Tales of the City 01 - Tales of the City

polish,” said
    “Beg pardon, ma’am?”
    “Green nail polish at a weenie stand is not Divine Decadence. It’s just plain tacky.”
    Michael laughed. “It’s very Grey Gardens, actually. It makes you look shabby genteel.”
    “Well, you’re half right. We are bordering on financial embarrassment, Mouse. My unemployment check will not keep us living in the style to which we have become accustomed.”
    She was only half kidding, and Michael knew it.
    “Mona … I signed up with an agency this week. They might be coming up with a waiter’s job for me really soon. I don’t want you to think I’m just sitting around on my ass mooching off …”
    “I know, Michael. Really. I was just thinking out loud. It’s just that we’re already a month behind on the rent, and I feel funny about Mrs. Madrigal. She’ll overlook it … but she’s gotta pay taxes and all, and I …”
    “Aha!” said Michael, raising a french fry as an exclamation point. “I haven’t told you about my instant cash plan yet!”
    “God. Am I ready for this?”
    “A hundred bucks, Babycakes! In one night!” He popped the french fry into his mouth. “Think you can handle that?”
    “Won’t it get a little chilly, working the corner of Powell and Geary?”
    “Very funny, Wonder Woman. Do you wanna hear my plan or not?”
    “Shoot.”
    “I, Michael Mouse Tolliver, am going to enter the jockey shorts dance contest at The Endup.”
    “Oh, please!”
    “I’m serious, Mona.”
    And he was.
    Across town, at Halcyon Communications, Edgar Halcyon called Beauchamp Day into his office.
    “Sit down.”
    Beauchamp smirked. “Thank you.” He was already seated.
    “I think we should talk.”
    “Fine.”
    “I know you think I’m a horse’s ass, but we’re stuck with each other, aren’t we?”
    Beauchamp smiled uncomfortably. “I wouldn’t exactly
    put …”
    “Are you serious about this business, Beauchamp?”
    “Sir?”
    “Do you give a good goddamn about advertising? Is this what you want to do with your life?”
    “Well, I think I’ve amply demonstrated …”
    “Never mind what you’ve demonstrated , goddammit! What do you feel? Can you honestly stomach a lifetime of pushing pantyhose?”
    The thought made Beauchamp cringe, but he knew what the answer should be. “This is my career,” he said forcefully.
    Edgar looked weary. “It is, is it?”
    “Yes sir.”
    “You want my job, don’t you?”
    “I …”
    “I don’t hire men who don’t want my job, Beauchamp.”
    Beauchamp uncrossed his legs, now totally unsettled. “Yes sir, I can understand that.”
    “I want to talk to you while DeDe’s out of town. Are you free for drinks tonight at the club?”
    “Fine. Yes sir.”
    “What I’m going to tell you is in strictest confidence. Do you understand that?”
    “Yes sir.”

The Family Myth
    A NNA WAS WAITING FOR HIM AT THE SEAL ROCK INN.
    “Did the desk clerk give you a funny look?” she asked.
    “No, goddammit. I’ve never been so insulted.”
    She grinned at him. “My ego’s a little bruised too. I thought maybe you’d had second thoughts and run off with a nude encounter girl from Big Al’s.”
    “I’m sorry,” he said, kissing her forehead. “Beauchamp and I had a couple of drinks at the Bohemian Club. It took longer than I planned.”
    “What?”
    “Nothing. Nothing important. Business … God, you look good!”
    “A trick of the light.” She took his arm and led him to the window. “There’s the best example I know anywhere.”
    Beyond the dark trees, Seal Rock gleamed eerily against the ocean, white as an iceberg under the moon.
    “Magic,” she said, squeezing his arm.
    Edgar nodded.
    “That’s what I mean,” she winked. “In the right light, even seal shit looks good.”
    “Anna?”
    “Mmm?”
    “Thanks.”
    “Anytime.”
    “I feel …”
    “I know.”
    “Let me finish.”
    “I thought you had.”
    “Will you let me be serious?”
    “Not for a second.”
    “I love you, Anna.”
    “Then we’re even, O.K.?”
    “O.K.”
    She leaned on her elbow and studied his face. “I’ll bet you don’t even know where your name came from?”
    “Something to do with birds, right?”
    “You know the legend?”
    “I heard it once, but I’ve forgotten it. Tell it to me, why don’t you?”
    “All right. Once upon a time there was a just and peaceful ruler named Ceyx, who reigned over the kingdom of Thes-saly. Ceyx was married to Halcyone, daughter of Aeolus, keeper of the