“Who are you?” Carl finally said to him.
“I’m Roger. I play trumpet with the band.”
“You look familiar,” Carl said. “Did I see you some other time with another band?”
“I doubt it,” Roger said. “I haven’t played with a group for a long time.” What he didn’t tell Carl was that he had been in the seminary. He realized that that always stopped conversation, and he had been trying hard not to say it to people.
“Who are you?” Roger said to Carl.
“Hello, look at this,” Perry said, coming into the house. There was a grass stain down the side of his khakis and he had torn the knee of his pants.
“Is there room for us?” Delores called from the kitchen. “We tried to call you twice this morning, but everybody must have been out.”
“Sure,” Perry said.
He looked around. “Where’s Meagan?” he said.
“We were visiting Francie and we left her there. Carl thinks I’m a bad mother.”
Carl looked away and said nothing.
“She’s with Francie?” Perry echoed. “Well, have you two eaten? We were going to drive into town and get a pizza.”
“Perry, this house is as big as a barn. Doesn’t it get depressing here in the winter?” Delores said, coming into the living room.
“Did you go to Bard?” Carl asked Roger.
“Yeah,” Roger said. “I was there for a couple of years.”
“In ’sixty-five or ’sixty-six?”
“ ’Sixty-six, sure,” Roger said, his face lighting up. He and Carl shook hands and laughed.
“Gordon Liddy was the fucking Assistant D.A. of Duchess County,” Carl said to everybody. “Did you know Inez?” Carl asked Roger.
“Was she the tall girl who hung out with Little Ruthie?”
“No — she was a musician.”
“Right, right.”
Delores sighed. She had not gone to college, and Carl was always running into people from Bard, which bored her. She asked Perry if she could use the phone and went into the kitchen. Suddenly Carl stopped reminiscing. He hollered, “Who are you calling?”
“I’m calling Freed. I thought we’d stay here a couple of days and look around and then go see him in Maine.”
“I’m not going to Maine to see Freed,” Carl said.
“Why not?”
“Why don’t you call and see if your kid stopped sulking?” Carl said. “That’s what I think you ought to do.” They could hear her dialing.
“Delores,” Carl said. “If you’re calling Freed, don’t tell him I’m going there, because I’m not.”
“Inez used to go to Adolph’s and drive everybody crazy playing “Heat Wave” on the jukebox over and over,” Roger said.
“Don’t be that way,” Delores said, coming out of the kitchen. “He wrote us that nice letter.”
“I don’t give a shit what he writes us. If you want to go visit Freed, I’m not stopping you.”
“I suppose you’re going to give me your car too.”
“If it really means that much to you to visit him, Delores, you can take the car.”
“I’m going to stretch out,” Roger said. “Excuse me.”
Delores watched Roger walk out of the room and go up the stairs. “You seriously won’t go to Maine?” she said.
“That’s right.”
She went back into the kitchen. Perry sat in a chair and waited for the fight. As he waited, Beth Ann and T.W. came back to the house. “Carl!” Beth Ann said. “What are you doing here?”
“Hey!” Carl said and stood to hug her. “How are you, T. W.?” he said.
“Hey, Carl,” T.W. said. “Are you going to fill in on bass if our bass player doesn’t show?”
“I’d throw you off — I’m not good enough,” Carl said. He looked toward the kitchen. “In every respect,” he said.
“Is Roger still sick?” T.W. said, looking around the room. He saw his slide on the floor and took out a joint and offered it around. Only Beth Ann would have any of it.
“Is that Delores in there?” Beth Ann said.
“Yeah,” Perry said.
Beth Ann went to the door and waved to Delores and stood by the door, waiting for her to finish. When Delores kept whispering on the phone, she walked away and sat by T.W. and asked where the band was playing. He started naming names of bars.
Carl took a hit off of T.W.’s joint and walked into the kitchen. He came out with a beer.
T.W. offered the joint again and Carl had another hit. “I’m very tempted to go get in my car and drive off,” he said.
“Sit down, Carl,” Perry said. “We’re all going to go get pizza in a minute.”
“This is humiliating,” Carl said. “Why did she have me bring her to your place if what she wanted was to be in Maine with Freed?”
“I don’t know,” Perry said. “Sit down.”
“I’m going,” Carl said. “This is ridiculous.”
“Where are you going?” Beth Ann said.
“I’m just going. I apologize for making a scene. I’m just going.”
He stood in the middle of the room for a minute, then pulled his wallet and sunglasses out of Delores’ bag and went outside. He sat in the car for quite a while. Then they heard the car start.
“Who is she talking to?” Beth Ann said. “She’s talking to Freed?”
“Let’s get Dickie and go eat,” T.W. said.
“Maybe there’s something here to eat,” Beth Ann said.
“There isn’t,” Perry said.
“I’m willing to spring for pizza,” T.W. said. “I want to eat so we can start practicing. We’ve got to get up early to drive to the job.”
Delores came out of the kitchen, seeming oblivious to Carl’s departure. She went over to Beth Ann and rumpled her hair. “What are you doing here?” she said.
“Don’t tell her,” T.W. said. “We’re going for pizza. Want to come?”
“Sure,” Delores said. “Did Carl stalk out?”
“He drove off. In the car.”
“Did you ever see anybody have a temper tantrum like that?” Delores said. “Don’t you think that was irrational?”
“I want pizza with mushrooms and onions,” T.W. said. “Will you split that kind of a pizza with me, Beth Ann?”
All of them got up and followed him out of the house.
“We can take my bus,” T.W. said. “Come on — pile in the back.”
“How far do we have to go?” Beth Ann said.
“Come on, get in. Should we ask Roger if he’s feeling better?”
“He’s sick,” Perry said. “Let’s just go.”
“Tell me about Meagan,” Beth Ann said to Delores. “Does she still have skin like porcelain?”
“You can see the veins in it,” Delores said. “It scares me sometimes. It looks like silk instead of human skin.”
“Where is she?”
“She’s with Francie. Francie’s taking her to a dog show.”
“Bring her to see us,” Beth Ann said.
Perry wondered if the “us” was inadvertent. He wondered how long she intended to stay, and what Delores intended to do about getting out of the house with Carl gone.