"I'm going to tell Winnie," Clay says. "I'm going to tell the whole fucking world. Including my wife. Fuck her.”
They run into Tanner outside the bathroom. Tanner, Clay, and Evie go into the bathroom. James goes to the bar to get a drink. In the stall, Tanner presses up against Evie. Like Clay isn't even there. Evie minks she might swoon. Tanner is better in person than he is on the screen.
"How come you weren't at the wedding?" he asks. "Which one?" Evie says.
"James and Winnie.”
“Rehab," Evie says.
Veronica and Winnie are sitting at a table. "I'd just like some appreciation sometimes," Veronica says. "When I met Clay, he was living in an apartment with no bathroom.”
"James is either working or on the Internet or watching TV," Winnie says. Why does she always get stuck with Veronica?
"I mean, could he listen? To me? His latest thing is bad investments.”
"They have time for everything except you," Winnie says. "Well, now I don't have time for him.”
"And does he even notice? And now they're all on coke," Veronica says. "Look at them all jabbering away like monkeys. If s disgusting.”
James and Evie and Clay sit down with Veronica and Winnie.
"James is doing a piece on chimpanzees," Evie says.
"Oh James, don't talk about it. If s so dull," Winnie says.
"I just found out that the government is illegally importing chimpanzees for secret medical research. They're stashing them in a warehouse in lower Manhattan," James says.
"Why would anybody bring monkeys into Manhattan," Winnie says.
"Did you know that in some chimp tribes, the females are lesbians? And they let the male chimps watch?" Clay asks, leaning over to Evie. "Clay, we're going," Veronica says.
"Hold on," Clay says. "I haven't finished my drink.”
"Who wants another drink?" James says. "That’s enough," Winnie says.
"Tanner's ordering another drink," James says. "Tanner's leaving," Veronica says. And, in fact, Tanner is leaving, moving toward the elevator, kissing and squeezing people along the way.
"We'll give you a ride uptown, Evie," Winnie says, standing up.
"That’s okay. I don't have to be up in the morning," Evie says. She has one eye on Tanner. She can't let him get away. "I'll be back," she says.
"Sure," Clay says.
Veronica gives him a dirty look.
Evie hurries after Tanner. Winnie and James and Veronica and Clay are so boring. Why is Winnie always trying to control her? Doesn't she understand that Evie and Tanner are one kind of person and Winnie and James are another? (They are partiers. Fun people.) She manages to squeeze herself into the elevator with Tanner just before the doors shut.
"Good girl," Tanner says. He looks at Evie appraisingly and thinks, She'll do. (He's had hundreds of girls like Evie. Sexy and available. Too available. After a certain age they can't find husbands. Or even boyfriends. He'd rather fuck Winnie. At least she isn't available.) "Just promise me one thing," Tanner whispers. "Don't give me any of that marriage shit." He starts singing, "It ain't me, babe. It ain't me you're looking for. Babe.”
"Don't be so sure." Evie giggles.
The elevator doors open on the ground floor. Tanner grabs Evie's hand. They hurry out to the street.
The limo driver is holding open the door. There's a crowd, held back by police barricades. "Maestro!" Tanner screams.
He pulls Evie into the limo.
Clay and Veronica and Winnie and James are standing on the street corner. Trying to get a cab. (Or trying not to get a cab, James thinks.) "If you want to kill yourself, go right ahead," Veronica says to Clay. "I really don't give a flying fuck anymore.”
"What are you talking about?" Clay asks.
"Oh, for Christ's sake, Clay. How stupid do you think I am?”
"Let’s get a drink," James says.
"You've both been doing coke," Winnie says. "I haven't been doing coke," James says.
"Can you believe this, man?" Clay says to James. "I mean, how much more of this do we have to take?”
"You are such a loser, James," Winnie says. "Let’s get in a cab and go home.”
"I'm not getting in a cab," James says. "I'm getting a drink.”
"James!”
"No!" James says. "Tanner sits there snorting up a gram of coke and no one gets on his case.”
“Tanner is a famous movie star who makes fifteen million dollars a picture," Winnie says.
"Tanner is an alcoholic, a drug addict, and a sex addict. He's a complete sicko degenerate," Veronica says.
"So if s all about money," Clay says.
"What are you talking about?" Veronica says. "She," Clay says, pointing at Winnie, "just said that Tanner makes fifteen million a year. So that makes it okay.”
"Picture. Fifteen million a picture. And no, ifs not okay.”
"I've had enough," Clay says to James. "What about you?”
"I just want a drink," James says.
Tanner's limo pulls up to the corner. Tanner rolls down the window. "Anybody need a lift?”
"I'm with you, Tanner," Clay says.
"Me too," James says. He doesn't look at Winnie. "Don't you get in that limo, Clay.”
"Hey sis, lighten up," Tanner says. "Me and the boys are going to have a few pops.”
Clay and James get into the limo, climbing over Evie, who's lying on the floor, laughing. "Hello, boys," she says. As the limo pulls away, James sneaks a look back at Winnie. Her mouth is open, but for once, nothing is coming out.
Four a.m.
James doesn't feel so good. He stole the chalk. He's being punished. He thinks (but he's not sure) he hears voices. "What have you done now, James?" his mother says. "At the rate you're going, we'll have to send you to reform school. Do you want to be a failure? Like your father?”
Was his father a failure? His suits were always rumpled. He owned three dry-cleaning stores. Was he having an affair with Betty, the woman who did his books? "Pull down your pants, James," his father says, taking off his belt.
It was only a tiny piece of chalk. A sliver, really. "Hey, let me in," James says. His voice is a croak. It seems to be coming from somewhere to his left. (Somehow he's at his building. Somehow he got into a cab and obviously gave the cab driver his address. But it seems like ages ago. Maybe yesterday.) "Yes?" the doorman says. James has never seen him before.
"I'm James Dieke. I live here," he says, holding up his keys.
The doorman lets him in. "Are you new?" James says. It feels better to talk. If he can just keep talking, maybe he can get through this. "Are you married?
I'm married. I'm not sure if I like being married, but what can you do?”
"Good night," the doorman says.
James rides the elevator to his floor. Does it take a minute or forever? He grew up on Long Island in a row house. Every house was the same. His had rattan furniture from Sears.
(His grandmother ate red-and-white-striped candies. Peppermints, she said. She wore flowered housedresses.) Winnie's house had a pool and a tennis court. Her father was a judge. Winnie had a black Prince tennis racket.
This is very, very important.
Someone brought a monkey to school once. Its tail was worn.
Birds are chirping. If s a terrible noise. Who knew New York City had so many birds? He enters his apartment. He's going to show them all. He's going to write this book. If s earth-shattering. People have to know about this.
"Winnie," he says.
She's lying in bed. She opens her eyes and glares at him. Turns over.
Someone's got to know about this.
James shakes her. "If s this giant government plot, Winnie. Winnie, are you awake? If s the overcrowding of the niche structures but instead of using rats they're using monkeys and they're finding that the same behavior occurs in primates, which means that it goes all the way to the heart of the inner-city housing crisis. Of course, Stephen Jay Gould discovered the same construct in his snail studies ...”