“Was your mother there long? The reason I ask is my mother was down in December. And part of January. Usually I go down with her, but this has been such a messy year I simply couldn’t get away.”
“She was down in February,” Ginnie said.
“Grand. Where did she stay? Do you know?”
“With my aunt.”
He nodded. “May I ask your name? You’re a friend of Franklin’s sister, I take it?”
“We’re in the same class,” Ginnie said, answering only his second question.
“You’re not the famous Maxine that Selena talks about, are you?”
“No,” Ginnie said.
The young man suddenly began brushing the cuffs of his trousers with the flat of his hand. “I am dog hairs from head to foot,” he said. “Mother went to Washington over the weekend and parked her beast in my apartment. It’s really quite sweet. But such nasty habits. Do you have a dog?”
“No.”
“Actually, I think it’s cruel to keep them in the city.” He stopped brushing, sat back, and looked at his wristwatch again. “I have never known that boy to be on time. We’re going to see Cocteau’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and it’s the one film where you really should get there on time. I mean if you don’t, the whole charm of it is gone. Have you seen it?”
“No.”
“Oh, you must! I’ve seen it eight times. It’s absolutely pure genius,” he said. “I’ve been trying to get Franklin to see it for months.” He shook his head hopelessly. “His taste. During the war, we both worked at the same horrible place, and that boy would insist on dragging me to the most impossible pictures in the world. We saw gangster pictures, Western pictures, musicals—”
“Did you work in the airplane factory, too?” Ginnie asked.
“God, yes. For years and years and years. Let’s not talk about it, please.”
“You have a bad heart, too?”
“Heavens, no. Knock wood.” He rapped the arm of his chair twice. “I have the constitution of—”
As Selena entered the room, Ginnie stood up quickly and went to meet her halfway. Selena had changed from her shorts to a dress, a fact that ordinarily would have annoyed Ginnie.
“I’m sorry to’ve kept you waiting,” Selena said insincerely, “but I had to wait for Mother to wake up. . . . Hello, Eric.”
“Hello, hello!”
“I don’t want the money anyway,” Ginnie said, keeping her voice down so that she was heard only by Selena.
“What?”
“I’ve been thinking. I mean you bring the tennis balls and all, all the time. I forgot about that.”
“But you said that because I didn’t have to pay for them—”
“Walk me to the door,” Ginnie said, leading the way, without saying goodbye to Eric.
“But I thought you said you were going to the movies tonight and you needed the money and all!” Selena said in the foyer.
“I’m too tired,” Ginnie said. She bent over and picked up her tennis paraphernalia. “Listen. I’ll give you a ring after dinner. Are you doing anything special tonight? Maybe I can come over.”
Selena stared and said, “O.K.”
Ginnie opened the front door and walked to the elevator. She rang the bell. “I met your brother,” she said.
“You did? Isn’t he a character?”