Where I'm Calling From

said.
    Helen laughed.
    “Helen’s always finding something to laugh at,” Carl said, and Carl grinned. “What are you laughing at, Helen?”
    “I don’t know. Something Mary said,” Helen said.
    “What did I say?” Mary said.
    “I can’t remember,” Helen said.
    “We have to go,” Jack said.
    “So long,” Carl said. “Take it easy.”
    Mary tried to laugh.
    “Let’s go,” Jack said.
    “Night, everybody,” Carl said. “Night, Jack,” Jack heard Carl say very, very slowly.
    Outside, Mary held Jack’s arm and walked with her head down. They moved slowly on the sidewalk. He listened to the scuffing sounds her shoes made. He heard the sharp and separate sound of a dog barking and above that a murmuring of very distant traffic.
    She raised her head. “When we get home, Jack, I want to be fucked, talked to, diverted. Divert me, Jack. I need to be diverted tonight.” She tightened her hold on his arm.
    He could feel the dampness in that shoe. He unlocked the door and flipped the light.
    “Come to bed,” she said.
    “I’m coming,” he said.
    He went to the kitchen and drank two glasses of water. He turned off the living-room light and felt his way along the wall into the bedroom.
    “Jack!” she yelled. “Jack!”
    “Jesus Christ, it’s me!” he said. “I’m trying to get the light on.”
    He found the lamp, and she sat up in bed. Her eyes were bright. He pulled the stem on the alarm and began taking off his clothes. His knees trembled.
    “Is there anything else to smoke?” she said.
    “We don’t have anything,” he said.
    “Then fix me a drink. We have something to drink. Don’t tell me we don’t have something to drink,” she said.
    “Just some beer.”
    They stared at each other.
    “I’ll have a beer,” she said. “You really want a beer?”
    She nodded slowly and chewed her lip.
    He came back with the beer. She was sitting with his pillow on her lap. He gave her the can of beer and then crawled into bed and pulled the covers up.
    “I forgot to take my pill,” she said.
    “What?”
    “I forgot my pill.”
    He got out of bed and brought her the pill. She opened her eyes and he dropped the pill onto her outstretched tongue. She swallowed some beer with the pill and he got back in bed.
    “Take this. I can’t keep my eyes open,” she said.
    He set the can on the floor and then stayed on his side and stared into the dark hallway. She put her arm over his ribs and her fingers crept across his chest.
    “What’s in Alaska?” she said.
    He turned on his stomach and eased all the way to his side of the bed. In a moment she was snoring.
    Just as he started to turn off the lamp, he thought he saw something in the hall. He kept staring and thought he saw it again, a pair of small eyes. His heart turned. He blinked and kept staring. He leaned over to look for something to throw. He picked up one of his shoes. He sat up straight and held the shoe with both hands. He heard her snoring and set his teeth. He waited. He waited for it to move once more, to make the slightest noise.

Neighbors

    Bill and Arlene Miller were a happy couple. But now and then they felt they alone among their circle had been passed by somehow, leaving Bill to attend to his bookkeeping duties and Arlene occupied with secretarial chores. They talked about it sometimes, mostly in comparison with the lives of their neighbors, Harriet and Jim Stone. It seemed to the Millers that the Stones lived a fuller and brighter life.
    The Stones were always going out for dinner, or entertaining at home, or traveling about the country somewhere in connection with Jim’s work.
    The Stones lived across the hall from the Millers. Jim was a salesman for a machine-parts firm and often managed to combine business with pleasure trips, and on this occasion the Stones would be away for ten days, first to Cheyenne, then on to St. Louis to visit relatives. In their absence, the Millers would look after the Stones’ apartment, feed Kitty, and water the plants.
    Bill and Jim shook hands beside the car. Harriet and Arlene held each other by the elbows and kissed lightly on the lips.
    “Have fun,” Bill said to Harriet.
    “We will,” said Harriet. “You kids have fun too.”
    Arlene nodded.
    Jim winked at her. “Bye, Arlene. Take good care of the old man.”
    “I will,” Arlene said.
    “Have fun,” Bill said.
    “You bet,” Jim said, clipping Bill lightly on the arm. “And thanks again, you guys.”
    The Stones waved