Irving Wallace - The Man

She reached for her folded coat to find a cigarette, but he took one from his pack, handed it to her, and then put a match to it.

“I was thinkin’ ’bout you last night, Otter.”

“If it was something bad, don’t tell me.”

“I was thinkin’ how I hopes you don’t go sellin’ real estate land. Maybe I should hush my big mouff, but-”

“No, go ahead, Ruby, please.”

She set her elbows on the table, and stared at him. “I been thinkin’ you is too much man-Lordy, too much man-to be givin’ up bein’ a hero and protectin’ our Pres jes ’cause of extra money. Bein’ a richcrat ain’t no more impo’tant than what you is.”

“Well, I don’t know that I’m so important, Ruby-thank you, anyway-but I do think the job is certainly important. I’m beginning to feel the way you do about giving it up. But my pay’s sure not up to what I could make in real estate, and everybody can use extra money.”

“Bet if you eggs ’em ’bout leavin’, Pres Dilman would git you a raise but fast. Bet he wouldn’t wanna lose you.”

He wanted to tell her that Dilman probably did not know he was alive, but he did not want to run himself down in her eyes. “Maybe,” he agreed. “You think a lot of Dilman?”

She brushed the air with her long thin hand. “Aw, Otter, I don’t mess ’round much studyin’ politics or race stuff an’ nonsense like such. Like my mothah always used to be sayin’-‘Sweetheart, live an’ let ’em live, and don’t fuss ’round none with such p’ofessional matters.’ Sep, ’course, I wanna git an education an’ be smart so’s I kin live good an’ be right for the right man, but I don’t fuss my mind with Dilman this and Dilman that-I jes mostly wanna have me a good time, swing it ’round a little, ’joy my days.”

Beggs had tried to assess what she was saying, and wondered if it was meant to be provocative. Since he was not certain, he said pedantically, “You have a healthy attitude, Ruby.”

The drinks had come, and she drank hers and he drank his, and then she said, “ ’Course my not messin’ with politics don’t mean I’m not fascinated ’bout your impo’tant job. Otter, what you do day ’fore yesterday when you left here, an’ what you do yesterday?”

He was on, and liking it, and he went on and on, without interruption, except for a reverent “Sure enough?” or “Ain’t that somethin’!” from her occasionally. He narrated his activities of the day before yesterday, and of yesterday. He told her of his colleagues and their duties. He presented her with the highlights of the history of the Secret Service. He described the West Wing offices and the people and life in them, and he described what sections of the White House he himself had visited, with himself always in the foreground of these descriptions.

She listened raptly, and drank, and exclaimed or clucked her admiration.

His monologue took him a half hour, and when he was done, he was hoarse and happy. “Christ, Ruby, I’ve been bending your ear to death. You shouldn’t let me go on that way.”

“You-all a good teacher, Otter. I was lovin’ it.”

He finished what was left of his beer. “What about you, Ruby? What have you been up to today?”

“Like I told you, nothin’, ’cept sleepin’ too long this mornin’ to git me my naycher back full stren’th-nothin’, Otter-”

But then she went on about her hi-fi set, and the fun she’d had shopping for rare jazz records to add to her collection of classics. With enthusiasm she evoked names little known or unknown to him, mystical names like Bix Beiderbecke, Joe Oliver, Fats Waller, Muggsy Spanier, Bunk Johnson. She spoke of Storyville jazz and gut-gone bands and Bessie Smith’s “St. Louis Blues” and King Oliver’s Creole combine belting out “Froggie Moore.”

After ten minutes she stopped. “You diggin’ it, Otter? No, you ain’t, you not with it, you a orfan from the blues. You need educatin’, Otter.”

He swallowed. “I’m always open to improvement, Ruby.”

“Man, you gonna go limp when you hear what I bought me this mornin’-know what?-piano solo of Jelly Roll doin’ ‘The Pearls.’ You gotta hear that, an’ then you gotta come up to my place an’ hear Duke Ellington an’ his Wash’tonians doin’ ‘Rainy Nights’-listenin’, you ain’t ever gonna be exactly the same, Otter, you gonna be no more orfan, you gonna join up an’ belong like Ruby Thomas here.”

He had been holding his breath. Now he let it go with a wheeze. “Are you extending an invitation to me for a musical concert in your apartment, Ruby?”

Her almond eyes held on him a moment. Then she said softly, “You always been welcome, Otter. Fact is, my machine needs some adjustin’ an’ I ain’t got the money for it yet, but you always sayin’ you got mechanical ways-”

“I’m a wizard with a monkey wrench, Ruby. I’ve never tinkered with a hi-fi, but I bet I’ll have yours perfecto in two seconds and a jiffy. That’s a deal, if you say so. I’ll bring a bottle of J and B, and some tools, and you can give me my first jazz lesson.”

She pushed her glass aside. “You done got a deal. When you wanna come up?”

Before he could reply, a hollow, echoing voice intruded upon their conversation, coming from the left. He looked off. A well-dressed Negro customer had walked through the door, holding a transistor radio, and was making his way to the bar. The radio’s volume was on high, and an announcer’s voice boomed, “-gave his first press conference in the Cabinet Room of the White House today. President Dilman told fifty reporters very little that they did not already know. He sidestepped any direct commitment to the Minorities Rehabilitation Program, was evasive about reporting the results of his conversations with the visiting President of Baraza, and would make no comment on the New Succession Bill. However, the President did speak of reopening a summit conference with the Russians. He came under greatest fire, during the questioning period, over his appointment of the Reverend Paul Spinger, director of the Crispus Society, to investigate the electrifying kidnaping, down in Mississippi, of-”

As abruptly as the radio news program had assailed him, it now ended. Beggs could see that Simon had leaned across the bar to speak to the customer, who had then lowered the volume.

Turning back to Ruby, Beggs suddenly realized that he had lost all track of time. The radio program reporting on Dilman’s press conference reminded him that he was to report for duty, to guard Dilman, at four o’clock. He looked at his watch and was horrified that it was seven minutes to four.

“Ruby, what time do you have?”

“Five to four.”

“Christ, I’d better find a cab.” He pushed free of the booth and jumped to his feet. Fumbling for his wallet, he found it and laid down three dollars. “Sorry to run out on you like this, Ruby.”

She smiled. “Like I was sayin’, you is doin’ man’s work. But, Otter, you ain’t answered my lil question-when you fixin’ to come up an’ see me?”

The haste went out of him. Impulsively he reached down and touched her hand. “Soon as I can, Ruby. My first free day off. Tell you what, see you here same time, day after tomorrow, and we’ll set a-a rendezvous.”

“I’ll be waitin’, Otter dear.” She turned her palm upward, caught and caressed his fingers, then released them. “I wanna be with you.”

He winked at her, started away, turned once to wave back, and then hastened outside to hail a taxi. For the first time in the Secret Service, he would be late on the job. Yet he did not give a damn what Agajanian said or Gaynor said, or in fact what President Dilman might say. All that mattered was what Ruby Thomas had said: Otter dear, I wanna be with you.