Changing the Past by Thomas Berger

Author:Thomas Berger
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Changing the Past
ISBN: 9781937854706
Publisher: Dzanc Books
Published: 1989-10-22T16:00:00+00:00

Certainly the invitation did have its shocking aspect, which however, given the circumstances, was superficial. John had not yet so much as kissed Daphne. If he accepted, he would most assuredly not be doing so for carnal purposes. He had now had one sexual encounter, and the experience had discouraged him from anxiously awaiting the next, even if one were likely with a girl more to his physical taste than Daphne could ever be.

Not to mention that he still owed Daphne two hundred dollars, which she had thus far been good enough never to refer to, not even by indirection, but nobody was likely to forget a sum of such magnitude in a time when it might have been a month’s salary. Though he had had little previous experience with indebtedness, he instinctively began to understand that unless a loan is canceled by simply repaying what is owed, the next best emotional strategy is to borrow more, as the worst is to do nothing and thus in effect deny the creditor’s existence.

John went to New York and moved into the extra room in the apartment on East 17th Street. It was much shabbier than he had supposed, though after he had lived in the city for a while and learned the ropes, his standards were necessarily lowered and he understood that the flat was locally considered not only handsome but generously proportioned and, having as it did, a fireplace, could even qualify as luxurious, even if no fire could be made in the grate, the flue having long since been cemented shut.

He immediately assured Daphne he would get a summer job and not only begin to repay the loan but also provide what he could towards the cost of such food as they ate in common, but when she begged him not to worry about that, he as quickly put the obligation out of his mind, and while she was out during the day, looking, as promised, for work as a secretary, John sat at the typewriter for perhaps a quarter hour in the aggregate, in increments of two or three minutes during which first the chair was too low for the desk, then too hard, next the machine’s keys required a distracting amount of energy to strike home, and the supply of paper, only a few sheets, was soon exhausted and he hated to use the little money he had for such a thing when he was always ravenously hungry and needed funds to pay for snacks at the lunch counter at the Third Avenue corner, visiting which was also research, for many of his fellow customers were exotic, e.g., the Chinaman from the nearby hand laundry, who could be seen through the window, working the steam iron no matter how late at night one passed, or how early in the morning, but habitually breakfasted, lunched, and dined on the same diet, viz., a fried-egg sandwich on untoasted white bread (the cheapest item on the menu-board) and a mug of tea.

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