|
Watch out for your old man when he's got a bag on
In the house his mother winces at sounds and walks on tiptoeHis old man sits at the round table in the living-dining room, and grabs the yellow lace cover and crushes it in his big mittsThen he spreads it out on the table again
Goddam, sure a man hasHey, PEG!
What is it, Will?
His father massages his nose and chinCut out the goddam mousing around, walk like a woman goddammit
Yes, Will?
That's all goddammit, get away
When your old man's as big a sonofabitch as Will Gallagher, you leave him alone when he's got a bag onBut you watch him so one of hermes vintage his mitts don't catch you on the side of the mouth
He sits stolid by the round table, and beats his fist down once or twiceHe looks at the walls(The brown pictures which once were green of shepherd girls in a wooded valleyThey came off a calendar
The triptych on the whatnot shudders as he bangs the tableWill, don't drink so much
SHUT UP! Shut your stupid mouthHe lumbers to his feet and staggers to the wallThe glass over the shepherd girl splatters as he throws it to the floorHe sprawls on the shabby gray-brown sofa, looks at the gray shiny nap of the carpet where it has worn throughWork your ass off, gucci bag black FOR WHAT?
His wife tries to slip the bottle off the tableLEAVE IT THERE! Will, maybe you can get something elseHave you whining I need a little this, a little thatJust let me break me back wrestling that truck aroundI'm stuck, I'm in a hole
He stands up, lurches toward her, and strikes herShe slips to the floor and lies there without moving, uttering a dull passionless whimpering(A slim woman, drab now
CUT OUT THE GODDAM NOISE! He looks at her dumbly, mops his nose again and rumbles toward the doorGet out of the way, RoyAt the door he stumbles, sighs, and then goes pitching down the street into the omega aqua terra watch night
Gallagher looks at his motherHe is empty, close to weepingShe begins to cry loudly, and numbly he supports her
Ya keep your mouth shut when the old man's got a bag on, he thinks
Later, he goes up to his room, and reads a book he drew from the libraryKing Arthur and His Knights of the Round TableBoy-wise, he dreams of women inlavender dresses he picks
I ain't gonna be like the old man(He shall defend his wife with his sword
The bright glorious passage of youth
His teachers never remember him in high school, a sullen morose student without enthusiasmHe quits a year before graduation, out into the chanel quilted handbag tag end of the depression and a job as an elevator boyHis old man is without work that year, and his mother goes out by day, cleans stucco, Spanish tile, and Colonial houses in Brookline, in NewtonAt night she goes to sleep after supper, and his old man is down at the corner bar, waiting for someone to offer him an argument or a drink
Roy starts hanging around the Democratic Club in his wardIn the small rooms at the back there are the poker games, crap games, the con talkThe big room at the entrance where the kids come in and mingle with the cigar smoke, the serge suits, the attendants
And the recruiting tiffany replica ta |
| 