“There’s bad people and there’s good people,” Tussy said, in a schoolmarm’s tone. “I found that out for myself, like I just told you about. Just because you had some bad experiences, that doesn’t mean the whole world’s-”
“No, no,” Dett said. “Can I…?” He reached out his hand. Tussy took it, as trusting as a child.
Dett felt her hand, small and work-roughened, pulsing faintly, like a heart at peace.
“I wasn’t talking about people,” he finally said. “Not… individuals. I meant the world. The people who run it.”
“Like kings and presidents?”
“Not them. Well, maybe them, but even that’s not what I mean. I mean the people who run them.”
“I don’t understand. Nobody runs the president of America. And nobody runs an evil man like… like Hitler was, right?”
“No.”
“No, I’m right? Or no, I’m wrong?” she said, looking up at him.
“No, you’re wrong. But you’re right about people. Most people, anyway. They’re sheep. They go wherever they’re herded.”
“Walker?”
“What?”
“You’re not some kind of… religious man, are you?”
“I already told you-”
“When I was nineteen,” she said, suddenly, “I got married. He was twenty-five, just back from the war. He had been wounded in Italy. He was a hero, people said. He was a very handsome man, especially in his uniform. That’s what he was wearing when I met him. In the diner. I thought he was the man I had been waiting for.”
“But he wasn’t…” Dett said, fearful she would stop talking, desperate beyond his own understanding to hear the end-to know what had gone wrong.
“Joey didn’t have any trouble getting work. The war was still going on-this was right after VE Day-but everyone knew we would win by then. The plants were running double shifts. And, with him being a veteran and all…
“We got married in the church. And then we came back ho-to my house. For a little while, it was good.”
“And then…?”
“It started… I don’t know exactly what started it. So many things happened at once. Joey didn’t like Fireball-which was a dirty trick, because when we were going out he said he did-and he… drank a lot. I thought that was because he hated his job. He wasn’t a war hero at the plant. He was always coming home in a temper because the foreman had chewed him out or some supervisor didn’t like the way he did something.”
“You said there was plenty of work…”
“There was. Joey would quit one job and get another, but it was always the same story. And even with him hating his jobs, he was always after me to quit mine.”
“Why didn’t you want to quit your job?”
“I did. You think being a waitress is a wonderful career? I always wanted a baby, ever since I was a little girl. I thought it would be so wonderful, to be a mom like mine was. Help my husband, be a family, together. But I knew if I quit my job I couldn’t make the payments on my house.”
“But when you got married, wasn’t it his job to-?”
“No!” she said, hotly. “I mean, it would have been, maybe, if I did what he wanted. Sell the house, and move into an apartment. Then Joey would have paid the rent, sure. But I wouldn’t sell my house. So he moved in there, with me.”
“What’s wrong with that? I mean, couldn’t he just as easily pay the mortgage? It would be cheaper than renting an apartment, especially right after the war.”
“He wanted to do that, too. After I put his name on the deed.”
“You did that?”
“I was going to,” Tussy said, almost apologetically. “But I was… I don’t know, nervous about it, kind of. So I went to see a lawyer. Mr. Gendell, he has an office right over the bank where I have my account. Everyone says he’s the best lawyer in town. He even does some things for Mr. Beaumont, that’s how important he is.
“But he turned out to be the nicest man you ever met, except for those horrible cigars he smoked. The air in his office, it was just blue. I was a little scared of him. He’s very big and he talks very loud. I wanted to know how much it would cost for him to explain the law to me. About mortgages and deeds and things. And he said I should just tell him what I wanted to know, and he’d figure out what it would cost. That scared me even more, but I went ahead and did it.
“Mr. Gendell listened to everything I told him. And then he said, ‘Young woman, if you put your husband’s name on that deed, you will never be able to get it off.’
“I asked him why I would even want to get it off. And he said, ‘Things happen.’ That’s just what he said, ‘Things happen.’ He said the house would be half Joey’s. And Joey was the man. So, if he wanted to sell it, for example, well, he could just do it. Mr. Gendell didn’t say anything about divorce, but he asked me how long I’d known Joey before we got married, and stuff like that, so I understood what he was really saying.
“He gave me a real lecture. Not like a scolding, but like I always imagined college would be, if I had ever went. He told me about the Married Women’s Property Act, and how hard it had been for women to get the vote, and how the courts treated women when they got divorced, and… Well, anyway, when he was done with me, that was the end of me putting Joey’s name on the deed to the house.”
“How did Joey take that?”
“He walked out of the house. He came back late at night. Drunk. And he beat me up. Ow!” Tussy squealed, as Dett’s hand clamped down on hers.
“Oh God, I’m sorry,” Dett said. He felt hot lava suffusing the artificially tightened skin of his face, threatening to erupt. He quickly bent forward and kissed her hand. “I’m sorry, Tussy. I didn’t mean to-”
“It’s all right,” she said. “You just… startled me, that’s all.”
“When I heard you say he-”
“I understand,” she said, realizing, as she spoke, that she did, and not questioning it.
“What happened?” Dett said, clipping each syllable.
“I told you. He-”
“After that.”
“Oh. The next morning, he apologized. It was the liquor that made him do it, he said. But I couldn’t forget him… punching me, screaming how could he be the man of the house when it wasn’t even his house? I didn’t go to work the next day. I was too ashamed. My face was all…”
“He never did it again?”
“Can I…?” Tussy said, gesturing.
Dett handed over her purse, lit the cigarette he knew was coming.
“He did do it again. And again. He even kicked Fireball.”
“Your cat? Why would he-?”
“Fireball tried to tear him up. Scratching and biting. Joey couldn’t get him off.”
“I didn’t know cats did that. Dogs, sure. But-”
“Well, Fireball did. He was a little tiger. When Joey kicked him, he went flying into the wall. I thought Joey had killed him. If he had…”
“But he was okay?”
“I took him to the vet. They said he was fine, but that’s when everyone found out.”
“Found out?”
“About Joey… beating me. I had to take Fireball to the doctor; I thought he was hurt real bad. I did my best to cover up my… I put on a lot of makeup, but it didn’t do any good. I had a black eye, and my nose was all swollen.”
“You think the vet told people?”
“Maybe. I mean, I guess so. Because, when the police came, it was like they already knew.”
“The police came to the vet’s?”
“No, no. To my house. It was the very next night. Joey was drunk, and he slapped me. I punched him back, as hard as I could. Then I tried to scratch his eyes out, like Fireball would have, if he could. A window got broken. Someone must have called the police. One of my neighbors, I think. Nobody ever said.
“When they got there, Joey looked worse than me, I think. But I was the one with the broken ribs. We all went to the hospital. The police asked me what happened, and I told them. They said if I pressed charges Joey would go to jail, and then he’d lose his job, and there’d be no one to take care of me. I couldn’t even explain to them that I didn’t need anyone to take care of me; I was too busy crying. I felt like everything was just… gone.”