The Mad Cook of Pymatuning by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt

Author:Christopher Lehmann-Haupt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2005-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

IWAS SITTING in the kitchen, flipping through the book that Jeff had lent me when Woody came out of his office. “As officers in the forthcoming battle, you owe yourselves an evening of R and R,” he said to Mac and Bordy. “All of you,” he added, waving at the rest of us sitting around: the two dishwashers, Chris and Wimpy; and the women, T.J., Eve, and Sukie. “I’ve gotta go into town on some business, but I’m officially declaring the mess hall a nightclub for the evening. There’re several six-packs of beer in the ice chest, and a record player and some records in my office for anyone who wants to dance. Relax, have fun. Closing time is midnight.” He strode away. A minute later we heard a car start up and drive off.

For a moment we just stared at each other. This was definitely unusual behavior for Woody. But sure enough, we found three six-packs of Iron City beer in the ice chest, and there was a record player in his office, along with a stack of records.

Mac took the record player to the dining room and plugged it in. Walking without my crutch—Redclaw had gotten to me—I followed him out with a bunch of records. While he and T.J. pushed some tables aside to make a small dancing area, I went back into the kitchen and found some candles. I lit four of them and placed them on tables around the edge of the dancing area. When we turned off the overhead lights, we had a softly lit dance floor.

I put on “Mona Lisa” and Mac danced with T.J., wrapping both his arms around her. She didn’t look at me. Nurse Laird came out of her office and Bordy asked her to dance. Chris and Wimpy danced with Eve and Sukie. When “Mona Lisa” ended, everyone said to play it again, so I did.

Win appeared from the canteen, wearing jodhpurs, a white blouse, and a black blazer. She took a seat at the edge of the dance floor and lit a cigarette. When her eye caught mine, she smiled. I wondered why she hadn’t gone into town with Woody.

I played “Mona Lisa” a third time. The couples were dancing closer and slower, even Bordy and Nurse Laird. I stood and limped over to where Win was sitting.

“Would you like to dance?”

“Why, sure,” she said. She stubbed out her cigarette and moved into my arms. “Is it all right, with your leg?”

“I think so.”

She smelled of perfume and whiskey.

I kept her at a distance. My leg felt fine, but she was moving unsteadily, and holding my hand too tightly.

“Is everything okay?”

Her eyes were black. She had on dark lipstick. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you look as if you were ready to go out for the evening.”

“As if, as if.” She took her hand away from mine and pressed it against her mouth for a moment. “You speak so correctly, Jerry. Why do you speak so correctly?”

“I don’t know.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.