U.S.A_ - John Dos Passos [469]
"You're not mad, Margery, are you?"
"I'm worse than mad, I'm worried."
"Everythin's goin' to be oke, Margo. I got a swel saw-bones from New York. He'l patch me up. He looks like Wil iam Kaiser the butcher al except the mustaches . . .
-374-what do you know about that, I forgot the mustaches. . . . Don't look at me funny like that. I'm al right, see. I just feel better if I talk, see. I bet I'm the talkin'est patient they ever had in this hospital. . . . Margo, you know I mighta gotten to be a rummy if I'd kept on drinkin' like that. It's just as wel to be caught up short."
"Say, Charley, are you wel enough to write out a check?
I've got to have some jack. You know you were goin' to give me a commission on that airport deal. And I've got to hire a lawyer for you. Eileen's folks are going to sue. That county attorney's sworn out a warrant. I brought your New York checkbook."
"Jesus, Margo, I've made a certain amount of jack but I'm not the Bank of England."
"But, Charley, you said you'd open an account for me."
"Gimme a chance to get out of the hospital."
"Charley, you poor unfortunate Mr. A . . . you don't think it's any fun for me to worry you at a time like this
. . . but I've got to eat like other people . . . an' if I had some jack I could fix that county attorney up . . . and keep the stuff out of the papers and everything. You know the kind of story they'l make out of it . . . but I got to have money quick."
"Al right, make out a check for five thousand. . . . Damn lucky for you I didn't break my arm."
The pretty pink nurse had come back. Her voice was
cold and sharp and icy. "I'm afraid it's time," she said. Margo leaned over and kissed him on the forehead.
Charley felt like he was in a glass case. There was the touch of her lips, the smel of her dress, her hair, the perfume she used, but he couldn't feel them. Like a scene in a movie he watched her walk out, the sway of her hips under the tight dress, the little nervous way she was flutter-ing the check under her chin to dry the ink on it.
"Say, nurse, it's like a run on a bank . . . I guess they think the old institution's not so sound as it might be. . . .
-375-I'm givin' orders now, see, tel 'em down at the desk, no more visitors, see? You and me an' Dr. Kaiser Wil iam there, that's enough, see."
"Anyway now it's time for a little trip across the hal ," said the pretty pink nurse, in a cheerful voice like it was a show or a basebal game they were going to. An orderly came in. The room started moving away
from the cot, a grey corridor was moving along, but the moving made blind spasms of pain rush up through his legs. He sank into sour puking blackness again. When it was light again it was very far away. His tongue was dry in his mouth he was so thirsty. Reddish mist was over everything. He was talking but way off somewhere. He could feel the talk coming out of his throat but he couldn't hear it. What he heard was the doctor's voice saying peri-tonitis like it was the finest party in the world, like you'd say Merry Christmas. There were other voices. His eyes were open, there were other voices. He must be delirious. There was Jim sitting there with a puzzled sour gloomy look on his face like he used to see him when he was a kid on Sunday afternoons going over his books.
"That you, Jim? How did you get here?"
"We flew," answered Jim. It was a surprise to Charley that people could hear him, his voice was so far away.
"Everything's al right, Charley . . . you mustn't exert yourself in the least way. I'l attend to everything."
"Can you hear me, Jim? It's like a bum longdistance phone connection."
"That's al right, Charley. . . . We'l take charge of everything. You just rest quiet. Say, Charley, just as a precaution I want to ask you, did you make a wil ?"
"Say, was it peritonitis I heard somebody say? That's bad, ain't it?" Jim's face was white and long. "It's . . . it's just a little operation. I thought maybe you'd better give me power of attorney superseding al others, so that you won't have
-376-anything on your mind, see. I have it al made out, and I have Judge Grey here as a witness and Hedwig'l come in a minute. . . . Tel me, are you married to this woman?"