Miss Callaghan Comes To Grief

“Forget it, baby,” he said. “It was just one of those things. Anyway, she wasn't so hot.”

Sadie knew he was lying, but she suddenly felt very tired, and she leant back, shutting her eyes.

As she didn't say anything, Benny hopefully assumed she wasn't mad any more. He drove along, his mind half on the traffic, thinking of the dame. She'd been a smasher. To think that had happened. If Sadie hadn't been there, and if that tough hadn't been there, maybe he could have dated her up. It would have been a pushover. It was a natural. He could hardly wait to get the car away.

Sadie leant limply against the wall of the little elevator as it droned up to the sixth floor. She didn't look at him. Benny stood close to her, watching her anxiously as he wiped his sweating hands with a handkerchief.

She was looking tired and a little irritable, he thought. Anyway, if he went about it in the right way it'd be all right.

In the early days of marriage he would come in from work, sweep her off her feet into the bedroom, leaving the supper to burn. She'd always protested, but he knew she was pleased as he was when it was over.

The elevator stopped at the sixth floor, and Sadie walked out. On the opposite passage Tootsie Mendetta had his apartment.

It always made Benny mad to think that a rich guy like Mendetta should live just across his passage, and he'd never set eyes on him. He knew he was there, but he'd never seen him. Anyway, right at this minute, he didn't give Mendetta a thought.

He fumbled at the keyhole, making two attempts before he sank the key. His hands shook a little.

Inside the small apartment he let her take off her hat and coat, and then he sidled up behind her. He put his arms round her from behind. “I love you, honey,” he said, his voice shaking.

“Put me down!” There was a snap in her voice that jolted him. He put her down and turned her. The cold, hostile look she gave him brought him up short, just like he'd rammed his face against a brick wall.

“Say, what's wrong? I got to thinkin' of you in the car. I thoughtI thought maybe we could go back a couple of years.”

She said, “Think again.”

“What the hell is this?” he said, his disappointment making him suddenly mad with her.

She walked back into the sitting−room. He saw her put her hand to her eyes.

He wandered after her, feeling a suppressed rage welling up in him. He leant against the door−post. “What is it?” he asked.

She said, “You know what it is.” Her voice sounded full of tears.

“Don't talk in riddles. If you've got anythin' to beef about, why not save it? Listen, honey,” Benny said urgently, “this ain't the time to start fightin'. Come on with me. We'll have a good time togetherhow's that?

You'll feel fine”

She said, interrupting him: “Wait a minute. You've got a one−track mind. That floosie's got you burnt up, and you think you can take it out of me.

'Pretty−daughter−sitting−on−father's−knee−makes−it−hard−for−mother' complex. Not this mother, it doesn't.”

Benny took off his hat and threw it across the room. He was mad. “What the hell's come over you?” he demanded, his voice rising.

Sadie went over and sat on the sofa. “I'm sick of the way you look at women. I've stood as much of it as I'm going to stand. Every woman who walks past you, you must look at. You're not content with just looking.

You must tell me. All right, if you want every dame in the street, go and have her, but I shan't be around.”

Benny rubbed his nose. “So that's it, is it?” he said, suddenly very quiet. “You're jealous, that's what you are. Listen, I haven't put my hands on one single dame since I married you. Why shouldn't I look at 'em?

What's the harm in it, anyway? I'm not doin' anythin' wrong, just looking, am I?”

“That's the way you look at it. I can't do a thing about it. So I've got to walk along the street with you and watch you gape at every girl for the rest of my life, have I?”

Benny sat in a chair opposite her. With a great effort he tried to control his patience. In a patronizing tone he said: “Now, don't be screwy, honey. This is just crazy talk. You're feeling low. Tomorrow, we'll laugh about this. Get all these ideas out of your head and you'll have everything.”

“No, I won't.”

“You'll have everything.”

“No, I won't.”

“Now, don't go on like that. I said you'll have everything, and I mean you'll have everything.”

Sadie sat up stiffly. “Shall I tell you what? When I said I won't, I mean I shan't have what I want. I'll have what you give me.”

Benny felt the blood mounting to his face. “Okay, if that's the way you feel. You'll have what I give youso what?”

“Nothing. It's going on the same way as it's been going on for the last six months. Do you know what that is?”

“All right. You tell me.”