D A Novel (George Right) - By George Right Page 0,91

partly because I liked her name. Very romantic, huh, Bettie? I liked her name more than her boobs. Though, to tell the truth, her boobs were pretty good back then–she wasn't fat yet. She stopped watching her weight after Max's birth. How do you like this idea–naming a moron 'Max?' She would even have named him Sylvester!"

Bettie said nothing.

"And all these 20 years," continued Pete, "she nagged at me, claiming Max was my fault because I fucked her when I was drunk. Damn her, she drank more than I did that night! She wanted fucking romance–a dinner with candles and champagne. She put away one and a half bottles alone. I drank only a little–I actually don't like champagne. At the end she was laughing nonstop and tried to get her foot under the table into my fly. We weren't married yet, but neither of us bothered with precautions. Shit, that's not romantic! As though there could be anything romantic in fucking anyway... Did you ever fuck, Bettie? Never mind, you don't have to answer that. We got married soon, without knowing that she was pregnant. And in just a few months I found out about her temper. But it turned out she was pregnant and I thought that was affecting her and after the birth she would calm down... And then Max was born and everything really went to hell. She handed him over to a state home and then regularly blamed me for it. By the way, I never saw Max since then. She went to see him, but I never did. He's disgusting to me. But, still, she handed him over herself. Every time I got fed up with her moaning, I told her to bring him back home. She said she would do exactly that and went off to blubber in her room. That's how it always ended. Then she started hitting the bottle. Once she even was put in the hospital with an alcoholic psychosis. But, unfortunately, they released her and she came home."

Palmer fell silent.

"Listen, mister... " Bettie began shyly.

"Pete!"

"Okay, listen, Pete... what happened 74 hours ago? You didn't...like... kill her?"

"A good question!" laughed Palmer. "No, don't think I have. Though it would be worth it, I swear to God."

"What do you mean...'you don't think?'"

"Well, maybe she died of a heart attack when she found out she wouldn't see me or my money any more."

"Well, I'm not a lawyer, but probably you still have to pay her alimony."

"What fucking alimony, Bettie? Did you forget that I'm unemployed with no income now? You want to know what happened 74 hours ago? Already almost 75... Well, I'll tell you. That bitch whom I even don't want to call by her beautiful name was lucky that it didn't happen in our home. Otherwise, maybe I would have killed her. But it happened at my job. I didn't change my place of work for 30 years, Bettie. It changed itself–at first it was a small firm selling paint, then it was bought by a company which had a network of hardware stores, then the company was acquired by a corporation, and now all this is merged into a huge conglomerate which makes and sells thousands of things–from machines for construction work to toilet paper. And 26 of these 30 years I spent under one man–William T. Gills. At first I was his ordinary employee. Then he noticed he could work me like a horse pulling a plow and made me his deputy. I was young and naive, so I was damned proud–oh really, I'm making a career, advancing past other employees who are older and have more experience! I went all out to justify Mr. Gills' trust. By the way, I always called him 'Mr. Gills,' and he called me 'Pete,' though he was a year younger than me–but when he was just 25, he had a half-bald head and glasses, so he looked older. Anyway, this son of a bitch, of course, used my eagerness totally to his advantage. I can imagine how he chuckled to himself. I did all the work for him, he received praise from upper management, and I got nothing. Then he was promoted–do you think I got his position? Hell no–he already understood how useful I could be to him. He dragged me with him and again I became his deputy, only at the new level. And so it went all these years. This bastard used me and I always played the