Gordon Lish - Collected Fictions

You heard this man, Jerome?

You heard what this man said to this woman?

But now I want you to hear how this woman answers him. Because this is what the woman says to the man, darling — she says to him, "So you know all this from just hello?" Jerome, did you hear every word that woman said to that man? She said, "So you know all this from just hello?" So do me a favor, Jerome, and do not sit there and ask your father any questions when the answer to them is something you already in your own mind know!

SWEETHEART, I am going to give you some quotes that will interest you — word-for-word verbatim. Gus Krantz: "So, Mr. Ess, you tell me your little one is too sen sitive for Merv Griffin, he couldn't go on there and make a little in tell igent conversation? Tsk, tsk, Mr. Ess, we all under stand , be lieve me. When a child is too sen sitive, who is it it's always a tra gedy for? Be lieve me, Mr. Ess, my heart goes out to you, because for the father it's reall y a tragedy. A mother, she could maybe live with it, but a father ?" Burt Bellow: "With my own eyes I noticed, Mr. Ess, maybe J.D. stands for a girl and she wants to keep it a secret? Listen, you will tell your daughter to talk to Merv, the man will figure out an angle. Meanwhile, God love her, ask her if she heard about my Saul, a medal and thousands and thousands of dollars." Okay, cutie guy, don't excite yourself. So there are worse quotes than the ones I just told you. But does your father even listen to these animals? I promise you, whatever it is, it goes in one ear and out the other. Please, will you please? Tell me why I as your father should give the time of day to these people with their Merv Griffins and their Merv Griffins! But meanwhile it is the principle of the thing which to I as your father is interesting. And, Jerome, in case you didn't already figure it out for yourself, the principle of it is it is either Merv Griffin, pussycat, or you could go ahead and forget it!

Granted, for years in memoriam I as your father tried to shield you with my own body. Granted, what your father has had to go through for you not a million fathers in a million years could do it! And I also grant you it's still not half of what Gert Pinkowitz herself has got with her high and mighty Thomas. But, Jerrychik darling, be a nice boy and make one single tiny little exception for once in your life! Because let's face it, so what's the big production? You'll pick up the telephone and you'll call the man and you'll say to Merv, you'll say you thought it over in your own mind and you are ready to make an appearance!

Boychik, would your father begin to ask you if he saw even the slightest alternative? Fine, fine — so tell them to come strap me down and turn on the electricity, your father is asking you for a favor for your own personal benefit! Sonny sweetie, they could go ahead and give me all the volts they got, but your father still would not hesitate to tell you all it takes is a little intelligence even when a person is a genius. But does this mean that to his dying day you have not got your father's vote? Jerrychik darling, your father will go right down the line with you to his last dying breath regardless of your decision. But, meanwhile, ask yourself, is it fair that you who are the child should never meet your father halfway — especially when he is your elder and would lay down his life for you if this was what you demanded? So answer me, for your own father you could not sit down with Merv for all of two seconds, Jerome, and make a little civilized conversation? Bing bang and it's over and done with, and you can go ahead and pick yourself up and go back to your 603 and meanwhile your father in his mind could go to his grave in peace and quiet and contentment! Because I want to ask you a question, Jerome. So tell me, Jerome, so how do you propose your father is supposed to answer these gangsters year in and year out when they come down the next day to the card room and they say to me, "Tsk, tsk, Mr. Ess, we watched and watched, but we didn't see no J.D. sitting there chatting like a mensch with Merv Griffin"?

YOU WANT ANOTHER QUOTE, Jerome? Fine, fine, I tried to protect you with my own body, darling, but do you want from down here another quote? Okay, here is one from Babe Friedman. "Tell me the truth, Solly, it was a cut-rate nose job and the girl could not ever again show her face again in public again? Listen, my Bruce Jay is very close to certain very, very big doctors. You want for me to give him a call and see what maybe could be worked out for the girl if you know the right people?"

Jerrychik, this is what your father has to live with — with quotes like this morning, noon, and night! Whereas one word from you, and it's a whole new ball game. Pay attention, Jerome — you will call up and you will say, "Merv, look, I haven't got all day — the answer is yes, so send a ticket and when do you want me?" So, Jerome, you'll tell them to kill me and bury me alive under boulders, Jerome, but first you will do this one little thing for your father! Because I am here to tell you, boychik, maybe Gert Pinkowitz is made of iron, but as to yours truly, he definitely is not! Oh, but so the Everest Mountain should fall over on me for passing comment, but when they put your father together, precious, they went and made a mistake and, you know, used flesh and blood and not iron! So do you hear me, Jerome? Because I couldn't take it no more every weekday all my life, no Merv Griffin and meanwhile your father keeps watching and keeps waiting, please God his sonny boy will finally get some sense in his head and someday see the light!

Look, you want me to quote you from Babe Friedman again? Because what the man said to me only this morning you would not believe it unless you heard it for yourself-so I want you to hear this, Jerome, because, believe me, you would be the first individual to appreciate. So are you listening? Because the man said to me, "Sol, as to your J.D., did I or did I miss her? Four-thirty, four-forty, was she on there on Merv with him or wasn't she? Because maybe I left the room at the inopportune point of departure when I had to go see a man about a dog in the toilet. So was she or wasn't she? Even with the nose, did the girl take her chances? So tell me, Sol, what is in your daughter's case the terrible verdict?"

Pussycat, what will it cost you to pick up the phone and tell Merv you are going to make an exception just for him? So yes or no? Darling, as your father, am I or am I not entitled to a civilized answer? Okay, enough privacy for two seconds, Jerome! It would not kill you! It is not no Sing Sing Prison! It is only Merv Griffin!

Jerome, I have to whisper again, I'm almost dead from a virus from all this screaming. Darling, pay attention to me, we are talking about a wholesome show for the entire American family. So did you hear? Please, you'll sit down with the man, you'll say hello and good-bye to the man and take a look at my face to the man — and then like a mensch you'll get up and you'll walk away on your own two feet, and I promise you, sweetness, you will thank me for the rest of your days and so will all of your fans from coast to coast in every direction. But never mind, you don't have to give your father your answer this very instant. You need to think it over in your mind, darling, then go ahead and think it over in your mind. So in the morning your decision will be your decision, and you will call Merv and then like a grown-up advise the man accordingly.

You know what, Jerome? Tonight, after I finish this letter to my sonny boy, tonight when your father finally puts his head down on the pillow and says his prayers, I am going to thank God that with regard to the simple question of Merv Griffin, my sonny boy and I have had a meeting of the minds and the subject is from start to finish all settled. And I promise you, cutie guy, I wouldn't even say boo to Burt Bellow and to the rest of them beforehand. The gang of them should only be looking and not be ready for it when guess who walks out and Merv says, "Ladies and gendemen, have I got for you the cream of the crop of the whole United States literature industry!"