The Studs Lonigan Trilogy - James T. Farrell [287]
“Gee, it was funny, thinking about it after we came down. It was like getting terribly scared on a roller coaster. I agree with Phil, though, never again for me. If I went up again, I know I’d be so petrified that I’d faint.”
They smiled politely.
“So you’re joining the Christys, huh, Studs?” Phil remarked after an interval of silence.
“Yes, I guess it’s about time.”
“I wish I’d known soon enough. I’d gone through with you.
I guess now I’ll have to wait until the next initiation. I want to get into the same council as you do,” Phil said.
“I think I’ll be in condition to play in the baseball league a year from this summer,” Studs said, noting the surprise that came into Phil’s face.
“Studs, you really should take care of yourself,” Loretta said.
“I am, I’m feeling better than I’ve been in a long time.”
“I know. Mother told me you were turned down by an insurance company because of your heart and were going to join the Order of Christopher because of the insurance, and now you talk about playing baseball. Mother, you know, is more worried over you than she lets on.”
“My heart’s going to get better. That insurance company doctor was just too damn finicky,” Studs protested, his pallid face flushing, a sense of humiliation driving a river of shame through his mind.
“William, stop being so foolish!” Loretta said to him as if he were a little boy who had angered her.
“I tell you, Fritzie, that this heart condition is probably not so bad as you think it.”
“I was talking to Mother and she told me it’s an enlarged heart and it is, too, dangerous.”
“Have it your own way, but we’ll see.”
“Yes, if you live to tell the tale.”
“By the way, Studs, how’s Martin?” Phil quickly asked.
“Pretty good. He’s gotten to be quite a cocky kid, though, full of wisecracks. You know how a kid his age gets,” Studs answered.
“Martin’s so cute. The last time I saw him he was telling me all about a dance he went to and the trouble he had with his girl. And he was so sweet. And he kept saying, `She’s a kicker.’ I didn’t know what he meant, so I asked him. He looked at me as if I were so hopeless, and said he meant she was a good dancer. I could have just kissed him.”
“Why didn’t you? As long as he’s your brother, I won’t protest. I’ll even not object to first cousins,” Phil said.
“He might have been embarrassed,” Loretta said, smiling at Phil.
“Regular flapper, huh, Studs, she even has to flirt with her husband,” Phil said with affectionate irony, nodding at her.
“Yes, and her brothers,” Studs said.
“Oh, is that so?” she bantered.
“How about the kid, though, Studs, is he still hitting the bottle?” asked Phil.
“Well, sometimes, I guess, but maybe it won’t hurt him.”
“Studs, you should try and talk to him because you could do it better than Dad. Martin’s always looked up to you, and you could impress him.”
“He looks down on me now. I was trying to tell him a few things the other night and he just acted as if I was Foxy Grandpa and there wasn’t any hope for me,” Studs said, and after they had laughed, he continued with vanity creeping into his voice. “Of course, what I think is that a little drink now and then is a good thing as long as you don’t overdo it the way I did.”
“Studs, I’m awfully glad you’ve learned to be sensible about it.”
Studs turned quickly toward her, nettled, but Phil was speaking.
“Well, dear, we were just kids in the old days and didn’t see life the same as we do now.”
A hot one, Studs thought sardonically.
“Ever see anybody from Fifty-eighth?” he asked.
“I see Red and his wife nearly every Sunday at Church.”
“Phil ushers now at mass,” Loretta said.
“He’s talking nothing but politics these days.”
“Who do you think’ll win, Thompson or Cermak?”
“Cermak, of course. The Republicans have mined the city.”
“Oh, let’s not talk about that. All I ever hear discussed nowadays is politics or hard times. Isn’t there anything else to talk about?”
“Well, dear, you know men like to discuss the issues of the day,” Phil said.
“I know it, only if people wouldn’t bother their heads so much about it, and if they wouldn