In God We Trust_ All Others Pay Cash Part 6

This was the age of spindly, artificially antiqued, teetery bra.s.s contrivances called "bridge lamps." These were usually of the school of design known as WPA Neo-Romanticism, a school noted for its heavy use of bra.s.s flower petals and mottled parchment shades depicting fauns and dryads inscribed in dark browns and greens. The light bulbs themselves were often formed to emulate a twisted, spiraled candle flame of a peculiar yellow-orange tint. These bulbs were unique in that they contrived somehow to make a room even dimmer when they were turned on. My mother was especially proud of her matched set, which in addition to bra.s.s tulip buds teetered shakily on bases cleverly designed to look like leopards' paws.

On the kitchen table stood the lamp that was destined to play a subtle and important role in our future. My Old Man dove back into the box, burrowing through the crackling packing.

"AHA! Here's the shade!"

A monstrous, barrel-shaped bulging tube of a shade, a striking Lingerie pink in color, topped by a glittering cut-crystal orb, was lifted reverently up and put onto the table. Never had shade so beautifully matched base. Within an instant the Old Man had screwed it atop the fulsome thigh, and there it stood, a full four feet from coquettishly pointed toe to sparkling crystal. His eyes boggled behind his Harold Lloyd gla.s.ses.

"My G.o.d! Ain't that great? Wow!!"

He was almost overcome by Art.

"What a great lamp!"

"Oh...I don't know."

My mother was strictly the crocheted-doily type.

"What a great lamp! Wow! This is exactly what we need for the front window. Wow!"

He swept up the plastic trophy, his symbol of Superiority, and rushed out through the dining room and into the living room. Placing the lamp squarely in the middle of the library table, he aligned it exactly at the center of the front window. We trailed behind him, applauding and yipping. He was unrolling the cord, down on all fours.

"Where's the d.a.m.n plug?"

"Behind the sofa."

My mother answered quietly, in a vaguely detached tone.

"Quick! Go out in the kitchen and get me an extension!"

Our entire world was strung together with "extensions." Outlets in our house were rare and coveted, each one buried under a bakelite mound of three-way, seven-way, and ten-way plugs and screw sockets, the entire mess caught in a twisted, snarling Gordian knot of frayed and cracked lamp cords, radio cords, and G.o.d knows what. Occasionally in some houses a critical point was reached and one of these electrical bombs went off, sometimes burning down whole blocks of homes, or more often blowing out the main fuse, plunging half the town into darkness.

"Get the extension from the toaster!"

He shouted from under the sofa where he was burrowing through the electrical rat's nest.

I rushed out into the kitchen, grabbed the extension, and scurried back to the scene of action.

"Give it to me! Quick!"

His hand reached out from the darkness. For a few moments-full silence, except for clickings and scratchings. And deep breathing from behind the sofa. The snap of a few sparks, a quick whiff of ozone, and the lamp blazed forth in unparalleled glory. From ankle to thigh the translucent flesh radiated a vibrant, sensual, luminous orange-yellow-pinkish nimbus of Pagan fire. All it needed was tom-toms and maybe a gong or two. And a tenor singing in a high, quavery, earnest voice: "A pretty girl/Is like a melody...."

It was alive!

"Hey, look."

The Old Man was reading from the instruction pamphlet which had been attached to the cord.

"It's got a two-way switch. It says here: 'In one position it's a tasteful Night Light and in the other an effective, scientifically designed Reading Lamp.' Oh boy, is this great!"

He reached up under the shade to throw the switch.

"Why can't you wait until the kids are in bed?"

My mother shoved my kid brother behind her. The shade had a narrow scallop of delicate lace circling its lower regions.

"Watch this!"

The switch clicked. Instantly the room was flooded with a wave of pink light that was pure perfume of illumination.

"Now that is a real lamp!"

The Old Man backed away in admiration.

"Hey wait. I want to see how it looks from the outside."

He rushed into the outer darkness, across the front porch and out onto the street. From a half block away he shouted: "Move it a little to the left. Okay. That's got it. You oughta see it from out here!"

The entire neighborhood was turned on. It could be seen up and down Cleveland Street, the symbol of his victory.

The rest of that evening was spent in honest, simple Peasant admiration for a thing of transcendent beauty, very much like the awe and humility that we felt before such things as Christmas trees and used cars with fresh coats of Simonize. The family went to bed in a restless mood of festive gaiety. That is, everyone except my mother, who somehow failed to vibrate on the same frequency as my father's spectacular Additional Major Award.

That night, for the first time, our home had a Night Light. The living room was bathed through the long, still, silent hours with the soft glow of electric s.e.x. The stage was set; the princ.i.p.al players were in the wings. The cue was about to be given for the greatest single fight that ever happened in our family.

Real-life man and wife, mother and father battles rarely even remotely resemble the Theatrical or Fictional version of the Struggle between the s.e.xes. Homes have been wracked by strife and dissension because of a basic difference of opinion over where to go on a vacation, or what kind of car to buy, or a toaster that made funny noises, or a sister-in-law's false teeth, not to mention who is going to take out the garbage. And why.

In all my experience I have never known homes that had the kind of fights that appear in plays by Edward Albee and Tennessee Williams. It would never have occurred to my father to bellow dramatically in the living room, after twenty-seven Scotches: "You b.i.t.c.h! You're not going to emasculate me!" me!"

The Old Man would not have even known what the word "emasculate" meant meant, much less figure that that's what my mother was up to.

On the other hand, my mother thought "emasculation" had something to do with women getting the vote. But, in any event, s.e.x is rarely argued and fought over in any household I ever heard of, outside of heaving novels and nervous plays. That was not the kind of fights we had at home. There was no question of Emasculation or Role Reversal. My mother was a Mother Mother. She knew it. My Old Man was...the Old Man. He He knew it. There was no problem of Ident.i.ty, just a gigantic clash of two opposing physical presences: the Immovable Body and the Force That Is Not To Be Denied. knew it. There was no problem of Ident.i.ty, just a gigantic clash of two opposing physical presences: the Immovable Body and the Force That Is Not To Be Denied.

The lamp stood in the middle of the window for months. Every night my mother would casually, without a word, draw the curtains shut, while Bing Crosby sang from the old Gothic Crosley: "Hail KMH/Hail to the foe Onward to victory/Onward we must go...."

the theme song of the Kraft Music Hall. The Old Man would get up out of his chair. Casually. He would pull the curtain back, look out-pretending to be examining the weather-and leave it that way. Ten minutes later my mother would get up out of her chair, casually, saying: "Gee, I feel a draft coming in from somewhere."

This slowly evolving ballet spun on through the Winter months, gathering momentum imperceptively night after night. Meanwhile, the lamp itself had attracted a considerable personal following among cruising prides of pimply-faced Adolescents who night after night could hardly wait for darkness to fall and the soft, sinuous radiation of Pa.s.sion to light up the drab, dark corners of Cleveland Street.

The pop company enjoyed sales of mounting intensity, even during the normally slack Winter months. Their symbol now stood for far more than a sickeningly sweet orange drink that produced window-rattling burps and cavities in Adolescent teeth of such spectacular dimensions as to rival Mammoth Cave. Night after night kids' eyes glowed in the darkness out on the street before our house, like predatory carnivores of the jungle in full cry. Night after night the lady's leg sent out its silent message.

The breaking point came, as all crucial moments in History do, stealthily and on cats' feet, on a day that was notable for its ordinariness. We never know when lightning is about to strike, or a cornice to fall. Perhaps it is just as well.

On the fateful day I came home from school and immediately opened the refrigerator door, looking for Something To Eat. Seconds later I am knocking together a salami sandwich. My Old Man-it was his day off-is in the John. Hollering, as he always did, accompanied by the roar of running water, s.n.a.t.c.hes of song, complaints about No Pressure-the usual. My mother is somewhere off in the front of the house, puttering about. Dusting.

Life is one long song. The White Sox have won a ball game, and it's only spring training. The Old Man is singing. My brother is under the daybed, whimpering. The salami is as sweet as life itself.

The first fireflies were beginning to flicker in the cottonwoods. Northern Indiana slowly was at long last emerging from the iron grip of the Midwestern Winter. A softness in the air; a quickening of the pulse. Expectations long lying dormant in the blackened rock ice of Winter sent out tentative tender green shoots and yawned toward the smoky sun. Somewhere off in the distance, ball met bat; robin called to robin, and a screen door slammed.

In the living room my mother is talking to the aphids in her fern plant. She fought aphids all of her life. The water roared. I started on a second sandwich. And then: CAAA-RAASHH!.

"...oh!" A phony, stifled gasp in the living room. A split second of silence while the fuse sputtered and ignited, and it began.

The Old Man knew knew. He had been fearing it since the very first day. The bathroom door slammed open. He rushed out, dripping, carrying a bar of Lifebuoy, eyes rolling wildly.

"What broke!? What happened?! WHAT BROKE!!?" WHAT BROKE!!?"

"...the lamp." A soft, phony voice, feigning heartbreak.

For an instant the air vibrated with tension. A vast magnetic charge, a static blast of human electricity made the air sing. My kid brother stopped in mid-whimper. I took the last bite, the last bite of salami, knowing that this would be my last happy bite of salami forever.

The Old Man rushed through the dining room. He fell heavily over a footstool, sending a shower of spray and profanity toward the ceiling.

"Where is it? WHERE IS IT!?" WHERE IS IT!?"

There it was, the shattered kneecap under the coffee table, the cracked, well-turned ankle under the radio; the calf-that voluptuous poem of feminine pulchritude-split open like a rotten watermelon, its entrails of insulated wire hanging out limply over the rug. That lovely lingerie shade, stove in, had rolled under the library table.

"Where's my glue? My glue! OH, MY LAMP OH, MY LAMP!"

My mother stood silently for a moment and then said: "I...don't know what happened. I was just dusting and...ah...."

The Old Man leaped up from the floor, his towel gone, in stark nakedness. He bellowed: "YOU ALWAYS WERE JEALOUS OF THAT LAMP!"

"Jealous? Of a plastic leg?" plastic leg?"

Her scorn ripped out like a hot knife slicing through soft oleomargarine. He faced her.

"You were jealous 'cause I WON WON!"

"That's ridiculous. Jealous! Jealous of what? That was the ugliest lamp I ever saw!"

Now it was out, irretrievably. The Old Man turned and walked to the window. He looked out silently at the soft gathering gloom of Spring. Suddenly he turned and in a flat, iron voice: "Get the glue."

"We're out out of glue," my mother said. of glue," my mother said.

My father always was a superb user of profanity, but now he came out with just one word, a real Father word, bitter and hard.

"DAMMIT!"

Without another word he stalked into the bedroom; slammed the door, emerged wearing a sweats.h.i.+rt, pants and shoes, and his straw hat, and out he went. The door of the Oldsmobile slammed shut out in the driveway.

"K-runch. Cras.h.!.+"-a tinkle of gla.s.s. He had broken the window of the one thing he loved, the car that every day he polished and honed. He slammed it in Reverse.

RRRRAAAWWWWWRRRRR!.

We heard the fender drag along the side of the garage. He never paused.

RRRRAAAWWWWWRRROOOOMMMM!.

And he's gone. We are alone. Quietly my mother started picking up the pieces, something she did all her life. I am hiding under the porch swing. My kid brother is now down in the coal bin.

It seemed seconds later: BBBRRRRRAAAAAWWWRRRRR...eeeeeeeeeh!

Up the driveway he charged in a shower of cinders and burning rubber. You could always tell the mood of the Old Man by the way he came up that driveway. Tonight there was no question.

A heavy thunder of feet roared up the back steps, the kitchen door slammed. He's carrying three cans of glue. Iron glue. The kind that garage mechanics used for gaskets and for gluing back together exploded locomotives. His voice is now quiet.

"Don't touch it. Don't touch that lamp!" Don't touch that lamp!"

He spread a newspaper out over the kitchen floor and carefully, tenderly laid out the shattered fleshy remains. He is on all fours now, and the work began. Painfully, hopelessly he tried to glue together the silk-stockinged, life-size symbol of his great victory.

Time and again it looked almost successful, but then he would remove his hand carefully....BOING!...the kneecap kept springing up and sailing across the kitchen. The ankle didn't fit. The glue hardened into black lumps and the Old Man was purple with frustration. He tried to fix the leg for about two hours, stacking books on it. A Sears Roebuck catalog held the instep. The family Bible pressed down on the thigh. But it wasn't working.

To this day I can still see my father, wearing a straw hat, swearing under his breath, walking around a shattered plastic lady's leg, a Freudian image to make Edward Albee's best efforts pale into insignificance.

Finally he scooped it all up. Without a word he took it out the back door and into the ashbin. He sat down quietly at the kitchen table. My mother is now back at her lifelong station, hanging over the sink. The sink is making the Sink noise. Our sink forever made long, gurgling sighs, especially in the evening, a kind of sucking, gargling, choking retch.

Aaaagggghhhh-and then a short, hissing wheeze and silence until the next attack. Sometimes at three o'clock in the morning I'd lie in my bed and listen to the sink-Aaaaaggggghhhh.

Once in a while it would go: gaaaaagggghhhh...PTUI!-and up would come a wad of Mrs. Kissel's potato peelings from next door. She, no doubt, got our coffee grounds. Life was real.

My mother is hanging over her sink, swabbing eternally with her Brillo pad. If mothers had a coat of arms in the Midwest, it would consist of crossed Plumbers' Helpers rampant on a field of golden Brillo pads.

The Old Man is sitting at the kitchen table. It was white enamel with little chipped black marks all around the edge. They must have been made that way, delivered with those flaws. A table that smelled like dishrags and coffee grounds and kids urping. A kitchen-table smell, permanent and universal, that defied all cleaning and disinfectant-the smell of Life itself.

In dead silence my father sat and read his paper. The battle had moved into the Trench Warfare or Great Freeze stage. And continued for three full days. For three days my father spoke not. For three days my mother spoke likewise. There was only the sink to keep us kids company. And, of course, each other, clinging together in the chilly subterranean icy air of a great battle. Occasionally I would try.

"Hey Ma, ah...you know what Flick is doing...uh...."

Her silent back hunched over the sink. Or: "Hey Dad, Flick says that...."

"WHADDAYA WANT?"

Three long days.

Sunday was sunny and almost like a day in Midsummer. Breakfast, usually a holiday thing on Sundays, had gone by in stony silence. So had dinner. My father was sitting in the living room with the sun streaming in un.o.bstructed through the front window, making a long, flat, golden pattern on the dusty Oriental rug. He was reading Andy Gump at the time. My mother was struggling over a frayed elbow in one of my sweaters. Suddenly he looked up and said: "You know...."

Here it comes! My mother straightened up and waited.

"You know, I like the room this way."

There was a long, rich moment. These were the first words spoken in seventy-two hours.

She looked down again at her darning, and in a soft voice: "Uh...you know, I'm sorry I broke it."

"Well..." he grew expansive, "It was...it was really pretty jazzy."

"No," she answered, "I thought it was very pretty!" pretty!"

"Nah. It was too pink for this room. We should get some kind of bra.s.s lamp for that window."