Horizontal Woman by Malzberg Barry

Author:Malzberg, Barry [Malzberg, Barry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4405-4419-4
Publisher: Prologue Books
Published: 1973-09-21T16:00:00+00:00

XII

Elizabeth finds that the Buckingham apartment is jammed with youths: five or six of them, maybe seven or eight (it is difficult to count) in various positions around the living room and kitchen, some of them smoking, others looking sullenly at their nails, all of them regarding her with vast and hungry interest as Willie opens the door and moves her in. She thinks that she can recognize George Jones as one of the youths but then again it is difficult to tell; all of them look the same in this light and she is under a great deal of nervous strain. She wonders if Oved will really put her up on charges for running out on emergency duty and is already thinking about how she can get back to the welfare center as quickly as possible, maybe with apologies. “It was an emergency, didn’t I tell you?” she will say to Oved, “but I was able to settle things right down and now I’m back.” She is not exactly sure what she will describe the emergency as being. Maybe Willie will give her some ideas.

But Willie does not seem in that capacity now: she has never seen him so tense nor, for that matter, so detached from the situational fix as he appears now. It must be a neurasthenic block of some kind; he mutters and talks to himself as he leads her back to the living room. “Miss Moore, Miss Moore,” he is saying, “I knew you would come,” and the youths all look at her intently as she is led into the living room and there motioned to the sofa which is empty. She sits uneasily, clutching her fieldbook, holding it tightly against her groin as Willie stands above her and the others circle in. “Yes?” she says finally when she is aware that none of them will speak, “what is it, Willie? What can I do for you? What’s the problem?” Her voice seems high-pitched and nervous; Elizabeth tries to work herself into a professional calm. “There’s no problem I can see.”

“Well, Miss Moore,” Willie says, “Miss Moore, the reason I brought you up here — ”

“Don’t jive her,” one of the youths says. He comes over to the couch, looks at Elizabeth with murderous eyes, stretches out a hand suddenly and runs his fingers insultingly down her sleeve, staring at her. “Take it nice and slow and easy. Willie been telling us — we, by the way, a group of his very best friends — Willie been telling us that you been making love to him and a certain George Jones.”

“It’s the truth, Miss Moore,” Willie says, jumping nervously. He is in a highly agitated state; in some detached way Elizabeth wonders what could possibly be bothering him, how superficial her connection with him must have been if he can be so emotionally blocked, “now you know it’s the truth; you tell them.”

“Our relationship is confidential,” Elizabeth says. “I am Willie’s caseworker; he is part of my caseload that is to say and whatever occurs in that relationship is privileged.

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