Americana

In a curious way I liked my job-in the begi

"Let's do something mad tonight," Merry would say.

But there was nothing left to do. We tried to rediscover the spontaneous joy of that roller coaster ride. We even went back there once, a pair of veterans returning to the Normandy beaches, but it rained that night and we sat in the car in the parking lot and watched the high white lights go out. Feeling it was a time for final gestures, for the ultimate convolution, I made clumsy love to her in the front seat. The motor was ru

The first girl was Je

We met for a drink in one of those oxblood pubs on the East Side where the laughter and tinkling chatter seemed ca

The following evening, once more arriving separately, we met for di

Je

"I'm making you a gin and tonic. It's too late to protest."

"Nice apartment," I said.

"Do you think it's too conventional?"

"It's so conventional it transcends convention. It's like a premature artform. A room in a museum a hundred years from now. The American Wing."

"I really should get an air conditioner."

"They're expensive, aren't they? We had to pay a small fortune for ours."

"It's terrible, isn't it?"

"Mind if I take off my jacket?"

"Of course not," she said.

"There, that's better. Maybe I can open that window a bit more."

"It's stuck. It's been stuck ever since I moved in."

"How long have you been living here, Je

"It'll be two years in October."

"Is this a rent-controlled building?"

"David, before you make love to me, promise you'll call me again."

Girls like Je

"Do you have to leave right away?" she said. There was no tragedy in her voice and no plea; she simply wanted to know, to confirm.