Adam and Evelyn (14 page)

“She only hopes,” Pepi added, “that she can also afford to pay the artist. It worries her.”

Adam smiled at Magda—who wouldn’t stop talking—held the fabric up and kept looking back and forth between the open magazine and his own sketch.

“I haven’t started yet, and you act as if I had it all done.”

“But Herr Adam, from the way you talk about it, the things you say, we already know that it will be special, something very, very special.”

“It’s a good thing you talked her out of that dress.”

“It would just hang in the closet afterward,” Adam replied. She can combine other things with this skirt.”

“Should I translate for her?”

“Tell her that she has a good figure.”

“A good figure?” Pepi asked. And Frau Angyal gave him a surprised look too. Magda turned around and gawked, at a total loss, from one to the other.

“Go ahead and tell her. She’s a little full figured, but the proportions are right, and that’s what counts—the same as with you, Frau Angyal, right?”

Pepi and Frau Angyal traded glances, then both started talking at
once. Frau Angyal traced a serpentine curve in the air and a similar line along her own body. Magda stared in the mirror as if checking out this information, lifted her chin, and didn’t stir a muscle.

“And now tell her, please, that you are paying me, that my work is a present, otherwise she’ll leave and take the fabric with her—”

“A present?” Both Angyals stared at him.

“She couldn’t pay me anyway. But you, as her friends, you were able to persuade me.… What’s the problem? That’s what it would’ve cost me to pitch my tent.”

“You’re doing it for free?”

“She’s to leave the rest of the fabric to you—it’s first-class goods! We’ll not get our hands on anything like this for a long while.”

“But Herr Adam—”

He sat down on the windowsill, pulled a cigar from his shirt pocket, gave its trimmed end a quick check, and lit it. As he blew the first smoke out the window, the three women had already lined up in front of him.

“She is happy,” said Frau Angyal. “And, it goes without saying, she immediately accepted your offer. That upsets me, Herr Adam, that was wrong, you shouldn’t have done that.”

“Does she really not understand a word?” Adam asked, nodding at Magda.

“She’s a cheapskate.”

“A tightwad,” Pepi said, turning toward Magda.

Adam waved his hand to drive the smoke away. He took another draw on his cigar and leaned out the window.

“No need, Herr Adam, we like the smell. It’s part of your world, so Pepi says—”

“It’s a deal, it’s a deal,” Pepi whispered. “Whatever’s left over is ours to keep.”

“I’ve already got an idea.”

“We’re so lucky to have you here,” Pepi said. “You can smoke in the room, let the whole house smell like cigar smoke.”

“What’s your mother busy telling her?”

“She’s explaining to Magda that she really can’t accept the leftover fabric. If Mama’s not careful she’ll have convinced Magda she means it.”

“Tell her to come back in three days for the first fitting. Take a look at that woman!”

Magda had pulled in her tummy and sucked in her cheeks, set her arms akimbo, and turned one side to the mirror. Her half-closed eyelids made her look a little dopey.

She seemed embarrassed when it came time to say good-bye and made a hint of a curtsy. Pepi was going to drive Magda home. Frau Angyal put together a shopping list for Pepi and accompanied her to the door.

With the cigar in his mouth, Adam unrolled the fabric across the extension table with one hand—it flowed in gentle waves.

“We really can’t complain,” he said when Frau Angyal reappeared. “Even if I make her a blouse as well, there’ll be more than half left for us. With enough for Pepi besides.”

“Really? I’m ashamed of saying such bad things in front of you, Herr Adam. But Magda really is a cheapskate.”

“I’ve already thought of something very beautiful,” Adam said.

“Shall we begin?”

“Right here, right now?”

He nodded and blew a cloud of smoke toward the ceiling lamp. He carefully laid his cigar on the edge of the windowsill and pulled the tape measure from around his neck. “Don’t you want to?”

Frau Angyal sat down on the edge of a chair she had pulled away from the table. “How can it go on like this, Herr Adam, this is terrible. Tell me what is to come of it? Frau Evi is such a beautiful woman, pretty as a picture, but tell me, what does she see in him? Why does she do this?”

Adam’s mouth twisted. “I don’t know,” he said. “I figure another ten days, then I’ll drive home with her.”

“Do you think so? You are willing to take her back?”

Adam shrugged. “It’s just a lot of foolishness.”

“Really? I don’t know.”

“We’ll see. But my main concern is whether I can stay on here.”

“You can stay here, of course you can stay on here, as long as you like, always, for as long as you—”

“Thanks a lot, the—”

“But you know this—there will always be a place to stay here for you.”

“Thanks,” Adam said, taking the tape measure in both hands and looking at Frau Angyal, who appeared to be inspecting her polished toenails.

“Pepi told me all about it,” she suddenly said. “And I can assure you that we would have taken care of the baby. Pepi hoped that she was pregnant.”

“How’s that? What did Pepi say?”

“It was not to be, back then. But she’s always talking about you. For Pepi those days she spent with you in your garden were the loveliest ever.”

“I thought it was a very lovely time myself,” Adam said. “Doesn’t Pepi have a boyfriend? She did have one, didn’t she?”

“No, he was no good for her, she was always the loser with him. When she returned home it was all over. I was so very glad.”

“Pepi hoped she was pregnant?”

Frau Angyal nodded. “Yes, that was so, that was so. But only I know that—and now you.”

Adam wrapped the tape measure around his left index finger. From somewhere outside came the sound of a buzz saw.

“Shall we?” Adam asked.

“Yes, yes, but what?” Frau Angyal stood up from her chair.

“I need your measurements anyway.”

“What do you want me to do, take this off?”

“There’s no need.”

Frau Angyal turned to one side and unbuttoned her apron dress. She stood there in front of him in a white slip with a wide lace hem. “Should I leave my sandals on?”

“Absolutely,” Adam said. He walked around behind her, held the tape measure to that particular neckbone and drew it along the shoulder and down to the wrist. Then he measured her hips, her waist, her chest. “I think I know what I want to do,” he said as he put his pencil and notebook away. “But maybe you’ll want something totally different? … Frau Angyal?”

“Herr Adam, would you please embrace me? Just once. Or may I embrace you?”

Adam cleared his throat. “Yes,” he said, stuffing the tape measure into his pants pocket.

Frau Angyal stepped up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. When his hands touched her back, she pressed against him. “Silk, genuine silk,” Adam whispered. His fingertips traced across her shoulderblades, wandered downward, and reached Frau Angyal’s rear end. She stood on tiptoes, pressed tight against him, and let out a brief lusty sound that made it clear to Adam in a flash—he was alone with her.

“STAY, ANOTHER FIVE MINUTES
, please, I want to look at you.”

“You are looking at me, you’ve been looking at me the whole time.”

“But not really, come here.”

“Don’t! And close that window too.”

“Why?”

“You can hear for yourself, the awful squeaks this bed makes.”

“Wasn’t it wonderful?”

“Yes, it was,” Evelyn said, and kissed him on the mouth. “Very wonderful, I’d say.”

“Why should I close the window?”

“You should close it for me, because I want you to.”

He pushed himself between her legs, clasped both arms around her waist, and laid his head on her breasts. “Do you know what you looked like when you came in just now? Like a mummy, wrapped up like a mummy.”

“I can’t run around the house naked.”

“I first thought they had given us sheets instead of towels. They smell so marvelously old-fashioned, fresh from the ironing board.”

“Yes, they do smell good,” Evelyn said and ran both hands through his hair.

“Do you know why you make me so
horny
?”

“ ‘Horny’? What does ‘horny’ mean?”

“You turn me on, make me
horny
.”

“What an ugly word.”

Michael pushed himself up a bit higher and tugged at her armpit hair with his lips. “This patch of hair drives me stark raving crazy. Do you like that better?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t you ever shave?”

“Should I?” Evelyn crossed her hands behind her head. The streetlamp from Római út cast the shadow of a cherry tree on the wall. A very gentle breeze must have been moving through its branches. “Maybe you can close the window now?”

“And who’s eavesdropping on us?”

“Why won’t you understand?”

“And I don’t understand why you want to go back to your room either.”

“We’re guests here—”

“I’m a perfectly normal paying guest, like anywhere else, Herr Basic Tourist.”

“I know all these people, and Adam is lying there out back.”

“How do you know where he is right now?”

“And what if he hears us.”

“What if he does? Soldier, sailor, tinker, tailor. Let him!”

“You’re nuts.”

“Did we invite him? He’s cheated on you for years, and now we’re supposed to hold our breath because he’s sawing logs out there?” Michael rolled over on his back beside her.

“Don’t get your nose out of joint, you’re the one who’s got me.” Evelyn propped herself up and ran her hand across his chest.

“It’s like playing hide-and-seek—”

“Don’t be angry.”

“I’m not ‘angry,’ I just don’t get it. Why do you want to stay on here with the Angyals?”

“I’ve just got to get used to this.”

“Get used to what?”

“To you, to the whole situation.”

“But what’s there to get used to?”

“Being here together with you on Lake Balaton.”

“ ‘Get used to’! I’ve been thinking of you for a good year now.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“No? At Mona’s birthday party last year, you wore this kind of wraparound thing that crossed up front. I’ve seen you in it ever since, I’ve never stopped thinking of it the whole time.”

“Never stopped?”

“Didn’t matter in what situation.”

“Even when you were with other women?”

“There wasn’t much happening with other women. Once you’re sure you’ve found the right one—”

“You were thinking of me when you were with them?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“Yes. You know I’ve had to get used to some things too.”

“Oh, so all of a sudden?”

“ ‘Stick it in’—no woman has ever said that to me, just ‘stick it in.’ ”

Evelyn tried to cover his mouth, but Michael grabbed her hand. “Stick it in,” he said again. “Stick it in.”

Evelyn struggled, Michael held her hand tight.

“Nobody can say that quite as innocently as you. Lie on top of me. Come on, lie on top of me.”

“You numbskull, let me go.”

“Come on, I want to show you something.”

“Let me go, please, enough!”

Michael pressed her hand lower and lower, until it reached his penis. “Please,” he said. “At least your hand, just with your hand.”

Evelyn pulled her hand away.

“Come on, before you go, just a little.”

Evelyn brushed the hair from her face. “You’re pretty aggressive, did you know that?”

“There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“It wasn’t meant as a compliment, not at all.”

“Okay, fine, do what you want.”

“You bet I will.”

“Well then, go—girls and boys in separate sleeping quarters.”

“Girls and boys are to sleep separately until further notice, that’s right,” she said and passed her hand over his penis and testicles. “This guy’s asleep already as it is.”

“Just you wait.”

“Can you feel that?”

“What?”

“Your balls, they’re wandering.”

“ ‘Wandering’?”

“Don’t you feel that? They’re moving.”

“Haven’t a clue what they’re up to.”

“You see, I have to tell you what they’re doing.”

Evelyn kissed his chest. “Lie still, just like that,” she said and tugged at his armpit hair with her lips. “Does that feel good?”

“Hm. First we’ll take a couple of trips, by Christmas at the latest we’ll be on our way to New York, to the Big Apple. Or if you’d rather, we’ll fly to Rio, to the beach at Ipanema, you can swim there at Christmas, and waves like you’ve never seen. Or Mexico, I have some friends in Mexico.”

“Does it snow in Hamburg sometimes?”

“Why not? Not like in the mountains, but it’s all white sometimes.”

“The most beautiful part is Christmas shopping in the snow.”

“Whatever you like.”

“It’s enough just for me to picture it. All I want is just to be able to picture it.”

“It’s all much more beautiful than you can imagine.”

“You have no idea how I picture it.”

“But you don’t know how beautiful it is, really beautiful! On our side you live better and longer.”

“That may well be. But I’d rather hear about the King of Spheres and those machines that can think up stories.”

“It just takes a little courage. You’ve heard yourself, people make it across every day.”

“But I don’t want to take the risk. I don’t want to be hauled away.”

“You see, now that guy’s awake. I told you so. You just have to be nice.”

“Show-off,” Evelyn said, grabbed her towel, and stood up.

“Hey! What’s up?”

Evelyn walked to the window and closed it quietly. Then she spread the towel out on the bed runner, lay down on her back, crossed her hands behind her head, and smiled. Michael pushed himself from the bed, slid down to her, and nuzzled up against her. Evelyn twisted and turned under his caresses, but kept her eyes on the shadows at play on the wall, even now with the window closed.