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Eileen wandered thoughtfully around her apartment, thinking about the
conversation. It seemed to her that there was something about the apartment
that bothered Talbot. He liked her and he liked Farand. Was it the bird? The
plants? Maybe she'd find out Thursday.
She considered five different menus and three outfits. She sat at her drawing
table and drew Talbot as a knight leaning casually against a large horse. She
sighed and smiled into space. Later she took her sketchbook and sat outside
drawing little kids playing in the street. She drew them simple and darling,
and she gave the sketches to the children, who laughed and ran away.
A policeman strolled up and asked her if she was part of a kiddy-porn
recruiting group. She got huffy and told him off and stalked away, shocked
and indignant. She intended to call in his badge number, but she calmed
down and decided he was probably a very good cop and only doing his duty.
The duchess came up that evening and was disappointed not to find Ken or
Talbot there. "Ken?" Eileen was irritated. "Why would Ken be here?" She
sputtered at the duchess's salacious look. The duchess wanted to know about
her weekend. Who had finally managed to lure Miss Goody-Two-Shoes into
a lost and lascivious weekend?
"It wasn't that way at all!" Eileen protested, and then blushed as she realized
she'd just admitted to spending the weekend with a man.
"Was it Talbot?" the duchess asked eagerly. "How was he?"
"He's very well." Eileen replied, purposely ignoring her real question.
"How was he in bed? That's the important part," the duchess insisted, going
off into a spasm of giggles.
"You're outrageous!"
"No. Bored. Lonely." She rolled her eyes pitifully. "Can't you share even a
few of your adventures with an old lady?"
Eileen pressed her lips together, but as she regarded the duchess, who was
being deliberately beguiling, she unbent a little. The duchess settled herself
in a chair, clasped her hands in her lap, and said, "Now then," in an
encouraging way.
How could Eileen resist? "There was a hot tub "
"Aren't they sinful? I love them! They beat bubble baths anytime. There's
more room to fool around."
"Duchess!"
"We've had heated swimming pools for years," she reminded Eileen with
droll patience. "And before that there were rivers, ponds, and lakes. In those
days the water was so cold you'd get out and get cozy in the backseat and rub
each other to get warm, and it would be very nice." She laughed wickedly.
Eileen gave her a disapproving look. "I have a perfectly ordinary
grandmother who knits and tells perfectly ordinary stories," Eileen pointed
out.
"She's either led a hell of a dull life or she is extremely discreet," the duchess
observed.
"We live in a very small town," Eileen explained.
"They're the most fun." The duchess smoothed her skirt over her bony knees.
"But go on. What happened?" She gazed up at Eileen, her eyes sparkling
with interest. "Was it Talbot?"
Reluctantly Eileen nodded and blushed furiously, which caused the duchess
to chuckle in a most delighted way and sigh in envy.
"He's very sweet," Eileen explained earnestly. "He's so darling."
"Is it serious?"
"I am, but I'm not so sure about him. Every once in a while his eyes turn so
sad. I asked Mel do you remember Mel? You met him here the Fourth of
July and last February and "
"I remember Mel. He's the one who lusts after Beth." The duchess nodded
placidly.
"Yes." Eileen gave the duchess a wary look because she'd almost revealed
that Beth was spending nights with Mel. That wasn't anyone's business, but
the duchess would treasure the news. Instead Eileen said, "I asked Mel if
Talbot had lost a lover or if someone was sick or any thing, but Mel said not
to his knowledge, I asked Talbot, too, but he said no also.
"Other than knowing he's very careful with his money, I can't figure him
out," Eileen went on. "And there is something about this apartment,
something he doesn't like. It's not me and it's not the cat. What could it be?"
They speculated on that for a while, and Eileen added that Talbot had a
hangup about her job that he couldn't handle. He was probably like Tom in
that respect. So they talked about women working and men having trouble
adjusting to women being independent and why couldn't men just enjoy
women and not want to control them? Men are strange, they concluded.
Finally the duchess said, "But ahh, how interesting! What would we ever do
without men? We could have sperm banks and continue the race, but
wouldn't that be a deadly bore? Men are so fascinating, so baffling and
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