A Regular Guy by Mona Simpson

Author:Mona Simpson [Simpson, Mona]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-76537-6
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2011-05-11T04:00:00+00:00

Owens was talking on the phone, feet up, when Eliot Hanson walked in. Owens did not consider the entry of another person a reason to truncate what he was doing.

A large book of black-and-white photographs devoted to North America’s national parks lay on one of the tabletops. While they waited, most of Owens’ employees pretended to occupy themselves with this book. But Eliot carried a novel with him at all times and easily sank into a chair, returning to it.

A half hour later, Owens hung up. Even then he didn’t immediately turn to his guest. This behavior didn’t upset Eliot Hanson in the least. Nine-tenths of insult is surprise, and he billed in quarter-hour increments. He’d worked for Owens a long time and he was well paid.

“Hi, Eliot,” Owens said at last, while typing on his keyboard. “What can I do for you?”

Eliot stood up and closed the door. “I came to talk about your real mother.”

“Biologic—” Owens started, then bit his lip. “Yes. Did you find anything?”

“Do you have a little while? I’ve got quite a bit of information. There’s also a story about how I met the doctor who delivered you. He was retired and living with his wife in Santa Rosa. And I called—”

“Listen, Eliot, since I asked you to do this for me, my mom’s gotten sick. And here at work, you know, things are tough. So I just don’t have a lot of energy to give this right now.”

“I’m sorry to hear about your mom,” Eliot said. From what he’d heard, Owens often did this: assigned a project and then, when people came in to report, acted as if they were nagging him. But Eliot had become involved with this particular project. “Well, what do you say—shall we drop it for now?”

Owens knew little about his biological mother. But one of her wishes had become abiding policy in his childhood: she had insisted that Arthur send him to college. She had demanded this, merciless, regardless of means. And Arthur capitulated, promising away vacations and household margin, nights out at supper clubs with his friends. All the years of Owens’ childhood, Arthur and Nora kept up a college fund for him and, in fairness, also for Pony. Christmas gifts from relatives and understanding friends came in the form of cash contributions. And when the time came, he went for a semester and dropped out with great relish. He wasn’t going to let a woman he never knew determine his life.

“No, no, I don’t think you should drop it. I’ll tell you what: I’d like you to just keep it for me. Sometime I’ll want to know all this stuff, but I don’t want to hear about it right now.”

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