time. Lily must have gone to the store. She didn’t work tonight. Buying some more cans at the store, probably.

Ten o’clock.

When Catell put the key into the door, it opened. Lily came at him in a rush, throwing her arms around his neck, kissing him.

“Hold me, Tony. You’ve been so long. Tony, Tony!”

Then Catell saw Selma.

She was sitting in an easy chair by the empty fireplace. The bottle on the small table next to her was more than half empty, and she had crossed her legs, swinging one foot against the andiron on the left of the fireplace. Her foot went tap, tap against the sharp spike of the black metal.

“Where’n hell you been, lovin’ cup?”

Catell swung the door shut and stepped into the room.

“Tony, make her go. She’s sat there for hours, Tony, saying things, drinking, and the phone rang and she wouldn’t let me answer, drinking there, talking—Tony, please!”

Catell held the girl close, stroking her back, his head deep in her hair. When Lily stopped sobbing she stepped back and looked up at Catell. He smiled at her, then turned his eyes to Selma.

“What have you been doing to her, Selma?” Catell sounded like ice.

“The facts of life, lovin’ cup. I just been tellin’ her the facts of life. Right, dearie?”

Lily retreated to the back of the room, pulling her dressing gown around her tightly.

“Anything you got to say, say to me.” Catell stepped close to Selma’s chair.

“But I got nothin’ to say to you, lovin’ cup. I was talkin’ to the chippie there. She’s the one needed talkin’ to. You, lovin’ cup, got all the answers, so I don’t need to say nothin’ to you.”

“What answers?”

“About us. You sendin’ for me and us takin’ up again. You shoulda told her sooner, lovin’ cup.”

Catell looked over at Lily and their eyes met. Catell knew he didn’t have to explain. Then he turned back to Selma.

“You aren’t making a ripple around here, so why don’t you give up and beat it? Why don’t you take your booze and your filthy tongue and that vicious mind of yours and beat it, Selma?”

Catell hardly expected her to move, but he had the wild hope that she might. His insides were crawling with a shivering sickness and there was a pounding in his ears.

Selma didn’t move. “Don’t try to bluff the poor kid,” she said. “I explained everything.” Selma picked up the bottle and poured herself another drink.

“Out, Selma.”

He stood, staring down at her. She looked up at him over the raised glass, understanding nothing.

“Out!”

“Out,” Selma said, flinging her arms back and forth. “Out, out, out, out.” Then she burst into a shrill giggling.

“Selma!”

She didn’t hear him.

“Selma, shut up!” He reached for her arms, yanking her out of her seat so that her head flopped back.

“Out, out, out,” she giggled.

“Shut up, shut up!” He shook her back and forth as if he were possessed.

Suddenly she stopped giggling. Her eyes opened wide, and long folds grew down the sides of her mouth. Before she could start to cry Catell slapped her hard on the cheek.

“Do you hear me, Selma?” His face, sharp and drawn, was close to hers.

With a sudden softening of her face she leaned up against Catell and tried to kiss him.

“You crazy lush!” he yelled, and pushed her back into the chair. There was hate in his motions. “You goddamn crazy lush, don’t you know when you’re through? You make me crawl, you hear? You make me crawl!”

He stood over her, panting, a wild fevered glitter in his eyes, shaking all over.

“Tony, please!” Lily came forward. “Let her go.”

“Tony, please.” Selma was mimicking the girl’s voice. “Let her go, Tony.”

Catell had started to shake from head to foot. He sat down, panting, doubled over.

Selma looked puzzled only for a short moment; then she jumped up and ran to him. Lily was there already. She was stroking his head, murmuring to him.

When Catell straightened up his face was quiet, except for the muscle that jumped in his cheek. Then he got up and turned to Selma. What she saw in his eyes wasn’t good.

“Tony,” she said, “I’m sorry about everything. Really I am, Tony. Look at me. All I want is to have you back, like before, and me taking good care of you. You need a woman, Tony, not a kid like that.”

“Selma, there’s nothing to talk about.”

“Not a kid, Tony. I’m not saying she’s no good, I can tell by looking. But she’s a kid, Tony, and you’re a