“It’s dark in here,” he assured her, his fingers grazing the shoulder strap of Helen’s dress.
“Later,” Helen whispered in desperation. “That man over there is watching us.”
Joe looked up and took his hand off Helen.
“Where?”
“By the bar,” Helen replied.
“His back is to us,” Joe said with a smirk.
“In the mirror,” Helen whimpered. “He’s watching us in the mirror.”
“The pervert,” Joe said with a laugh. “I should go up and give him a piece of my mind.”
“Don’t make a scene,” Helen pleaded.
“You’re sure? I could box his ears for you.” The guy is a giant.
“He’s awfully big.”
“The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” Joe laughed, taking a second look at the fellow at the bar. She goes for the tough guy look. Joe jerked his neck and straightened out his shoulders in a bravado posture.
Helen squeezed Joe’s arm. “Please don’t. I appreciate the gesture but I don’t want anyone to get hurt on my account.” He’d kill you.
Joe turned and looked at Helen. There was a pleading look in her eyes.
This is too easy.
“You’re all right.” He smiled and took Helen’s chin between two fingers and playfully squeezed it. “A lot of girls would love to see their man defend them but you’re not interested in showmanship. You really don’t like to see people get hurt. And I would have hurt him. Don’t you think for a moment I wouldn’t have cut that fellow down an inch or two.
I’ve got quite a temper. And I can take care of myself.” Helen smiled. “Yes, I believe you can. But he is awfully big.” Look at the size of his head.
Joe’s smile left his face momentarily. She had repeated that particular observation. Shit! I think she wants me to take him on.
“You think I couldn’t take him, don’t you? Sure he’s big. I’ve been in a few donnybrooks in my time. I played professional hockey for a while. I didn’t tell you that, did I?”
Helen shook her head.
“Semi-professional,” Joe added. “But I figure I’ve got a little left in the tank if they’d give me a chance. Sales is just a temporary thing, to hold me over until the big money starts to roll in. I’m waiting for the phone call. I heard they’re putting a new team in Vegas. I’ll have to quit smoking, though.”
Helen smiled. He’s lying through his teeth. That’s kind of sweet.
“I could tell the first time you stepped into our office to see Mr. Brennan that you had a certain swagger. That’s why he bought all that ink from you. We could run the presses for months on the ink Mr. Brennan bought. But he trusts a man with confidence. He told me that.”
“Ya.” Joe shook his head with a smile and leaned back in his chair, basking in the adulation of the woman beside him. “That was a pretty good sale. Did he really say that about me?” Helen nodded. Oh God, I have to pee.
Joe smiled. “Old man Brennan really ate up my story. I’ve always had the gift. Things have been going real well for me. I’m not sure I’d want to play again even if they called me. Do I need the aggravation? And if I get a few more commissions like the one off Brennan, I don’t know if I could take the pay cut.”
“Your story?” Helen finished her drink. Do I put my hand up and ask permission to leave?
Joe gestured to the bartender for another round.
“That’s what sales is all about,” Joe explained. “You don’t sell products-you sell a story. You’ve got to let people think that they’re buying a bit of you. It’s all about selling yourself and a story is the best way to sell yourself. Okay, you don’t always tell the complete story. You exaggerate, maybe even lie, but as long as you’re entertaining, the customer is happy.”
Jack stepped up to the table. Joe looked up.
“Another beer for myself and a glass of white wine for the lady.”
“I shouldn’t,” Helen protested.
“Ah, you only live once,” Joe said with a wink at Helen. Then he turned back to the bartender. “And tell cupid up at the bar to keep his eyes to himself.”
When Jack returned to the bar, Helen turned to Joe.
“You promised you wouldn’t make a scene,” she pleaded.
“Ah, that wasn’t a scene.” Joe moved closer to Helen. He put his arm around her. “You’ve got to make sure that people understand the boundaries. You weren’t fooling when you said that thing about later, were you?”
Helen smiled. “I have to go to the ladies’ room.” Joe ignored Helen’s request. “I don’t like to be told one thing now and another later.”
Helen patted Joe’s hand. “I really have to go to the ladies’ room.” Joe got to his feet and let Helen pass in front of him. He tapped her on the bum as she left and watched her move across the room. The door of the bar opened and Mary stepped inside. She looked around and spotted Joe sitting alone. She smiled. Joe nodded. Mary turned and walked over to the bar.
I know her, Joe thought to himself. Mary climbed onto a stool beside the giant. What an ass. Recognition flashed across Joe’s face into a smile. One night in here after a ball game. She got real hammered. We danced. She could hardly keep her hands off me.
Helen stepped back into the room and walked across the room toward Joe. She noticed he was watching the blonde at the bar. Once seated, she took a sip of her drink. He can’t take his eyes off her. It’s Mary.
“I work with her,” Helen said. I hope she doesn’t see me.
“Oh, ya?” Joe turned back to his date. “How come I didn’t see her in the office?”
“Maybe you show up at the wrong time. She spends a lot of time in Mr. Brennan’s office.”
Joe laughed. “I’ll bet she does.”
“No,” Helen protested. “It’s not like that.”
“Baby, you are so naive. I like that in my women.”
The Jazz Singer
“I wish you could be a little more respectful.” Mary cleared the break-fast dishes off the table. “You hardly said a word to him this morning before he left. I can’t keep friends if you’re not going to be at least a little accommodating. Hank probably thinks you’re a real snob. That’s not the way I raised you.”
Terry did not respond and continued to fill his mouth with corn flakes.
“I like Hank,” Mary continued, lighting up a cigarette.
“I thought you’d quit.” Terry’s words came out muffled.
Mary looked at the cigarette in despair. “I forgot.”
“You forget a lot of things,” Terry muttered.
Mary ignored her son’s remark, tightening her housecoat. She filled the sink with hot water and dish detergent and began to do the dishes.
“Someday I’m going to get an automatic dishwasher.”
“Why is he always talking about dead people?”
“What do you mean?”
“Last night he came out here to get a snack and I had to listen to all this shit about Al Jolson. Some dead guy who sang in the twenties. Like he expects me to go out and buy all this guy’s CDs. Who the hell is Al Jolson?”
“Before your time,” Mary said.
“And before your time too, Mom,” Terry said with a laugh.
“Thank you for that.”
“Jolson made this movie, The Jazz Singer. It was one of the first sound pictures.”
“You see,” Mary said, cleaning out the sink and placing the washcloth to one side. She dried her hands, took the cigarette out of her mouth, and tapped its ashes into the sink. “You can learn something new every day.”
“He sang this song ‘Mammy’ for me,” Terry said, shaking his head.
“What’s wrong with that guy?”
Mary shook with laughter. “He actually sang that song?”
“On one knee,” Terry added, puzzled that this gesture would bring such happiness to his mother. “I think he’s a pedophile.”
“Oh,” Mary sighed wiping the tears from her eyes, “I needed that.”
“Didn’t you hear what I said? I think he’s a pedophile.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! You can’t even spell the word.”
“Why would he go down on his knees in front of me?” Terry hated it when his mother didn’t take him seriously.
“That was part of his act, Jolson’s act,” Mary explained, a cloud of smoke slipping between her teeth. “Like Michael Jackson’s moonwalk.” Terry was puzzled. He was sure his mom had gone off the deep end.