A New Life by Bernard Malamud

Author:Bernard Malamud
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: 2011-11-18T05:00:00+00:00

Levin sighed at the stars and was at once unexpectedly emotional. An odor of flowers assailed him. Because of the season he thought it was pure imagination, the result of more liquor than he should have had. I’m back in summer, Levin thought, or that far forward, why nobody knows. But he knew that even if he were living in another time he would be wishing for another time. The view in the dark, stars through bare-branched oaks, and the lights of the town below affected him as though he were listening to music. For the first time in years he thirsted for a butt.

Smelling smoke, he looked abruptly around.

In the dim light reflected from the interior of the house he made out Pauline Gilley standing between fir trees with a cigarette in her hand.

“Did I frighten you, Mr. Levin?” She had been watching him.

He went across the lawn to her. “I was looking for you, Mrs. Gilley.”

He told her he felt bad about that time she had come to see him. “Excuse me, I was sick.”

“Don’t you like me?” Pauline asked. Her scent in the cool air was warm. He wished he could see her eyes through the veil.

“On the contrary—”

She waited.

“—I like you,” Levin said.

“Then why didn’t you come to dinner Friday night?”

He nervously fingered his beard. “Would you—er—keep it confidential?”

“I’m awfully good at that.”

“Gerald and I had a disagreement and, frankly, I didn’t feel like accepting his hospitality just then.”

“It was my hospitality too.”

He admitted it.

“What were you annoyed with Gerald about?”

“I would rather not say, some department thing.”

She dropped her cigarette in the grass, stepping on it. “That was a mistake. Now I’m dizzy again.”

He was eager to help. “Can I do something for you?”

She said in a throaty voice, “I should never let George get near me when he’s loose with that pitcher. I can’t keep track of how many I’ve had because he refills after every mouthful.”

“For the sport?”

She gazed at the house. “Doesn’t it look like a ship from here, and here we are, you and I, on an island in the middle of the sea? Or am I high? Are you?”

“I’m not.”

“Excuse me for mentioning it but have you graduated to cocktails? The night we met, you wouldn’t have one.”

“Just a sip or two for sociability. I’m always saying no.”

“Why?”

“Habit.”

“What do you do for sin, Mr. Levin?”

Levin guffawed but came to quickly.

Hugging her arms, Pauline looked down at the lights of Easchester. “I should be home now, little Mary was running a temperature when we left, and I know Erik will have something by tomorrow. Have you seen Gerald?”

“No,” said Levin. “Why don’t you stay a little longer?”

“Should I?”

“There’s a bench in the rock garden.”

“Just for a short while, I have to get back to my children. I told Zenamae to have them tucked in by seven-thirty but I know they won’t be. Erik gets up after he’s been put down and goes exploring.”

He was surprised, as he followed her across the patio, at her figure from the rear, so much better than he had noticed.

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