Where I'm Calling From

the grass.
    The girl sat on the bed. She pushed off her shoes and lay back. She thought she could see a star.
    “Come here, Jack. Try this bed. Bring one of those pillows,” she said.
    “How is it?” he said.
    “Try it,” she said.
    He looked around. The house was dark.
    “I feel funny,” he said. “Better see if anybody’s home.”
    She bounced on the bed.
    “Try it first,” she said.
    He lay down on the bed and put the pillow under his head.
    “How does it feel?” she said.
    “It feels firm,” he said.
    She turned on her side and put her hand to his face.
    “Kiss me,” she said.
    “Let’s get up,” he said.
    “Kiss me,” she said.
    She closed her eyes. She held him.
    He said, “I’ll see if anybody’s home.”
    But he just sat up and stayed where he was, making believe he was watching the television.
    Lights came on in houses up and down the street.
    “Wouldn’t it be funny if,” the girl said and grinned and didn’t finish.
    The boy laughed, but for no good reason, he switched the reading lamp on.
    The girl brushed away a mosquito, whereupon the boy stood up and tucked in his shirt.
    “I’ll see if anybody’s home,” he said. “I don’t think anybody’s home. But if anybody is, I’ll see what things are going for.”
    “Whatever they ask, offer ten dollars less. It’s always a good idea,” she said. “And, besides, they must be desperate or something.”
    “It’s a pretty good TV,” the boy said.
    “Ask them how much,” the girl said.
    The man came down the sidewalk with a sack from the market. He had sandwiches, beer, whiskey. He saw the car in the driveway and the girl on the bed. He saw the television set going and the boy on the porch.
    “Hello,” the man said to the girl. “You found the bed. That’s good.”
    “Hello,” the girl said, and got up. “I was just trying it out.” She patted the bed. “It’s a pretty good bed.”
    “It’s a good bed,” the man said, and put down the sack and took out the beer and the whiskey.
    “We thought nobody was here,” the boy said. “We’re interested in the bed and maybe in the TV. Also maybe the desk. How much do you want for the bed?”
    “I was thinking fifty dollars for the bed,” the man said.
    “Would you take forty?” the girl asked.
    “I’ll take forty,” the man said.
    He took a glass out of the carton. He took the newspaper off the glass. He broke the seal on the whiskey.
    “How about the TV?” the boy said.
    “Twenty-five.”
    “Would you take fifteen?” the girl said.
    “Fifteen’s okay. I could take fifteen,” the man said.
    The girl looked at the boy.
    “You kids, you’ll want a drink,” the man said. “Glasses in that box. I’m going to sit down. I’m going to sit down on the sofa.”
    The man sat on the sofa, leaned back, and stared at the boy and the girl.
    The boy found two glasses and poured whiskey.
    “That’s enough,” the girl said. “I think I want water in mine.”
    She pulled out a chair and sat at the kitchen table.
    “There’s water in that spigot over there,” the man said. “Turn on that spigot.”
    The boy came back with the watered whiskey. He cleared his throat and sat down at the kitchen table.
    He grinned. But he didn’t drink anything from his glass.
    The man gazed at the television. He finished his drink and started another. He reached to turn on the floor lamp. It was then that his cigarette dropped from his fingers and fell between the cushions.
    The girl got up to help him find it.
    “So what do you want?” the boy said to the girl.
    The boy took out the checkbook and held it to his lips as if thinking.
    “I want the desk,” the girl said. “How much money is the desk?”
    The man waved his hand at this preposterous question.
    “Name a figure,” he said.
    He looked at them as they sat at the table. In the lamplight, there was something about their faces. It was nice or it was nasty. There was no telling.
    “I ‘m going to turn off this TV and put on a record,” the man said. “This record-player is going, too. Cheap. Make me an offer.”
    He poured more whiskey and opened a beer.
    “Everything goes,” said the man.
    The girl held out her glass and the man poured.
    “Thank you,” she said. “You’re very nice,” she said.
    “It goes to your head,” the boy said. “I’m getting it in the head.” He held up his glass and jiggled it.
    The man finished his drink and poured another, and then he found the box with the