From Here to Eternity_ The Restored Edit - Jones, James [33]
Chapter 6
KAREN HOLMES WAS ABSORBED in the brushing of her long blonde hair when she heard the back door slam and the heavy tread of Holmes across the kitchen floor.
She had been brushing it now almost an hour, rapt in the purely sensual pleasure of it that required no thought, free for once in this that did not make her think of freedom, alive to these long golden hairs that singly and in masses curved themselves about the stiff long bristles of the brush, until it had, as she desired, entranced her, away from all of it. Away where nothing else existed but this mirror in which she saw the rhythm of this moving arm that was herself.
That was why she loved to brush her hair so. She loved to cook, too; for the same reason. She was an excellent cook, when she felt like it. She also read voraciously. She could even enjoy the poor books, when she had to. She was not, accurately, of the stuff from which an Army wife is made.
The slamming door broke the rapture, and she found that she was staring into the eyes of her own deathmask, pale and wan with all the blood sucked out by a modern vampire called Embalmer, leaving only the gashed bloody wound that was her lipsticked mouth. It was urging her to hurry up and find the thing.
Leave me, Mask, she said at it.
If, replied the Mask, you shrink from evil when its cloak is flung upon your shoulders, the more closely will it wrap its suffocating folds around you.
She laid aside the brush and covered with her hands the face that haunted her most of all with its futility of emptiness, hearing the footsteps of Military Doom coming swift across the dining room.
Holmes barged into the room, his hat still on his head.
“Oh,” he said, guiltily. “Hello. I didnt know you were home. I just came in to change my uniform.”
Karen picked up the brush and went back to her hair. “The car is parked outside,” she said.
“It is?” Holmes said. “I didnt see it.”
“I went over to the Company this morning,” Karen said, “looking for you.”
“What for?” Holmes said. “You know I dont like to have you over there, around the men.”
“I wanted you to get some things for me,” she lied. “I thought you’d be there.”
“I had some business to attend to before I went in,” Holmes lied. He undid his tie and threw it on the bed and sat down with the boot jack. Karen did not answer. “That was all right, wasnt it?” he protested.
“But of course,” she said. “I have no right to inquire into your actions. That was the agreement.”
“Then why bring it up?”
“Because I wanted you to know I’m not as stupid as you maintain all women are.”
Holmes stood the boots up by the bed and stripped off sweat-damp shirt and breeches. “Now what does that mean? What are you accusing me of now?”
“Of nothing,” Karen smiled. “Its no longer any of my business how many you go out with, is it? But I wish for God’s sake you could just be honest about it once.”
“Now,” he cried disgustedly, seeing the excitement of the riding date fading rapidly before him, “Now! All I did was come home to change my uniform and get some lunch. Thats all.”
“I thought,” she said, “you didnt know I was here.”
“I didnt, goddam it. I just thought, you might be here,” he finished lamely, flustered at being caught in the lie. “God damn,” he blustered. “Other women. What brings that on this time? How many times do I have to tell you I havent any other women before you’ll believe me?”
“Dana,” Karen said. “Give me credit for a little brains.” She laughed, and looking in the mirror, broke off suddenly, shocked at the hatred that was on her face.
“If I had them,” he said, self-pity in his voice, putting on fresh socks, “dont you think I’d admit it to you? Theres no reason I should try to hide it, is there? the way things are between us now?” he asked her bitterly. “What right have you to always be accusing me of that?”
“What right?” Karen said, looking at him in the mirror.
Under the indictment of her eyes Holmes cringed. “All right,” he said dejectedly. “That again. How long will it be, I wonder, before I am allowed to live that down? How many times do I have to