From Here to Eternity_ The Restored Edit - Jones, James [420]
“I used to go to the Ritz all the time before I got in the Company,” Prew said. “Its good.”
“Christ!” Rhodes said dreamily. “It was jest like losing my cherry all over again.”
“It was wonderful,” Bull Nair said.
“When you coming back?” Nair said, as they came out into the street again.
“I dont know,” Prew said. “I aint tired of being a civilian yet.”
“Christ!” Rhodes said, still dreamily. “Wisht I had the guts to go over the hill. If I had the money.”
“Boy, we really gapped them up to the Ritz,” Nair grinned foolishly, “dint we, Dusty?”
Rhodes guffawed. “Yeah, we sure gapped them.”
“Lets gap old Prew,” Nair suggested.
“Naw,” Rhodes said. “My jaws is tard.”
“Well,” Nair said, “we see you when you git back. Too tard to gap you.”
“See you,” Rhodes said, still dreamily.
Prew watched them weave away arm in arm, the bitterness of gall burning him fiercer than ever until he wanted to twitch, itching him. where he could not scratch, until he wanted to drive his fist into the face of the first man who came within reach.
When they were out of sight, he turned and crossed Beretania and instead of going on up to the car stop he went on down the side street. The Ritz Rooms was just down the block.
The Ritz was crowded, and he had to wait a while before he even saw Georgette anywhere. His hands were sweating freely and his face was flushed and his throat thick, and the savage wildfire scourged him harder. To hell with it, to hell with all of it, burn it all down, tear it all up, smash all of it.
He caught her in the hall, finally, and stopped her. When she saw it was him, she pulled him into an empty room to see what he wanted and find out what was wrong. At first she was embarrassed. Then the embarrassment stopped.
Afterwards, when he held out the money, she laughed and refused it. But when he continued to hold it out to her stubbornly she looked at him and then at the money and that look came back in her eyes and she took it.
When he got home to the house, after the long taxi ride sitting alone in the dark savoring it, he sat up to wait for them, drinking one scotch and soda after another. Have it out right now, get it over with. But he passed out on the living room floor before they got home.
When he got up in the morning and went out to the kitchen to get water for his head, Alma was already sitting at the table over coffee. He could tell by the cool way she looked that Georgette had already told her, either last night when they got home, or else early this morning. He might have known she would; he had expected her to. But he had meant to tell her first himself. Only, he had passed out.
Alma did not say anything to him, either then or later. She did not blow up, or get mad, or anything else. She was very polite. She was warm, and friendly, and she smiled, and talked to him, and she was very polite. She was so polite he could never get his nerve up enough to tell her. She never gave him an opening, and she never referred to it.
So, instead, he moved out onto the divan in the living room.
She never questioned or referred to that, either. She had never treated him so nice since he had known her. They got along fine. Once, during the next week, she came out to the divan and slept with him and then got up and went back to bed and that was very nice too, very polite.
Georgette did not treat him nicer, nor worse. She neither stayed home more often nor went out more often. They all sat around the breakfast nook table in the morning for coffee and talked to each other nicely, and Georgette did not go out early to shop any more like that one time. They were just one big happy family.
It was during that week that he copied down from memory the first verses, and then went on to finish, The Re-enlistment Blues.
Rummaging in the desk for paper, one afternoon, he noticed Alma had taken out all the money that she kept there. She had not touched the gun. She did not lock up the radio-bar either. He was drunk most of the time.
He did not care about the money because he had no place to go and no impetus to