"Do you think I'm a feminist stereotype?" Monica said hotly.
"No, I do not," he replied calmly. "But only because I know you, am married to you, live with you. But can you deny that since the current women's movement started-when was it, about fifteen years ago?-a stereotype of the feminist has been evolving?"
Monica Delaney slammed her palm down on the top of the cocktail table. Empty coffee cups rattled on their saucers.
"You're infuriating!" she said.
"That's true," he said equably.
"What's the second thing?" Rebecca Boone said hastily, thinking to avert a family squabble. "You said you had two objections to the feminist movement. What's the second?"
"Not objections," he reminded her. "Reservations. The second is this:
"Women in the feminist movement are working to achieve equality of opportunity, equal pay, and the same chances for advancement offered to men in business, government, industry, and so forth. Fine. But have you really thought through what you call 'equality' might entail?
"Look at poor Sergeant Boone there-dead to the world." The sergeant grinned feebly. "I'd guess he's been working eighteen hours a day for the past six weeks. Maybe grabbing a catnap now and then. Greasy food when he can find the time to eat. Under pressures you cannot imagine.
"Rebecca, have you seen him as often as you'd like in the last six weeks? Have you had a decent dinner with him? Gone out to a show? Or just a quiet evening at home? Have you even known where he's been, the dangers he's been facing? My guess would be that you have not.
"You think your husband enjoys living this way? But he's a professional cop, and he does the best he can. Would you like a comparable job with all its demands and stress and strain and risk? I don't believe it.
"What I'm trying to say is that I don't believe that feminists fully realize what they're asking for. You don't knock down a wall until you know what's behind it. There are dangers, drawbacks, and responsibilities you're not aware of."
"We're willing to accept those responsibilities," Rebecca Boone said stoutly.
"Are you?" the Chief said with gentle sarcasm. "Are you really? Are you willing to charge into a dark alley after some coked-up addict armed with a machete? Are you willing to serve in the armed forces in combat and go forward when you know your chances of survival are practically nil?
"On a more prosaic level, are you willing to work the hours that a fast-track business executive does? Willing to meet the demands of bosses and workers, make certain your schedules are met, stay within budget, turn a profit-and risk peptic ulcers, lung cancer, alcoholism, and keeling over from a coronary or cerebral hemorrhage at the age of forty?
"Look, I'm not saying all men's jobs are like that. A lot of men can handle the pressures of a top-level position and go home every night and water the petunias. They die in bed at a ripe old age. But just as many crack up, mentally or physically. The upper echelons of the establishment to which women aspire produce a frightening percentage of broken, impotent, or just burned-out men. Is that the equality you want?"
Rebecca Boone was usually a placid dumpling of a woman. But now she exhibited an uncharacteristic flash of anger.
"Let us be the judge of what makes us happy," she snapped. "That's what the movement is all about."
Just as surprising, Monica Delaney didn't react with scorn and fury to her husband's words.
"Edward," she said, "there's a lot of truth in what you said. It's not all true, but there's truth in it."
"So?" he said.
"So," she said, "we recognize that when women achieve their rightful position in the upper levels of the establishment, they will be subject to the same strains, stresses, and pressures that men endure. But does it have to be that way? We don't think so. We believe the system can be changed, or at least modified, so that success doesn't necessarily mean peptic ulcers, coronaries, and cerebral hemorrhages. The system, the highly competitive, dog-eat-dog system, isn't carved on tablets of stone brought down from a mountain. It was created by men. It can be changed by liberated men-and women."
He stared at her.
"And when do you figure this paradise is going to come about?"
"Not in our lifetime," she admitted. "It's a long way down the road. But the first step is to get women into positions of power where they can influence the future of our society."
"Bore from within?" he said.
"Sometimes you're nasty," she said, smiling. "But the idea is right. Yes. Influence the system by becoming an integral part of it. First comes equality. Then liberation. For both women and men."
Sergeant Abner Boone rose shakily to his feet.
"Listen," he said hoarsely, "this is really interesting, and I'd like to stay and hear some more. But I'm so beat, I'm afraid I'll disgrace myself by falling asleep. Rebecca, I think we better take off."
She went over, took his arm, looked at him anxiously.
"Sure, hon," she said, "we'll go. I'll drive."
Chief Delaney went for hats and coats. The women kissed. The men shook hands. Farewells were exchanged, promises to get together again as soon as possible. The Delaneys stood inside their open front door, watched as the Boones got into their car and drove off, waving.
Then the Chief closed the front door, double-locked and chained it. He turned to face his wife.
"Alone at last," he said.
She looked at him.
"You covered yourself with glory tonight, buster," she said.
"Thank you," he said.
She glared, then burst out laughing. She took him into her strong arms. They were close, close. She drew back.
"What would I do without you?" she said. "I'll stack the dishes; you close up."
He made the rounds. He did it every night: barring the castle, flooding the moat, hauling up the drawbridge. He started in the attic and worked his way down to the basement. He checked every lock on every door, every latch on every window. This nightly duty didn't seem silly to him; he had been a New York cop.
When he had finished this chore, he turned off the lights downstairs, leaving on the outside stoop light and a dim lamp in the hallway. Then he climbed the stairs to the second-floor bedroom. Monica was turning down the beds.
He sat down heavily in a fragile, cretonne-covered boudoir chair. He bent over, began to unlace his thick-soled, ankle-high shoes of black kangaroo leather, polished to a high gloss. He didn't know of a single old cop who didn't have trouble with his feet.
"Was it really a good meeting?" he asked his wife.
"So-so," she said, flipping a palm back and forth. "Pretty basic stuff. The lecture, I mean. But everyone seemed interested. And they ate. My God, did they eat! What did you have?"
"A sandwich and a beer."
"Two sandwiches and two beers. I counted. Edward, you've got to stop gorging on sandwiches. You're getting as big as a house."
"More of me to love," he said, rising to his bare feet, beginning to strip off his jacket and vest.
"What does that mean?" she demanded. "That when you weigh 300 pounds I won't be able to contain my passion?"
They both undressed slowly, moving back and forth, to the closet, their dressers, the bathroom. They exchanged disconnected remarks, yawning.
"Poor Abner," he said. "Did you get a close look at him? He's out on his feet."
"I wish Rebecca wouldn't wear green," she said. "It makes her skin look sallow."
"The cheesecake was good," he offered.
"Rebecca said she's lucky if she sees him three hours a day."
"Remind me to buy more booze; we're getting low."
"You think the cheesecake was as good as mine?"
"No," he lied. "Good, but not as good as yours."
"I'll make you one."
"Make us one. Strawberry, please."
He sat on the edge of his bed in his underdrawers. Around his thick neck was a faded ring of blue: a remembrance of the days when New York cops wore the old choker collars. He watched his wife become naked.
"You've lost a few pounds," he said.