— Yes. As a matter of fact, I’ve been staying right here at the Plaza — all winter.
— Amazing.
— Yes.
— Yes, well, good-bye, now… It’s been … odd.
— Hasn’t it! But pleasant, too. We’ll have to do it again, sometime…
— Yes. Well, good-bye.
— Good-bye.
— Good-bye.
— Yes. ’Bye.
—’Bye.
— So long.
— Ciao.
— Ciao.
— Tra.
— La.
7.
(AT THE PARTY)
They spotted each other at the same instant on opposite sides of the crowded, smoke-draped room and made their respective ways through the crowd, holding their cocktail glasses over their heads so as not to spill, excusing themselves with careful graciousness as they stepped on toes, crunched corsages, bumped breasts, kicked canes, until they finally were together, breathless, in the center of the room, light peck on the cheek, sip from the drink as eyes appraise each other’s bodies, faces, clothes, cigarettes lit, puffing, smiling nod to acquaintance nearby, appreciative and only slightly critical analysis of the posh apartment’s décor, and, at last,
— Well, I didn’t expect to run into you here! Naomi Ruth said in a hard but gay voice.
— And I didn’t expect to run into you here! Egress countered.
— Jesus, Egress, we can’t seem to say anything new to one another, can we?
— Not at this level, m’love. There’s lots we could say if we weren’t so obsessively intent on discussing our failed marriage every time we happened to meet.
— I know, she said sadly.
— Too bad we can’t fuck, he said. — By God, then we’d have something new to talk about!
— Yes.
— I know.
— Yes.
— Um. Well, it’s been “real,” as they say…
— Yes. Did you come alone? she asked him.
— Oh, no, no, no. No, I came with a “friend.”
— Yes, she said, believing him. — The dancer. The young Russian girl. I remember.
— You alone? he queried idly.
— No, no. No, I’m not. Well, good-bye, Egress, she said hurriedly, and started to pull away from the center of the room.
— Good-bye! he called after her.
A friend, a man obviously attracted to Naomi Ruth’s not inconsiderable beauty, happened to be standing just behind Egress, and, recognizing his bluff voice, punched him affectionately on the shoulder, and said to him, — Hey, ol’ buddy, who’s that fine-looking woman you were just propositioning?
— Oh, that’s just … that’s my ex-wife.
— You sound regretful, ol’ buddy.
— Naw. Not regretful. The wages of sin, you know. Wistful, though … and something else. But not regretful.
8.
(AT THE CASINO)
— Stay close, m’love. I started winning the second you entered the room, and I’ll have to quit if you leave.
— Do you think there are some sort of house rules against…?
— Against what? Luck?
— I thought it was slightly more than that, luck. I mean, the way you carried on…
— Well, it is more than luck, of course, but we don’t want them to know it, because, yes, there is a house rule against magic, another against divine intervention, a third against astral projection, and so on. Your usual house rules.
— Which one are we breaking, confidentially? Whisper it.
He whispered into her diamond-encrusted ear. She shuddered down into her furs. He turned back to the table and continued winning.
It was quite a night, for both of them. They had such a good time together that on several occasions, half a dozen, at least, the pain brought one or the other of them to his knees. They were almost relieved when it was over and they could go back to their respective hotels along the Strip.
9.
(AT THE BANK)
— Making a deposit or withdrawal? she asked him.
— Oh! I almost didn’t recognize you in that business suit. A withdrawal, as it happens. What about you?
— Deposit.
— Neat, he said appreciatively.
— What?
— Oh, you know, the balance of payments, as it were. It’s almost cosmic. I love analogies, as you well know, he reminded her gently.
— I don’t need to be reminded, she informed him.
— Yes, I remember your telling me that, too. And just about everything else we say to each other as well.
— It’s not exactly an opportunity for adventure, is it, being one of a pair of parallel lines? We stayed together too long, Egress; she reminded him again.
— Yes, I know, I know. I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. Remembering it, I mean.
— What’s the solution?
— Infinity, he laughed.
— No, be serious, Egress.
— I am, I am. We’re a pair of parallel lines, you said it yourself, and if that’s become a problem, as it most evidently has, then the only solution is “infinity,” which is where they meet, finally.
— Or diverge.
— Right, or diverge. Of course. But we’re not Greeks, nor were we meant to be, so we ought to be careful not to get our ethics mixed up with our mathematics. We’re neither of us skilled enough a mathematician to accomplish it with anything like grace or good feeling.
— Don’t worry about me, she said. — You’re the one who loves analogy, remember?
— Yes, yes, of course. But you’re the one who brought the parallel lines into this, which I’ve merely accepted as an indication of how you perceive our lives, past, present, and, presumably, future.
— I can’t stand this quarreling. It’s all so familiar to me, she exclaimed. — So déjà-vu. Good-bye, she said to him, and hurried from the bank.
He finished his transaction with the teller and left also, feeling no stranger to his anger with himself, even taking perverse pleasure from the familiarity.
10.
(IN THE COCKTAIL LOUNGE)
— H’lo again.
— Again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again.
— Been here awhile, eh?
— The better part of a season, I’d say. I thought I’d found a place you’d not found and wouldn’t. But here you are. I see I should’ve kept moving, should’ve kept taking those chances instead of this one…
— I’m sorry.
— Don’t be! No, it’s not your fault! None of it. Not a bit.
— I’ve changed.
— I know it. I can tell that. I know you’ve changed. Trouble is, I’ve changed too. And you know where that puts us? I’ll tell you where it puts us! It puts us right back where we started. What we’ve got to do is change, all right, but only one of us at a time!
— Right. Well, don’t let me interrupt you. ’Bye.
— Yeah. G’bye. Too bad for the bartender, though.
— Why?
— Wal, y’see, he just lost two customers. A “regular” and a “potential.”
— Oh, I know. Well, don’t worry, someone else will take our places, I’m sure.
— Yeah, sure, the world is full of people running away from each other.
— Right. ’Bye.
— G’bye.
11.
(AT THE HOSPITAL)
— Are you a patient?
— Here for tests.