The Studs Lonigan Trilogy - James T. Farrell [114]
“No.”
They walked along on the path that led from the entrance, and curved around to the left, past the boathouse.
Studs used to like to talk to Paulie; now, with his wife around, there didn’t seem anything to talk about, and it didn’t mean much; it was like stabbing in the dark to reach something when there was nothing to reach. Paulie was different.
“Think you’ll be getting married?” Paulie asked, and Studs saw that his wife smiled condescendingly.
“No,” Studs said, luckily checking himself from putting a “hell” first; he’d just thought that it had its advantages, but then the way it kept a guy from his pals, the arguing, the kids later on, the time to come when your wife wouldn’t be a hot hunk any more; there were both sides to it.
“You’ll tumble some day,” Paulie said in the voice of experience.
“No danger,” Studs insisted, dismayed by her steady smile.
“It’s always the ones talking like you who fall the hardest,” she said, smiling sweetly.
“You’ll fall!” Paulie said confidently.
Studs enjoyed being the center of conversation like that. If it kept on, Paulie might say something like, how’s Lucy, or, why don’t you marry Lucy? Of course, he’d answer he didn’t want to, but he didn’t know if he did or not. And he’d shrug his shoulders don’t-care-like when Eileen would ask who Lucy was, and Paulie would say she was a nice girl, Studs’ girl. The whole business suddenly seemed goofy. Still, he waited to hear Paulie mention her name.
“Yes, Studs, some morning you’ll just wake up to find yourself married.”
He forced another laugh. He tried to think of himself settling down with a wife. Himself getting up in the morning, kissing her, sitting down to be served breakfast, eating supper with her; himself coming home one night and telling the family he was going to be married, looking Fran in the face when he said it. He was glad he wasn’t going through that kind of thing yet. But having a woman! Fellows saying Studs’ woman. That was all right. Thinking about it, at least, was. They’d kid him, but it would only be fun and half jealousy on their part. Himself coming home in winter, she taking his shoes off, putting his slippers on, sitting and watching him with love while he read, doing things for him, and then, when it was cold out, going to bed, he taking her clothes off, she taking his off, getting all warmed up together. That would be better than hanging around the poolroom. But then, if she nagged! He had time, and there were both sides of it.
“Why so quiet?” asked Paulie.
“Ope, just looking around, and thinking about the team we’ll have in the fall,” Studs hurriedly answered, feeling, though, as if Paulie had seen right into what he’d been thinking.
They sat on a bench near the circle with the fountain, where the path curved.
Studs noticed a doodish guy on the bench across from them. He was classily dressed, the kind of a bird who’d go over bigger with girls than fellows.
“Gee, it’s a swell night,” Paulie said.
“I think I’ll be dashing along,” Studs said.
“Hang around a while,” Paulie said.
He sat on the edge of the bench. Maybe they wanted to be alone. He wanted a girl, Lucy, a girl to be sitting with him on a bench, under the trees like this.
“Dear, it’s perfectly grand here.”
“Swell,” Paulie said, looking up at the trees that roofed in the gathering darkness.
“Yeah,” muttered Studs abstractedly, raw with thoughts of himself and Lucy in the park, himself all open so that every thought and word seemed like they were touching an open cut inside him.
“Many’s the times we had in this park, huh, Studs?”
“Yeah,” Studs said, observing that the guy seemed to be looking at her, wishing that Paulie would speak of some of the fights he had had.
He glanced down at Paulie, and saw that his wife had her legs crossed, showing her leg almost up to the knee. No wonder the guy looked. Couldn’t blame the guy; hell, her legs were worth seeing all the way up. If he sat alone on a bench and saw a girl like her with legs crossed, he’d look for all he was worth...But Paulie was his friend, and she was Paulie