Magic

Duke began to laugh.

  “Don’t encourage him,” Corky said.

  “Clever,” Duke said to Corky. “It really is.”

  “Don’t tell him that, tell me that,” Fats said. “I’m the talent.”

  “My mistake,” Duke said.

  “So what are you selling,” Fats wanted to know. “I’m in the market for a penis, my last one caught Dutch elm disease, it’s murder getting an erection.”

  Both Duke and Peggy went on that one.

  Corky sighed. “No one is interested, I assure you.”

  “Corky,” Fats said, “you just don’t understand—surely someone of your acquaintance must have had an erection sometime, ask them about it.”

  “Back to the lumberyard with you, I mean it.”

  “Tell us about your sex life, Corky, we all love short stories.”

  Corky put his hand over Fats’ mouth and asked, “What kind of selling do you do exactly?” while at the same time, Fats was going “Mmm-mmm-mmm.”

  Duke just shook his head. “My God, how do you do that? Your lips don’t move or anything. You’re terrific, you are. I’m really glad you’re here for me to see.”

  “Thank you,” Corky said. He looked down at Fats. “Will you be good now?”

  Fats nodded.

  “I mean it; promise?”

  Fats nodded harder.

  Corky took his hand away.

  Fats whispered, “Ask him if he’s glad that I’m here too.”

  Duke smiled. “The both of you,” he answered back. And after that, whatever tension there might have been at the beginning was gone, and it turned out Duke sold kitchen items to housewives, mostly door-to-door, he liked personal contact work was why, and he had a terrific line of only top quality merchandise, everything from can openers to cutlery, and he also sidelined in baby things, an addition he had thought of because a lot of young mothers had trouble finding time to get to the store, and Fats got excited about the baby clothes, since he was running short of underwear and asked what the largest size Duke sold was and Duke said I’ll give you a dozen pairs free so Fats said how about throwing in some cutlery, Corky’s a great whittler and Duke said sure, why not, but Corky insisted that whatever he took he was going to pay for and Duke said let me get my line, pick what you want and he hurried upstairs where his suitcases were.

  “How’d I do?” Corky whispered when it was safe.

  “Just unbelievable,” she whispered back.

  “Too bad Fats wasn’t here,” Fats said, hurt in his tone; “Fats might have been a little help now and then getting the old conversational ball going.”

  “You’re always unbelievable,” Peggy said.

  “Brains as well as boobs.” Fats turned to Corky. “No wonder you love her.”

  “Shhhh,” Peggy said.

  But she was smiling.

  Duke came back with his merchandise and Fats was crushed because none of the baby stuff would fit him but Corky liked the cutlery and Fats insulted Corky a few times about things in general, and they talked some about selling techniques and Duke explained where the skill came but in spite of his success with it, enough was enough, the main thing was to close up the cabins and get the house in the best order possible and just sell the whole place, property and all and move on, so while Corky finished his second cup of coffee and Peg set to work tidying the kitchen Duke excused himself, put on his Windbreaker and went outside to work on the grounds awhile, and when they were safely alone again Corky applied a little pressure on Peg to get out, but not in a pushy way, and she responded gently, explained she was really confused, really trying to get her head on straight now, and they talked quietly, nothing much of import happening at all, until Duke came in a little while later with the news that he’d found the Postman’s Rolls-Royce in the woods.

  12

  He didn’t know it was the Postman’s of course. He was sure it was a Rolls though. “Strangest thing,” Duke said. “I thought I was losing my mind. There I was, walking along, trying to figure out which I should do this aft, go hunting or stay around here and fish, and I’m nearing the back road—”

  “—where’s that?” Corky wondered.

  Duke pointed out past the cabins. “It’s not even much of a road. It’s just kind of a rutty path that leads along the edge of the property. Down out of sight from the main drag you take to get here. And then I saw this thing. And I thought, son of a bitch, what is that, that looks like a goddam Rolls-Royce but that’s ridiculous, only when I got closer, it wasn’t so ridiculous, because there it was bigger’n life. Somebody took that stupid rutty back road into here and got stuck—it’s muddy as hell—and left it. Left it.”

  “I wonder who it could be,” Peggy said.

  “Shouldn’t take me long to find out,” Duke told her. “If it was a Ford or something, yeah, but a white Rolls—”

  “—white did you say?” Corky cut it, and now his voice sounded excited.

  “White. Off-white—around in there—”

  “—was it a Corniche?”

  “—what’s that—?”

  “—did the top come down?”

  Duke nodded.

  “Show me!” Corky said and he took off out the door, Duke behind him.

  “That’s gotta be the Postman’s,” Corky said when they got there. He walked around the car. It was sideways on the almost invisible road, and the front wheels were stuck in deep mud. “Why would he leave it though?” He looked at Duke. “A car like this must cost over fifty thousand. I know he’s rich—he smokes nothing but four-dollar cigars—but this is ridiculous. I hope nothing’s the matter with him.”

  “Can you find out?”

  “Goddam right I can and I’m gonna.” He pointed to the car. “Can you get it unstuck without hurting it?”

  “I’d sure love to try,” Duke said. “I never even sat in a fifty-thousand-dollar car, much less drove one.”

  “Don’t force it, huh?”

  “I won’t, Corky. I know cars pretty good. You can trust me.”

  “Be back in a couple minutes,” Corky said, and he started running again.

  Peggy was waiting in the kitchen when he got there. “I’ve got to call New York right away, is that all right? That may be the Postman’s car and I’ve got to check that he’s okay.”

  “Where’s Duke?”

  “Getting it unstuck.”

  “Did he say anything about me or anything?”

  “Not now, huh darling? This could be kind of important. Living room phone okay?”

  She nodded, stayed in the kitchen. She had the broom out and was starting to sweep the place when she heard Corky. She swept a little more.

  “Sadie it’s me, let me speak to the boss.”

  Pause.

  “I know he’s worried about me, tell him to worry about the stock market. I just got a tip IBM’s about to go into receivership. Tell him that, it’ll give him cardiac arrest. Now would you put him on?”

  Pause.

  Peg went over and poured herself a speck more coffee.

  “Never mind where I am, I’m peachy, you’re the one’s causing all the trouble, you okay?”

  Pause. Then, louder:

  “Don’t come on to me like that, Postman—I don’t need your views on my erratic behavior, my behavior’s just fine, thank you—”

  Pause. Very loud now.

  “So what if I ran away, running away’s good for the soul, read the Bible, Postman, and if you want to know what I think, you’re the one with the erratic behavior mister, at least I’m not senile, at least I’m not leaving fifty-thousand-dollar ears all the hell over in the goddam woods—”

  Short pause.

  “Forgive me for insulting you, I didn’t know it was an eighty-thousand-dollar car.”

  Now a long pause. Very long.

  “What do you mean how do I know where your car is, I know because … because …”

  Quietly now.”

  “Yeah. Yessir, that’s right. I’m at that place, I’ve
been here all the time. Boy am I smart, here I call you to find out how you are and you make me slip and tell you where I am.”

  Pause.

  “No, I’m not coming back, not yet, not till I get my head really on straight once and for all. When it is, I’ll be there, you can count on that.”

  Loud.

  “Don’t even think about coming for me—I’m staying.”

  Soft.

  “… because … because …”

  Whispered.

  “… there’s this girl …”

  Peg moved across the kitchen to the sink and poured out her coffee, washed the cup, put it upside down to drain. She picked up a washcloth next, fiddled with it, then couldn’t help herself, got quickly back to the near door, out of sight.

  “… quit saying it’s ridiculous, I told you, it’s not some moonstruck thing like I just met her, Postman, I went to school with her—I don’t care what you say, it isn’t crazy—yeah, she’s the one you talked to yesterday, the one that told you I might be in Binghamton, I was listening right behind the door.”

  Peg couldn’t help but smile.

  “… I know she’s beautiful, she always has been … I think she likes me, yeah, she was glad to see me, I’m positive of that.”

  Long pause.

  “No, she isn’t married, never was.”

  Laugh.

  “You’ve got some fantastic memory for an old fart, I forgot she told you she had a husband. It’s not a good marriage though, I swear. I’m not breaking up anything that wasn’t in trouble to begin with. I’m not a home wrecker, I’m just a guy with his fingers crossed, I got hopes, and I don’t want to talk about her anymore just now, I haven’t got that much privacy.”

  Peg went quickly back to the broom, busied herself with getting the floor done, got the dustpan, swept it full, emptied it all into the wastebasket. She had her back to Corky when he came in a little later. He put his arms around her, gently raised his fingers till they cupped her breasts. “We got troubles, baby,” Corky said then. “I goofed on the phone call—I let slip where I was.”

  “You mean he’s coming back?”

  “I got him to promise not to at the end.”

  “Well then.”

  “He’s not a patient man, Peg. The Postman gets his way. He’s just as liable to limo on up here as not so what I’m saying is I don’t want to put on any pressure but there’s more pressure now, you’ve got to make up your mind about leaving.”

  “I will. Soon.”

  “Today?”

  She nodded.

  Corky kissed her. “I think you better come along when I explain about the car to Duke. I’m gonna have to start lying and I need all the help I can get. I don’t want Duke knowing you told the Postman I wasn’t here. With his suspicious nature, that doesn’t help our cause a lot. Cross your fingers.”

  She kissed him gently. “You are a terrible liar. It all shows in your face.”

  “There you go, insulting me again.”

  Duke was waiting when they got there. “Got her out easy,” he said, pointing to the car. “Wasn’t stuck bad at all. Just started her rocking and out she came.”

  “I shouldn’t have let you do it,” Corky said. “It’s my fault.”

  “Why?”

  “ ’Cause the Postman happens to be hysterical about his goddam Corniche. He yelled at me for saying it only cost fifty, it was eighty on the hoof.”

  Duke could only shake his head and mutter, “Eighty, Jesus.” He turned to Corky then. “Why’d he leave it behind?”

  “Because like I told you, he’s richer than Croesus and he’s probably got it insured to the teeth, it’s no more than if you or me abandoned a flexible flyer.”

  Duke studied Corky for a while, waiting.

  “If I tell you something can I ask you not to nose it around?”

  “I guess.”

  “I’m in hiding. I’ve got a lot of career problems and I’m not behaving all that normal. I took off when the Postman was coming to my place to pressure me—”

  “—what is this Postman name?”

  “It’s just what he’s called in the business. Ben Greene. ‘Gangrene’ Fats calls him, drives him batty.”

  “Go on.”

  “What he just told me was this: he came up here looking to go to Grossinger’s—I’ve been doing a lot of talking about coming back to my beginnings lately—my dad gave massages at the G.”

  “Oh that’s right, sure.”

  “Well, the Postman took a shot that I’d be at Grossinger’s so he tooled on up in his chariot here, only when he passed this place, he said he remembered it but he’d gone by the main entrance and he spotted the back road here and took it.”

  “Whoa—why in the world would he remember this place?”

  “I talk about it all the time, Ronnie. I gave my very first magic show here. In the basement. Peg’s kid brother’s eighth birthday. It was where it all started.”

  “I’d forgotten that,” Peg said.

  “I hadn’t,” Corky said, “not a bit of it. You saved me. Your brat brother farted and no one was watching my act and you came up with some nutty threat—”

  Peg got all excited. “We were gonna glue his tongue.”

  “That’s it,” Corky cried. “Scared him into shutting up. I still remember the tricks I did.”

  “Hey hold it, huh?” Duke walked over to Corky. “If he came here looking for you, why didn’t he find you?”

  “It must have been when Peg drove me into town—I told you I got out of New York in a helluva hurry—I needed stuff, toothpaste, toothbrush, that kind of thing.”

  “You’re still not telling me why the goddam car’s here!”

  Corky smiled. “The Postman didn’t plan on leaving it, obviously. He snooped around, decided this place was shut, came back, got in the Rolls, found out he was stuck. So what the hell else was there to do but what he did—walk up to the road, get a ride to the G and call the Rolls people in Manhattan. I just told him I thought he was crazy, let some Exxon jerk do it and he almost came through the phone wires at me: ‘Nobody touches my Rolls but a Rolls man!’ He told them to come get him and they said it was a little late, they’d be up tomorrow.” Corky looked at his watch. “They should be here within a couple hours. Anyway, the Postman wasn’t about to be caught dead in a tacky place like Grossinger’s—he’s what you might call snobby, as you can kind of guess by what he drives—and he hired one of their limos to get him back to town.”

  Duke looked at-the car awhile.

  “Frankly, I think the whole story’s crazy,” Corky said.

  “Well,” Peg told him; “it makes perfect sense to me.”

  Corky looked at Duke and shook his head. “Women,” Corky said.

  “You must be getting hungry, let me fix some lunch,” Peggy said.

  Duke said nothing, sipped his Scotch. They were alone in the house now, in the living room, and Duke would not stop pacing.

  “What difference does it make for God’s sake? So a car’s here, who cares?”

  “There’s something crazy and I think you know what it is, and I care.”

  “Oh Jesus, I’m sick of that record.”

  Duke finished his drink, poured himself another.

  “That’s smart,” Peggy said.

  “What’s the matter, you bought it with money I earned, or is it reserved only for the rich and special guests around here?”

  “Go ahead, get drunk, if I’m lucky you’ll pass out, at least then it’d be quiet.”

  “He’s really tricky—at breakfast all that shit with the dummy, I really believed it. But now with the car, I’m not buying nothing anymore. People do not leave eighty-thousand-dollar cars lying around, I don’t care what anybody tells me.”

  “Well what, then?”

  “Maybe it isn’t this Postman’s car. Maybe it’s his. Maybe he’s hiding it there just waiting for the chance to take off with my wife.”

  “Good thinking. Really using the old b
ean. I hope you noticed I didn’t even bother getting mad at your crack about me going off into the sunset. We had enough of that kind of talk already.”

  “Why goddammit, there’s gotta be some explanation—”

  “—there is and you’ve had it—”

  “—bullshit—”

  “—oh bullshit yourself—”

  “—don’t wise off back to me—”

  “—I’m over twenty-one I’ll do what I damn please—”

  “—why didn’t he get the car out of the mud, I did, it wasn’t that hard answer me that goddammit—”

  “—maybe he tried, maybe he couldn’t, he’s old, maybe he was a rotten driver—”

  “—old?—”

  “—that’s right—”

  “—how do you know he was old, Corky never said he was old—”

  “—last night he did—we were talking about why he came up here and he said this agent was pressuring him and he said how old he was—”

  “—you told me you never talked about anything and he said the same—you didn’t even tell him I changed jobs and wasn’t in real estate anymore—you fed him and he went to bed now what happened last night?”

  “I won’t go through this again.”

  “Did this Postman stop by? Did you see him? That’s how you knew he was old, wasn’t it?”

  “Goddammit no!”

  “Was this before or after you fucked for Corky—”

  “—you stop this Duke—”

  “—before or after or was it during, did you invite the old guy in to watch?” He put his drink down then and slapped her in the face.

  Peg tried running.

  No chance. Duke slapped her again. “Did you fuck him, you did, you did goddam it, didn’t you?”

  “No!”

  “I’m gonna pound the crap outta you till we get to the truth, did you fuck him?”

  “No.”

  He backhanded her. “Did you fuck him?”

  “No—Jesus—”

  “Did—you—fuck—him?”

  “NO BUT I WANTED TO.”

  He pushed her down into a chair then. “Okay,” he said quieter now. “At least we know the truth.”

  Peggy was crying.

  “Those don’t work with me, dry the baby blues, don’t cut no ice with the Duker.” He sipped his Scotch. “I’d like to check out his cabin I can tell you.”