An Apartment
THE OLD MAN HAD BEEN SAVING PILLS FOR THREE YEARS, Percodans mostly, although there were some others. He thought of them as his medical Mickey Finn. He had a good handful of them and would use them as soon as he’d dealt himself the winning hand, or, perhaps more precisely, the hand that would finally beat life. He had determined, a couple of years before, when it became apparent to him that to die would be a more reasonable choice than to live, that each day he would shuffle a deck of cards, a poker deck from which the Jokers had been removed, and allow himself eight cuts, playing for a flush. He had also determined that eight cuts would be fair, this based on the draw poker he’d played all his life, the classic game, one he thought of as old-fashioned, that permitted players to discard and draw up to three cards after the hand was opened. He also made it a rule that he would play but three hands a day, one in the morning with his second cup of coffee; one around noon; and one in the evening after he’d made himself a bourbon and water. He had often drawn four of the same suit, and, even more often, three, but he was certain that four hearts, for instance, were no closer to a flush the next time than one; or, as he thought of it, close but no cigar did not mean cigar next time. So he did not torment himself with the anguish suffered by those who believe that luck and chance are incremental and progressive and fair, that is, that luck must, of necessity, change. But it was, indeed, interesting, nonetheless, when he had drawn, perhaps, four clubs on his first four cuts with four cuts to go. The odds would seem to be with him in such instances, but he’d never yet, of course, drawn that fifth club. He invariably thought, at such times, how pleasant it would be to believe in a God to whom he could pray, a God who would either change the cards’ positions in the deck or direct his hand. Dear God, give me a flush so that I can die. But there was nothing but the deck, life, and, just a blink away, death. He could have, surely, simply swallowed the pills, plus an insurance bottle of over-the-counter sleeping pills, with a tumbler of bourbon; but he thought that his simple game was a duty that he owed to life, even though life had nothing for him anymore. One evening, after he’d begun his final routine, it came to him that this game, this civilized courtship of death, was the act that permitted him to go on living, it had become his life. There was a neat irony to this, it pleased him greatly: to look forward to living so that he could play for the right to die. Very neat. He, incidentally, was sure that he had an edge on the game, perhaps even an unfair advantage, one that had been hard for him to acknowledge, perhaps because he had never employed it. For he knew, quite simply knew that a deck of cards that he’d taken, some twenty years earlier, from a hotel room in the Ritz-Carlton in Marina del Rey, a deck which he’d never removed from its cellophane wrapper, was the charmed and magical deck that would, on its first use, lead him into the pleasures of nothingness. He even saw the flush, red and beautiful, in diamonds: three, seven, ten, nine, King.
Success
CARSON TOLD HER THAT HE’D ONCE READ AN ACCOUNT IN some magazine of a dream in which a woman, the wife of the man who was dreaming, turned into Meryl Streep. In the dream. She looked at him and ate the last piece of dill pickle on her plate. And? she said. What’s your point? I don’t really remember the article too well, he said. Lunch was almost over, which was too bad, although he knew that he had no chance with her, well, maybe he did, maybe, but he didn’t have the courage to risk his marriage, it was ridiculous, unthinkable. But when she looked the way she looked today, in a dark business suit and white blouse, well, when she looked the way she looked today. Oh, wait, he said, right, I think the point was that the guy hated Meryl Streep but in the dream he wanted to — he wanted to make love to her. But he really didn’t like her at all, the actual her. You must have been asleep in your psych lectures, she said. Get yourself a selected Freud, one with the dream stuff in it, The Interpretation of Dreams. What do you think of Meryl Streep? she said. She stood up and smoothed her skirt over her hips and thighs. Oh sweet Jesus. She’s O.K.? he said, why? I think she’s a pretentious ham, she said, all those irritating accents are supposed to show us that she’s a great actress? She puts on some broad accent, her nose gets red, and she cries a few times, that’s the routine in every movie. Sure, he said, that’s right. He was looking at the lace edging on the collar of her blouse. Don’t you think so? she said, that that’s about the extent of her talent? I’m on the side of the guy who had the dream — but when he’s awake! He stood up and she asked him to leave the tip, she’d get the check. You bought last time, she said. O.K. he said, I’ll pick it up next time, then. She paid at the register and he stood back a few feet, admiring her, her nose and ears, her hair, her little gold-ball earrings, her jacket and skirt, her shoes and stockings, her legs. They walked out onto the street and started back to the office. You were looking at me back there, weren’t you? she said. Her voice was even, neutral, placid. Yes, he said, blushing. You were looking at my legs. Yes, he said, do you want to have a drink after work some time? I’m married, she said, you know that, and so are you. Do you want to have a drink some time? he said. He looked at the slender gold chain around her neck. Is the married, ah, thing, problem, she said, O.K. with you, is it all right with you? How about tomorrow? he said, sure it is. I’ll let you know in the morning, she said. A drink, right? Yes, just a drink. They stopped at the curb for traffic and he looked at her profile. His wife was just as attractive, maybe moreso. So, she said, buy that Freud, and see what he has to say. Meryl Streep! she said. They stepped off the curb and his forearm brushed her hip. It felt like fire.
A Small Adventure