“For back rent?”
“Yes.”
“Was it much?”
“I have no idea what I owed him. Or them. There’s a landlady, too. In fact she’s the whole works. The Punts. They’re a couple of Germans. She’s a fat old woman with snag teeth. The nephew’s a longshoreman. He’s not so bad. It’s that smelly old woman’s fault. She kept after him. Old people, especially old women, are the hardest customers. They’ve made it, so to hell with everybody.”
“Made what? What are you talking about?”
“Lived so long. Pulled through. A long life,” said Allbee. “All the hardships. The rich are rough on the poor for the same reason. The veteran is rough on the tenderfoot. All the way down the line. You know that yourself. .”
“How much do you owe them? Ten dollars, twenty…?” said Leventhal stopping him impatiently.
“More like forty or fifty. To be honest with you, I can’t even make an estimate. I gave them a little on account, now and then. I don’t know. Less than they say, you can be sure ol that.”
“Didn’t they say?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Don’t tell me!”
Allbee did not speak.
“Don’t you want to go back there, pay them a little? If it’s forty dollars, I haven’t got that kind of money on hand, but if you give them something..?”
“No, thanks, the whole house smells. Pardon me, but that old Mrs Punt — I can’t stand uncleanliness like that.”
“I’ll bet you’re a model roomer, too.”
“I’m not the worst.”
“Excuse me, but I forgot you were an aristocrat,” Leventhal muttered with a short laugh, Allbee looked at him simply, without a touch of reproof.
“Well, where have you been staying?”
“Fortunately the weather’s been nice. I slept out. In the open. I could have gone to a shelter or a mission. I thought if the weather turned bad that I would. I’d go religious for a while. But it’s been beautiful.”
“I don’t know how you could let things get that bad. If you’re telling me the truth.”
“If I told you the whole truth, it wouldn’t sound plausible, so I’m only telling you part of it. I’m cutting it short. I suppose I shouldn’t have let things get out of hand like this. Last week I kept warning myself to hurry up and do something, but I didn’t pull myself together for some reason, and then Punt threw me out and there I was.” He turned his hand inward in a gesture of self-presentation. “The way I look, pearl diving is about the only work I could get.”
“How much money did your wife leave you?” Leventhal asked suddenly.
Allbee colored. “What business is it of yours?” he said.
“Why, man, you should have done something with it instead of just living it up.”
“You can’t bring the world to its knees with a little insurance money. .” He hesitated and added, “I don’t owe you any explanation, do I?”
“You don’t owe me anything. I don’t owe you anything, either.”
Allbee did not accept this, but he confined his disagreement to a shrug. Then he examined Leventhal at length. “I had my reasons for doing what I did,” he said. “I was in a peculiar state of mind and I wanted to get off the merry-go-round. Your wife is away, now. What if she were killed in an accident? Then you’d have the right to ask me such a question.”
“You’re an idiot!” said Leventhal.
“I’m only saying that we’re not in the same boat. Wait till we’re in the same boat.”
“God forbid!”
“Of course. Who wants to see harm come to anyone? But accidents happen. You ought to realize that.”
“Look,” said Leventhal, “it’s as I say. I don’t owe you anything. But I’ll give you a few bucks. Go to your rooming house or to a hotel.”
“I can’t go back. It’s impossible. I can’t ring Punt’s bell at this time of the night. Besides, they have somebody else in the room. That’s why they threw me out. And what sort of hotel would take me in? Like this? Without a bag? Unless you’re suggesting a flophouse?”
“Well,” said Leventhal. “Why beat around the bush? I see you’ve got your heart set on sleeping here tonight. I could see that all along.”
“Can you suggest a place for me to go?”
“You’re just inviting yourself in. It’s after one, do you know that?”
Allbee did not answer.
“After the way you’ve acted I should throw you out. And if you really believe half the things you said to me, you shouldn’t want to stay under the same roof. You’re a lousy counterfeit.”
“Why, you have the whole place to yourself. You can put me up,” Allbee said quietly smiling. “I wouldn’t be inconveniencing you. But if you want me to do this in the right spirit… “ And to Leventhal’s astonishment — he was too confounded when it happened to utter a sound — Allbee sank out of his chair and went to his knees.
Then he shouted, “Get up!”
Allbee pulled himself to his feet.
“For Christ’s sake, stop this damned clowning! What do you think this is?”
With a look of amusement, his eyes appearing fixed and large, Allbee seemed to taste first one lip and then the other.
“I warn you,” said Leventhal, “I won’t stand for your monkeyshines. Your jokes!” His disgust was passionate. “You know they’re not jokes; they’re not supposed to be funny. You’re trying to work something on me. You think you’ll throw me off and I won’t know what’s happening.”
“You don’t understand. I only wanted to do what was appropriate.”
“That’s all right,” said Leventhal grimly, refusing to hear. “I want you to get this — as far as I’m concerned, I’m letting you sleep here tonight to return a favor, and that’s all. Do you hear me?”
“Oh, you do owe me something.”
“Am I the only one that does? Haven’t you ever done anybody else a favor? It looks as if I’m the only one. And what do I owe you? You’ve pestered enough out of me already. I could shove you out in the hall and shut the door in your face with a clear conscience.”
“In your position-if I were in it, and I don’t say that I could be — my conscience wouldn’t be clear.”
“All right, conscience! I don’t want to discuss my conscience with you,” said Leventhal. “It’s late.”
He took some bedding from the cupboard and, going into the dining-room, flung it onto the day bed.
“It’s soft,” Allbee remarked feeling the mattress.
“Now what else do you need-you want to wash? There’s the bathroom.”
“I’d like a shower,” said Allbee. “It’s been a long time since I had one.”
Leventhal gave him a towel and found an old bathrobe for him in the closet. He sat down on the bed in his crumpled pajamas and listened disquieted to the water pelting the shower curtain and streaming in the tub. Soon Allbee came out, carrying his clothes. Wet and combed, his yellow hair gave him quite a different look. Leventhal observed his feet with a queer feeling of aversion. The insteps were red, coarse, and swollen, his toes long and misshapen, with heavy nails.
“Amazing, what a shower can do for you,” said Allbee.
“I’m going to sleep,” Leventhal said. He switched off the bed lamp.
“Good night,” said Allbee. “I’m really grateful for this hospitality.”
“Okay. There’s milk in the refrigerator, if you want something.”
“Thanks, I may have a glass.” He went toward the dining-room. Leventhal covered himself and pulled the pillow into position. The door of the refrigerator clicked open and he thought, “He is taking some.” He was already falling asleep when he heard it shut.