Mary And The Giant

"You'll struggle along," the woman said.

From his coat pocket Schilling got a cigar. As he lit up, he said: "Seems to me you've gained weight."

"I suppose so." The woman searched her mind. "How long has it been?"

"It was 1948," her companion said.

"We've all gotten older," the woman said.

Schilling went to wait on a middle-aged customer. Presently he returned. They were still there; they hadn't left. He hadn't really expected them to. "Well, Beth," he said, "what brings you here?"

"Curiosity. We haven't seen you in so long ... when we read in the paper about your store, we said, 'Let's hop in the car and drive up there.' So we did."

"What paper?"

"The San Francisco Chronicle."

"You don't live in San Francisco."

"Somebody sent us the clipping," she said vaguely. "They knew we'd be interested."

It had certainly been his mistake, five years ago, to mix with these people. He would never shake them, not now. They had found him and his store: he was a duck in a rain barrel. And he had tangible assets.

"Did you come out from Washington?" he asked. "Getting away from the winter?"

"God," Beth said, "we haven't lived in Washington in years. We lived in Detroit and then we moved to Los Angeles."

Following me, Schilling thought. Coming west with their noses to the ground.

"We stopped by to see you," Beth said, "when you were living in Salt Lake City. But you were having some sort of business meeting, and we couldn't stay."

"That was a nice spot you had there," Coombs, the man, said. "Did you own that place?"

"I had an interest."

"That wasn't a store, was it? Not that big brick building? It looked like a warehouse."

"Wholesalers," Schilling said. "We jobbed for a number of labels."

"And you built up capital for this shop?" Coombs was skeptical. "You were better off there; you won't do any business in a town this size."

"I guess you haven't seen the duck," Schilling said. "The duck in the park. He doesn't buy much, but he's fun to watch. What are you two doing these days? For a living, I mean."

"Different things," Beth said. "I taught for a while; that was in Detroit."

"Piano?" he asked.

"Oh, certainly. I stopped playing the cello years ago. I had stopped when-I met you."

"That's so," Schilling said. "There was one around your apartment, but you didn't play it."

"Two busted strings. And I lost the bow."

"It seems to me I had an old joke about lady cello players," Schilling said. "It had to do with their psychological motives."

"Yes," Beth agreed. "It was really a terrible joke, but I always thought it was fu

Schilling felt himself mellow, remembering. "Freudian analysis ... a popular indoor pastime, in those days. Not so popular now. What was it I said?"

"Women cello players. They have a subconscious need for something large between their legs." Beth laughed. "You were delightful. You really were."

It was hard to believe he had ever wanted this hefty girl, had carted her off for a weekend, found his way into that wonderfully avid cunt, and then returned her to her husband more or less in tact. But she had not been hefty then; she had been small. Beth Coombs was still attractive-her skin was quite smooth and her eyes, as always, were clear. The affair had been brief and intense, and he had enjoyed it. If only there had been no aftereffects.

"What now?" he said, including the both of them. "Going to hang around town?"

Beth nodded, but Coombs pretended he hadn't heard.

"Oh, come on, Coombs," Schilling said. "Let's face it. You're that by which vinegar got from the bucket to Our Savior's mouth."

Coombs was still not hearing, but Beth laughed merrily. "It's good to hear you again, Joe. I've missed conversation."

Defeated, Schilling gave up. "Want an armload of records? Want the cash register?" He made a resigned, giving motion. "Want the diamond needles out of the cartridges? They're worth ten bucks apiece."

"Very fu

"You're still in the photography business?"

"Off and on."

"You didn't come here to photograph people."

After a pause, Beth said: "Well, we've been depending mostly on the music teaching."

"You're going to teach here?"

"We thought," Beth said, "that you could give us some help. You're fairly well settled. You have your store; you've probably built up contacts with the musical people in town. You're going to sell sheet music, aren't you?"

"No," Schilling said. "And I'm not going to give you a job. And I'm not going to fool around with this thing; I'm operating on a limited budget and I have all the expenses I can stand."

In a sputter of excitement, Coombs said: "You can give us a plug; that won't cost you anything. All the old ladies come around asking who's a piano teacher. What are you going to do at Christmas? You can't run your record store alone; you need somebody to help you."

"Surely you're going to hire somebody," Beth persisted. "I'm surprised you haven't already."

"I never was good at hiring."

"You don't feel you could use some help here?"

"I just said-I don't get that many customers. And I don't have that much money." Schilling kept his eye on the browsers among the display racks. "I'll paste a card over the cash register with your name and address. When someone wants a piano teacher, I'll send them around. That's all I can do."

Coombs said: "You don't feel you owe us something?"

"Good God, what?"

"No matter what you do," Coombs said rapidly, stumbling over his words, "you can never make up for the terrible harm you did us. You ought to get down on your knees and beg God to forgive you."

"You mean," Schilling said, "that because I didn't pay her then, I should pay her now?"

For a moment Coombs stood blinking, and then he melted altogether in a puddle of frenzy. "You should be destroyed," he said, his teeth chattering. "You're-"

"Let's go," Beth said, starting toward the door. "Come on, Da

"I heard a good one," Schilling said to Da

Pale but composed, Beth said: "Good luck with your store. Maybe we'll see you around."

"All right," he said. Reflexively he gathered an armload of records and began filing them.

"I don't see why we have to quarrel," Beth continued. "There's no reason why Da

"But the same town," Schilling said. "And within a couple of months.

"Music is booming here. We're letting you do the groundwork."

"My grave or yours? Or all of ours?"

"Don't be nasty," Beth said.

"I'm not being nasty," Schilling answered. Well, this was his punishment for having lost-for a day or so-his better judgment. For having been weak enough to go to bed with another man's wife, and improvident enough to let the man find out. "Just being nostalgic," he said, and went on filing records.