Page 260 - Demo

%u00a9Jack Fritscher, Ph.D., All Rights ReservedHOW TO LEGALLY QUOTE FROM THIS BOOK248 Jack Fritscher%u201cThat%u2019s the ticket.%u201d%u201cIs that theology?%u201d%u201cAin%u2019t it the movies?%u201dShe wiped her hands clean on her apron.%u201cDo you have any sauerkraut, Louisa?%u201d%u201cIn this house? This ain%u2019t Germany.%u201d%u201cYou can get it at the A&P.%u201d I wanted to say for Chrissakes. I sounded like Joe. She had sucked me into her movie.%u201cI told you anything you want, pick it up. But you%u2019re probably not too hot at picking anything up.%u201d She slung the salad into the refrigerator. %u201cYou might as well never left the seminary. You live exactly the same. Study and work. You never go anyplace. Not like my boys.%u201d She untied her apron. %u201cI%u2019m going to lie down. You can put your own hot dog on. I understand boys,%u201d she said. %u201cI understood mine and all their friends.%u201d She took a can of beer from the refrigerator. %u201cBut you!%u201d%u201cDo you have another saucepan?%u201d I said. %u201cSo what%u2019s the matter with me?%u201d%u201cI don%u2019t want to insult your mother again.%u201d%u201cWhat%u2019s that mean?%u201d%u201cMaybe she doesn%u2019t love you enough.%u201d%u201cShut up, Lou Lou. You are a b-i-t-c-h.%u201d%u201cYeah, well, here.%u201d She handed me her beer can. %u201cThese new pull-tab cans never work.%u201d She made a face. %u201cHere, you try, Mister Big Brewery Worker. Watch you don%u2019t cut.%u201dI pulled the tab open for her and tossed the ring into the waste can.%u201cBoys always have understood me.%u201d She winked. %u201cDo you understand me?%u201d%u201cI understand you.%u201d%u201cJoe says you could do with a good roller-coaster ride with Miss Slammo, the girl contortionist of TV wrestling.%u201d%u201cThat%u2019s dumb and clear as mud.%u201d%u201cMud covers the ground.%u201dMay 15, 1964I hated Louisa. She stripped my need down like a bed for washing. Something no Jesuit had ever done. Every day of the spring I thought, now today, I%u2019ll meet the sweet girl, the one I%u2019ll love the first. I saved so long, everything I had to give was ripe, blooming, poppable. All unknowing they competed, girls seated in classrooms, animated in halls, talking