Tumbledown A Novel by Robert Boswell

Author:Robert Boswell
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781555976491
Publisher: Graywolf Press
Published: 2013-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

7

Violet found Billy Atlas barefoot at the kitchen table, fresh socks in his lap, eating homemade salsa—his specialty, she recalled—from a bowl, like soup. His face was pale, his natty hair standing up on the back of his big head. She tried at that moment to like Billy Atlas, but the best she could manage was a vague fondness, much the way one feels about a bad dog that has nonetheless been in the family for years. He looked up hopefully at her, spoon in his mouth, but then his face fell.

“Oh, Billy,” she said. “Why don’t you get yourself a life?”

“I’ve been thinking the same thing.” After a moment, he added, “Good morning.”

That his girl from the night before was gone, he didn’t need to say. The hangdog look said it all. He likely had a bedroom disorder, a deep psychological wound that would not permit normal relations with a woman. He had always been a mess. She didn’t understand his friendship with Jimmy, which was deep itself, with a long history. For that reason alone, she should value at least the fact of Billy Atlas, but the same thing—the fact of him—made it hard to do. She fixed a pot of coffee and declined a second offer of salsa.

“It’s good on toast,” he insisted, but her refusal was firm.

“I remember when you ate almost nothing but cereal and potatoes,” she said. “What happened to your woman friend?”

“Nothing,” he said. “I just don’t know where she is. I woke up and the bed was empty. I mean, I was in it but she wasn’t. She might have to work today. I guess she took a cab instead of waking me. That’s thoughtful if you think about it.”

“Then why are you down in the dumps?”

“This isn’t the dumps,” he said. “This is only a neighborhood or two away from more-or-less content. A warehouse district, maybe, but not too far from home.”

“Where’s Jimmy?”

“Taking her home, I imagine. Or maybe he’s still asleep. She lives in Ocean Beach, which would be a helluva taxi tab. The thing is, I sort of woke up when she got out of bed, but I thought she was peeing, you know? I didn’t rouse myself. I thought it was better to stay under.”

“You thought it was better?”

“I get very shy, sometimes,” he said, “especially—”

Violet changed the subject. “How did you meet?”

His eyes darted around the room as if following a hornet, and Violet understood that he was about to lie to her.

“She had a flat and I changed her tire.”

“How chivalrous, you and your lug wrench. What does she drive?”

“A car.”

She flashed on the rental that she and Arthur had picked up in Chicago—this was on their odd, lovely honeymoon—a tiny red thing, like a fire ant, and her father had called it hideous. Her father was an artist, and the car offended him. Violet was not going to let Billy off the hook. “Was it a big car?”

The eyes again, flying around. Perhaps this meant he was a basically honest person, she thought, this complete inability to lie persuasively.

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.