The Moviegoer

Then well go home.”
    â€œIs everything going to be all right?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œTell me. Say it.”
    â€œEverything is going to be all right.”

Three
    1
    SATURDAY MORNING AT the office is dreary. The market is closed and there is nothing to do but get on with the letter writing. But this is no more than I expected. It is a fine day outside, freakishly warm. Tropical air has seeped into the earth and the little squares of St Augustine grass are springy and turgid. Camphor berries pop underfoot; azaleas and Judas trees are blooming on Elysian Fields. There is a sketch of cloud in the mild blue sky and the high thin piping of waxwings comes from everywhere.
    As Sharon types the letters, I stand hands in pockets looking through the gold lettering of our window. I think of Sharon and American Motors. It closed yesterday at 30 1 / 4 .
    At eleven o’clock it is time to speak.
    â€œI’m quitting now. I’ve got sixty miles to go before lunch.”
    â€œWherebouts you going?”
    â€œTo the Gulf Coast.”
    The clatter of the typewriter does not slacken.
    â€œWould you like to go?”
    â€œM-hm”—absently. She is not surprised. “It just so happens I got work to do.”
    â€œNo, you haven’t. I’m closing the office.”
    â€œWell I be dog.” There is still no surprise. What I’ve been waiting to see is how she will go about shedding her secretary manner. She doesn’t. The clatter goes on.
    â€œI’m leaving now.”
    â€œYou gon let me finish this or not!” she cries in a scolding voice. So this is how she does it. She feels her way into familiarity by way of vexations. “You go head.”
    â€œGo?”
    â€œI’ll be right out. I got to call somebody.”
    â€œSo do I.” I call Kate. Mercer answers the phone. Kate has gone to the airport with Aunt Emily. He believes she is well.
    Sharon looks at me with a yellow eye. “Is Miss Cutrer any kin to you?” she cries in her new scolding voice.
    â€œShe is my cousin.”
    â€œSome old girl told me you were married to her. I said nayo indeed.”
    â€œI’m not married to anyone.”
    â€œI said you weren’t!” She tilts her head forward and goes off into a fit of absent-mindedness.
    â€œWhy did you want to know if I was married?”
    â€œI’ll tell you one thing, son. I’m not going out with any married man.”
    But still she has not come to the point of waiting upon my ministrations—like a date. Still very much her own mistress, she sets about tidying up her desk. When she shoulders her Guatemalan bag and walks briskly to the door, it is for me to tag along behind her. Now I see how she will have it: don’t think I’m standing around waiting for you to state your business—you said you were closing the office—very well, I am leaving.
    I jump ahead of her to open the door.
    â€œDo you want to go home and let me pick you up in half an hour? Put your suit on under your clothes.”
    â€œAll right!” But it isn’t all right. Her voice is a little too bright.
    â€œMeanwhile I’ll go get my car and my suit.”
    â€œAll right.” She is openly grudging. It is not right at all! She is just like Linda.
    â€œI have a better idea. Come on and walk home with me to get my car and then I’ll take you to your house.”
    â€œAll right.” A much better all right. “Now you wait right here. This won’t take me long.”
    When she comes out, her eyes are snapping.
    â€œIs everything all right?”
    â€œYou mighty right it is”—eyes flashing, Uh oh. The boy friend has torn it.
    â€œI hope you brought your suit down from Eufala.”
    â€œAre you kidding?”
    â€œWhy no.”
    â€œIt’s some suit. Just an old piece of a suit. I was going to get me one at Maison Blanche but I didn’t think I’d be going swimming in March.”
    â€œDo you like to swim?”
    â€œAre you kidding?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œI’d rather swim than eat. I really would. Where’re we going?”
    â€œTo the ocean.”
    â€œThe ocean! I never knew there was an ocean anywhere around here.”
    â€œIt’s the open Gulf. The same thing.”
    When I put her in the car, she addresses an imaginary third person. “Now this is what I call real service. Your boss not only lets you off to go