’m sorry. I didn’t never want to get into bed with Miss Hudgins in the first place,” I tole her.
“That’s not what I’m talkin about, Forrest,” Jenny says. “I didn’t expect you to never sleep with another woman. You’re a human. You got needs. That’s not it.”
“Then what is it?”
“Your life, you big moose. What are you doing here? When was the last time you spent any time with little Forrest?”
“Well, I called him a few weeks ago. I sent him money…”
“And you think that’s all there is to it, huh? Just send the money and make a few phone calls?”
“No—but what I’m gonna do? Where I’m gonna
“Yeah? For what? Do you have any idea what those papers are you’re signing every day?”
“I ain’t sposed to, Jenny—that’s what Mr. Bozosky said.”
“Uh huh. Well, I reckon you’re just gonna have to find out the hard way. And I spose you don’t have any idea what that crap was you just stuck up your nose, either.”
“Not really.”
“But you did it anyhow, just like you always do. You know, Forrest, I’ve always said you might not be the brightest feller in town, but you’re not as dumb as you act sometimes. I’ve known you all my life and the problem is, mostly, you just don’t
“Well, I was kinda hopin you’d help me out there a little.”
“I told you, it ain’t my turn to watch you all the time, Forrest. You gotta start lookin out for yourself—and while you’re at it, you might pay a little more attention to little Forrest. Mama’s gettin old, she can’t do it all. Boy like that, he needs a daddy in his life.”
“Where?” I ast. “Here? You want me to move him up to this dump—I might be stupid, but I ain’t so dumb I don’t see that this ain’t no place to raise a boy—everbody either rich or poor, an no in between. These people, they ain’t got no values, Jenny. It’s all about money an shit, an gettin your ass in the newspaper columns.”
“Yeah, an you’re right in the middle of it, aren’t you? What you’re describing is just one side of this town that you’re seeing. Maybe there’s another one. People are pretty much the same, everyplace.”
“I am doing what I am tole,” I says.
“What ever happened to doin the right thing?”
To this, I had no answer, an all of a sudden, Jenny’s face begun to fade behind the fire.
“Now, wait a minute,” I says. “We is just beginnin to get things straight—Don’t go now—It ain’t been but a couple of minutes…”
“See you later, alligator,” she says, an then she is gone. I set up in the bed an tears come to my eyes. Ain’t nobody understands what is happenin with me—not even Jenny. I wanted to pull the sheets over my head an not get up at all, but after a while, I gone on an got dressed an went into the office. On my desk, Miss Hudgins had left a pile of papers for me to sign.
Well, I know that Jenny is right about one thing. I got to spend some time with little Forrest, an so I arranged for him to come up to New York City for a few days’ vacation. He arrived on a Friday, an Eddie picked him up at the airport in my limousine, which I figgered would impress him. It didn’t.
He come into my office wearin dungarees an a T-shirt, took a quick look around, an delivered his opinion.
“I’d rather be back at the pig farm.”
“How come?” I ast.
“What’s so good about all this?” he says. “You gotta nice view. So what?”
“It’s where I earn my livin,” I says.
“Doin what?”
“Signin papers.”
“This what you gonna do the rest of your life?”
“I dunno. I mean, it pays the bills.”
He shook his head an gone over to the winder.
“What’s that out there?” he ast. “That the Statue of Liberty?”
“Yup,” I says. “That’s her.” I can’t get over how much he has growed up. He must be more than five feet tall an is certainly a handsome young man, with Jenny’s blond hair an blue eyes.
“You wanna go see her?”
“Who?”
“The Statue of Liberty.”
“I guess,” he says.
“Well, good, cause I done arranged for us to take a tour of the town these next few days. We is gonna see all the sights.”
So that’s what we did. We gone down Fifth Avenue to see the shops an out to the Statue of Liberty an the top of the Empire State Buildin, where little Forrest says he wants to thow somethin off to see how long it takes to land on the ground. I did not let him do that, though. We gone up to Grant’s Tomb an down to Broadway, where they was a man exposin himself, an in Central Park, but not for long, account of there was muggers present. We took the subway an come out near the Plaza Hotel, where we stopped in for a CokeCola. The bill come an it was twenty-five dollars.
“That’s a bunch of shit,” says little Forrest.
“I reckon I can afford it,” I says, but he just shook his head an walk on out to the car. I can see he ain’t havin such a good time, but what I’m gonna do about it? He don’t want to see no plays, an the FAO Schwarz store bores him. I took him to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, an for a while, he seems interested in somethin looks like King Tut’s tomb, but then he says it’s all just a bunch of ole stuff, an we are on the street again.
I let him off at the apartment an gone back to the office. When Miss Hudgins brought me in another batch of papers to sign, I ast her what I oughta do.
“Well, maybe he’d like to see some famous people, you know?”
“Where I’m gonna find em?”
“Only place in town,” she says, “Elaine’s restaurant.”
“What is that?” I ast.
“You gotta see it to believe it” was Miss Hudgins’ answer.
