Native Son - Richard Wright [61]
“I did!”
“You just growled and waved your hand.”
“Aw, baby. I was working then. You understand.”
“I thought maybe you was ’shamed of me, sitting there with that white gal all dressed in silk and satin.”
“Aw, hell, Bessie. Come on. Don’t act that way.”
“You really want to kiss me?”
“Sure. What you think I came here for?”
“How come you so long seeing me, then?”
“I told you I been working, honey. You saw me last night. Come on. Don’t act this way.”
“I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head.
He knew that she was trying to see how badly he wanted her, trying to see how much power she still had over him. He grabbed her arm and pulled her to him, kissing her long and hard, feeling as he did so that she was not responding. When he took his lips away he looked at her with eyes full of reproach and at the same time he felt his teeth clamping and his lips tingling slightly with rising passion.
“Let’s go in,” he said.
“If you want to.”
“Sure I want to.”
“You stayed away so long.”
“Aw, don’t be that way.”
They went in.
“How come you acting so cold tonight?” he asked.
“You could have dropped me a postcard,” she said.
“Aw, I just forgot it.”
“Or you could’ve phoned.”
“Honey, I was busy.”
“Looking at that old white gal, I reckon.”
“Aw, hell!”
“You don’t love me no more.”
“The hell I don’t.”
“You could’ve come by just for five minutes.”
“Baby, I was busy.”
When he kissed her this time she responded a little. To let her know that he wanted her he allowed her to draw his tongue into her mouth.
“I’m tired tonight,” she sighed.
“Who you been seeing?”
“Nobody.”
“What you doing tired?”
“If you want to talk that way you can leave right now. I didn’t ask you who you been seeing to make you stay away this long, did I?”
“You all on edge tonight.”
“You could have just said, ‘Hello, dog!’”
“Really, honey. I was busy.”
“You was setting there at that table with them white folks like you was a lawyer or something. You wouldn’t even look at me when I spoke to you.”
“Aw, forget it. Let’s talk about something else.”
He attempted to kiss her again and she shied away.
“Come on, honey.”
“Who you been with?”
“Nobody. I swear. I been working. And I been thinking hard about you. I been missing you. Listen, I got a room all my own where I’m working. Some nights you can stay there with me, see? Gee, I been missing you awful, honey. Soon’s I got time I came right over.”
He stood looking at her in the dim light of the room. She was teasing him and he liked it. At least it took him away from that terrible image of Mary’s head lying on the bloody newspaper. He wanted to kiss her again, but deep down he did not really mind her standing off from him; it made him hunger more keenly for her. She was looking at him wistfully, half-leaning against a wall, her hands on her hips. Then suddenly he knew how to draw her out, to drive from her mind all thought of her teasing him. He reached into his pocket and drew forth the roll of bills. Smiling, he held it in his palm and spoke as though to himself:
“Well, I reckon somebody else might like this if you don’t.”
She came a step forward.
“Bigger! Gee! Where you get all that money from?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“How much is it?”
“What you care?”
She came to his side.
“How much is it, really?”
“What you want to know for?”
“Let me see it. I’ll give it back to you.”
“I’ll let you see it, but it’ll have to stay in my hand, see?”
He watched the expression of coyness on her face change to one of amazement as she counted the bills.
“Lord, Bigger! Where you get this money from?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” he said, slipping his arm about her waist.
“Is it yours?”
“What in hell you reckon I’m doing with it?”
“Tell me where you get it from, honey.”
“You going to be sweet to me?”
He felt her body growing gradually less stiff; but her eyes were searching his face.
“You ain’t got into nothing, is you?”
“You going to be sweet to me?”
“Oh, Bigger!”
“Kiss me, honey.”
He felt her relax completely; he kissed her and she drew him to the bed. They sat down. Gently, she took the money from his hand.