“The Kiowa Room for lunch? It’s a bar, sugar, as you know far better than most.”
“I know, but they’ve begun setting up a buffet in there for lunch. You can get stuffed for a dollar.”
“Really? I didn’t know that.”
“It’s a kind of special attraction for businessmen and such. Do you want to try it?”
“Yes, I do. There’s no thing that appeals to me more than submitting to temptation, and I can’t think of anything more calculated than a buffet to make me submit.”
“Thanks, honey. There’s nothing like running second to beef stroganoff.”
“You shouldn’t take it personally, sugar. I meant at lunchtime only. You are excluded in any event, but you’ll have to admit that we’re a little past the nooner period.”
I wasn’t so sure of that, but anyhow this wasn’t one of the noons, and so we went on over to the hotel and into the Kiowa Room. The buffet was laid out, and the tables were covered with white cloths, places already set, and there were a few people already eating, but not many because it was still early. Sid and I served ourselves and found a table in a corner, and a girl who came to pour coffee was induced to run an errand to the bar. She came back with a couple of sidecars, which were what Sid decided we should have, and we emptied our glasses slowly and started on our plates. We hadn’t said anything since entering the room, not a word to each other, but our silence was warm and comfortable, and everything was fine for the present, even though later it might not be. People kept passing with full plates on the way to somewhere to sit.
“Do you know what I would like to do this afternoon?” Sid finally said.
“No,” I said. “What?”
“I’d like to go swimming and lie in the sun.”
“I wish I could go, but I can’t.”
“Couldn’t you possibly arrange it? I have a strong urging to go.”
“I can’t possibly. There’s some work I have to finish on a case I’m sure to lose, and at three o’clock I have an appointment with a man who wants to sue another man.”
“I’m sorry. It’s such a disappointment.”
“You go on, anyhow. I’ll think about you and wish I were there.”
“No. I don’t want to go without you. I’d rather not.”
“I wish you would.”
“No, no. I won’t go, and that’s all there is to it. I’ll go home and sit in the sun on the back terrace, and afterward I’ll have a cold shower. That’s always pleasant, and besides, while I’m sitting in the sun I can go over my notes on Zoroaster. They’re rather confusing right now, and need to be straightened out in my mind. Do you know how Zoroaster was born? His guardian angel somehow got into a priest, and there was a heavenly ray of some sort that got into a beautiful noble girl at the same time. Later on, this priest and this girl got together and made love, and the guardian angel in the priest and the heavenly ray in the girl got mixed together, and Zoroaster was the result. Do you think it could have happened that way?”
“Who knows? Perhaps you aren’t supposed to take it literally.”
“That may be. Anyhow, what’s worrying me is how to put it so some member of the discussion group won’t be offended. It’s a little sexy when you come right down to it. Do you have any suggestions?”
“I don’t think anyone will be offended if you use plenty of euphemisms.”
“Euphemism? Isn’t that a word that means the same as a word that sounds worse?”
“That’s it.”
“I suppose that could be done, all right. I’ll think about it while sitting in the sun. Fortunately, the way he was born is the only sticky part. There’s no problem involved in the way he died. It’s very simple and dramatic, although incredible, which will make no difference to Christians who are not prepared to believe it, anyhow. Do you know how he died? He lived to be very old, and then he was struck by lightning and ascended into heaven.”
“I remember a little about it. The Persians called him Zarathustra, I think, and so did Nietzsche.”
“What does Nietzsche have to do with it? Who was he? I don’t recall that Rose and I came across him anywhere in what we read.”
“Nietzsche was a German philosopher. He doesn’t have anything to do with it directly. He just used the name in the title of a book a long time later.”
“Well, it just shows you how ignorant I am. I’m surprised that Rose didn’t mention him, however. She’s very intellectual, as you know, and she usually mentions everything and everyone that can be connected with anything or anyone.”
“Rose is a schoolteacher, and it’s expected of her to be intellectual.”
“She only teaches second grade. Is it expected of teachers who teach second grade to know about Zoroaster?”
“Possibly not. I admit that Rose is an exceptional second grade teacher.”
“Yes, there’s no denying that. And in my opinion it’s a pity that everyone can’t be exceptional at something. I try and try to be, but I can’t.”
“In my opinion, on the contrary, you are exceptional in many ways without trying at all, and if I retain my health and sanity, in spite of what you say, you will be the first octogenarian nooner in history.”
“Sugar, what an absolutely charming thing to say. Are you sure you can’t take the afternoon off?”
“Not completely off. But maybe I can get through early.”
“That’s something, at least. I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll pick you up in the car, and we’ll drive straight home. Will you be finished by four with the man who wants to sue another man? ”
“Finished and waiting.”
Oh, well. That’s the way it went, and there’s no point in going on with it. We ate lunch and said things and made dry love. It was wonderful
