…if we didn’t have twicet as many telephones we wouldn’t have half as much trouble…
Monroe D. Underwood
Betsy let me in.
She said I just happened to be looking out.
She said you nearly got it.
I said you ain’t just whistling Dixie.
I said she better take that goddam dog to a psychiatrist.
Betsy said I’m not talking about the dog.
She said do you want a drink or a cold shower?
I shrugged.
I said what I really had in mind was a hundred bucks.
Betsy said well there go the day’s profits.
She took me by the hand.
She led me into her bedroom.
She gave me five twenty-dollar bills from a dresser drawer.
She removed my sports coat and threw it on a chair.
She unbuttoned my shirt.
She kissed me.
She said you poor baby.
She said baby needs soothing.
I shrugged.
I said okay.
My shirt landed on my sports coat.
The goddam telephone rang.
When Betsy hung up she said stick around.
She said I’ll be back in an hour or so.
I said in an hour or so I can be drunk at Wallace’s.