A Confederacy of Dunces (46 page)

auxiliary, all three of whom were sharing the cell, said to the matron, "Beat it. We're the ones living in this place. We like paper on the floor."

"Shove off," Liz added.

"Get lost," Betty said.

"I'll take care of this cell all right," the matron answered. "You four have been making noise ever since you come in last night."

"Get me out this goddam hole," Lana Lee screamed at the matron. "I can't take another minute with these three bats."

"Hey," Frieda said to her two apartment mates. "Doll doesn't like us."

"It's people like you been ruining the Quarter," Lana told Frieda.

"Shut up," Liz said to her.

"Can it, sweets," Betty said.

"Get me outta here," Lana screamed through the bars. "I just been through one fucking hell of a night with these three creeps. I got my rights. You can't stick me in here."

The matron smiled at her and walked away.

"Hey!" Lana screamed down the corridor. "Come back here."

"Take it easy, dearie," Frieda advised. "Quit rocking the boat.

Now come on and show us those pictures of yourself you got hidden in your bra."

"Yeah," Liz said.

"Get out the snapshots, doll," Betty ordered. "We're tired of looking at these frigging walls." The three girls lunged for Lana at the same time.

Dorian Greene turned one of his severe calling cards over and printed on the reverse side: "Stunning apartment for rent.

Apply at 1A." He stepped out onto the flagstone sidewalk and tacked the card to the bottom of one of the black patent leather shutters. The girls would be gone for quite a while this time.

Police were always so adamant about second offenses. It was unfortunate that the girls had never been very sociable with their fellow residents in the Quarter; someone would certainly have pointed out that marvelous patrolman to them, and they would not have made the fatal mistake of attacking a member of the police force.

But the girls were so impulsive and aggressive. Without them, Dorian felt that he and his building were completely unprotected. He took special care to lock his wrought iron gate securely, Then he returned to his apartment to finish the job of cleaning up the litter left from the kickoff rally. It had been the most fabulous party of his career: at the height of it Timmy had fallen from a chandelier and sprained his ankle.

Dorian picked up a cowboy boot from which a heel had been broken and dropped it into a waste-basket, wondering whether that impossible Ignatius J. Reilly were all right. Some people were simply too much to bear. Gypsy Queen's sweet mother must have been heartbroken over the dreadful newspaper publicity.

Darlene cut her picture out of the paper and put it on the kitchen table. What an opening night. At least she had received a little publicity from it.

She picked up her Harlett O'Hara gown from the sofa and hung it in the closet while the cockatoo watched her and squawked a bit from its perch. Jones had certainly taken over when he found out that man was a cop, leading him right over to the cabinet under the bar. Now she and Jones were both out of a job. The Night of Joy was out of business. Lana Lee was out of circulation. That Lana. Posing for French pictures.

Anything for a buck.

Darlene looked at the golden earring that the cockatoo had brought home. Lana had been right all along. That big crazyman was really the kiss of death. He sure treated his poor momma cruel. That poor lady.

Darlene sat down to ponder job possibilities. The cockatoo flapped and squawked until she stuck the novelty earring, its favorite toy, in its beak. Then the phone rang, and when she answered it, a man said, "Listen, you got some great publicity.

Now I run a club in the five hundred block of Bourbon, and

..."

Jones spread the newspaper on the bar of Mattie's Ramble Inn and blew some smoke at it.

"Whoa!" he said to Mr. Watson. "You sure gimme a good idea with all this sabotage crap. Now I sabotage myself right back to bein a vagran. Hey!"

"It look like this sabotage go off like a nucular bum."

"That fat freak a guarantee one hunner percen nucular bum.

Shit. Drop him on somebody, everbody gettin caught in the fallout, gettin their ass blowed up. Ooo-wee. Night of Joy really turn into a zoo las night. Firs we get a bird, then the fat mother come drag-gin along, then three cats look like they jus excape from gym. Shit. Everbody fightin and scratchin and screamin and that big fat freak layin in the gutter like he daid, peoples fightin and cussin and rollin all aroun that big cat pass out in the street. Look like a barroom fight in a westren movie, look like a gang rumble. We got us a big crowd on Bourbon look like we could have us a football game. Po-lice drivin up draggin off that Lee bastar. Hey! It turn out she don have no pal at the precinc anyways. Maybe they be haulin in some of them orphan she been sponsorin. Whoa! That paper sure sending out plenny mothers takin pictures and axin me all about wha happen. Who say a color cat cain get his picture on the front page? Ooo-wee! Whoa! I gonna be the mos famous vagran in the city. I tell that Patrolman Mancusa, I say, 'Hey, now this cathouse shut down, how's about tellin your frien on the force I help you out so maybe they don star drag-gin my ass off for vagran?' Who wanna get stuck in Angola with Lana Lee? She was bad enough on the outside. Shit."

"You got any plan for gettin you a job, Jones?"

Jones blew a dark cloud, a storm warning, and said, "After the kinda job I jus had workin below the minimal wage, I really deserve a pay vacation. Ooo-wee. Where I gonna fin me another job? Too many color mothers draggin they ass aroun the street already. Whoa! Gettin your ass gainfully employ ain exactly the easies thing in the worl. I ain the only cat got him

"a problem. That Darlene gal ain gonna have no easy time gettin herself and that ball eagle gainfully employ. Peoples see wha happen the firs time she stick her ass on a stage, they be throwin water in her face if she be comin aroun lookin for work. See wha I mean? You drop somebody like that fat mother for sabotage, plenny innocen peoples like Darlene gettin theyselves screwed. Like Miss Lee all the time sayin, that fat freak ruin everbody inves'men. Darlene and her ball eagle probly starin at one another right now sayin, 'Whoa! We really boffo smash for openin night. Hey! We real openin big.'

I plenny sorry that sabotage goin off in Darlene face, but when I see that big mother, I couldn resis. I knowed he make some kinda esplosion in that Night of Joy. Ooo-wee. He really go off. Hey!"

"You pretty lucky them po-lice didn't take you in, too, workin in that bar."

"That Patrolman Mancusa say he appreciate showin him that cabinet. He say, 'Us mothers on the force need peoples like you, help us Out.' He say, 'Peoples like you be helpin me get ahead.' I say, 'Whoa! Be sure and tell that to your frien at the precinc, they don star snatchin my ass for vagran,' He say, 'I sure will. Everbody at the precinc be appreciatin wha you done, man.' Now them po-lice mothers appreciate me. Hey!

Maybe I be gettin some kinda awar. Whoa!" Jones aimed some smoke over Mr. Watson's tan head. "That Lee bastar really got her some snapshot of herself in the cabinet.

Patrolman Mancusa starin at them pictures, his eyeballs about to fall out on the floor. He sayin, 'Whoa! Hey! Wow!' He sayin, 'Boy, I really be gettin ahead now.' I say to myself,

'Maybe some peoples be gettin ahead. Some other peoples be turnin vagran again. Some peoples ain gonna be gainfully employ below the minimal wage after tonight. Some peoples be draggin they ass all aroun town some-wheres, be buyin me air condition, color TV.' Shit. Firs I'm a glorify broom expert, now I'm vagran."

"Things can always be worse off."

"Yeah. You can say that, man. You got you a little business, got you a son teachin school probly got him a bobby-cue set, Buick, air condition, TV. Whoa! I ain even got me a transmitter radio. Night of Joy salary keepin peoples below the air-condition level." Jones formed a philosophical cloud. "But you right in a way there, Watson. Things maybe be worse off.

Maybe I be that fat mother. Whoa! Whatever gonna happen to somebody like that? Hey!"

Mr. Levy settled into the yellow nylon couch and unfolded his paper, which was delivered to the coast every morning at a higher subscription rate. Having the couch all to himself was wonderful, but the disappearance of Miss Trixie was not enough to brighten his spirits. He had spent a sleepless night.

Mrs. Levy was on her exercising board treating her plumpness to some early morning bouncing. She was silent, occupied with some plans for the Foundation which she was writing on a sheet of paper held against the undulating front section of the board. Putting her pencil down for a moment, she reached down to select a cookie from the box on the floor. And the cookies were why Mr. Levy had spent a wakeful night. He and Mrs. Levy had driven out through the pines to see Mr. Reilly at Mandeville and had not only found he was not there but had also been treated very rudely by an authority of the place who had taken them for pranksters. Mrs. Levy had looked something like a prankster with her golden-white hair, her sunglasses with the blue lenses, the aquamarine mascara that made a ring around the blue lenses like a halo. Sitting there in the sports car before the main building at Mandeville with the huge box of Dutch cookies on her lap, she must have made the authority a little suspicious, Mr. Levy thought. But she had taken it all very calmly. Finding Mr. Reilly did not seem to bother Mrs. Levy particularly, it seemed. Her husband was beginning to sense that she did not especially want him to find Reilly, that somewhere in some corner of her mind she was hoping that Abelman would win the libel suit so that she could flaunt their resulting poverty in the face of Susan and Sandra as their father's ultimate failure. That woman had a devious mind that was only predictable when she scented an opportunity to vanquish her husband. Now he was beginning to wonder which side she was on, his or Abelman's.

He had asked Gonzalez to cancel his spring practice reservations. This Abelman case had to be cleared up. Mr.

Levy straightened his newspaper and realized again that, were his digestive system able to take it, he should have given his time to supervising Levy Pants. Things like this would not happen; life could be peaceful. But just the name, just the three syllables of "Levy Pants," caused acid complications in his chest. Perhaps he should have changed the name. Perhaps he should have changed Gonzalez. The office manager was so loyal, though. He loved his thankless, low-salaried job. You couldn't just kick him out. Where would he find another job?

Even more important, who would want to replace him? One good reason for keeping Levy Pants open was keeping Conzalez employed. Mr. Levy tried, but he could think of no other reason for keeping the place open. Conzalez might commit suicide if the factory were shut down. There was a human life to consider. Too, no one apparently wanted to buy the place.

Leon Levy could have named his monument "Levy Trousers."

That wasn't too bad. Throughout his life, but especially when he was a child, Gus Levy had said, "Levy Pants," and had always received a standard reply, "He does?" When he was about twenty, he had mentioned to. his father that a change of title might help their business, and his father had moaned, "

'Levy Pants' all of a sudden isn't good enough for you? The food you're eating is 'Levy Pants.' The car you're driving is

'Levy Pants.' I am 'Levy Pants.' This is gratitude? This is a child's devotion? Next I should change my name. Shut up, bum. Go play with the autos and the flappers. Already I got a Depression on my hands, I don't need smart advice from you.

Better you should give with the advice to Hoover. You should go tell him to change his name to Schlemiel. Out of my office!

Shut up!"

Gus Levy looked at the pictures and the article on the front page and whistled through his teeth, "Oh, boy."

"What is it, Gus? A problem? Are you having a problem? All night you were awake. I could hear the whirlpool bath going all night. You're going to have a crackup. Please go to Lenny's doctor before you become violent."

"I just found Mr. Reilly."

"I guess you're happy."

"Aren't you? Look, he's in the papers."

"Really? Bring it over here. I've always wondered about that young idealist. I guess he's received some civic award."

"Just the other day you were saying he was a psycho."

"If he was clever enough to send us over to Mandeville like two stooges, he's not that psycho. Even somebody like the idealist can play a joke on you."

Mrs. Levy looked at the two women, the bird, the grinning doorman.

"Where is he? I don't see any idealist." Mr. Levy indicated the stricken cow in the street. "That's him? In the gutter? This is tragic. Carousing, drunken, hopeless, already a bloated derelict. Mark him down in your book next to Miss Trixie and me as another life you've wrecked."

"A bird bit him on the ear or something crazy. Here, look at the bunch of police characters in these pictures. I told you he had a police record. Those people are his buddies. Strippers and pimps and pornographers."

"Once he was dedicated to idealistic causes. Now look at him.

Don't worry. You'll pay for all of this someday. In a few months, when Abelman has finished with you, you'll be out on the streets again with a wagon like your father. You'll learn what happens when you play games with somebody like Abelman, when you operate a business like a playboy. Susan and Sandra will go into shock when they find out they don't have a penny to their name. Will they give you the big go-by.

Gus Levy, ex-father."

"Well, I'm going into town right now to speak with this Reilly.

I'll get this crazy letter business straightened out."

"Ho ho. Gus Levy, detective. Don't make me laugh. You probably wrote the letter one day after you won at the track and felt good. I knew it would end like this."

"You know, I think you're actually looking forward to Abelman's libel suit. You actually want to see me ruined, even if you go down with me."

Mrs. Levy yawned and said, "Can I fight what you've been leading up to all your life? This really proves to the girls that what I've said about you all along was right. The more I think about Abelman's suit, the more I realize that the whole thing is inevitable, Gus. Thank goodness my mother has some money.