Where I'm Calling From by Raymond Carver Page B

sat beside Mary. Mary inched toward Jack to give Carl room. She rested her hand on Jack’s knee. They watched the cat eat the mouse.
    “Don’t you ever feed that cat?” Mary said to Helen. Helen laughed.
    “You guys ready for another smoke?” Carl said.
    “We have to go,” Jack said.
    “What’s your hurry?” Carl said.
    “Stay a little longer,” Helen said. “You don’t have to go yet.”
    Jack stared at Mary, who was staring at Carl. Carl stared at something on the rug near his feet.
    Helen picked through the M&M’s in her hand.
    “I like the green ones best,” Helen said.
    “I have to work in the morning,” Jack said.
    “What a bummer he’s on,” Mary said. “You want to hear a bummer, folks? There’s a bummer.”
    “Are you coming?” Jack said.
    “Anybody want a glass of milk?” Carl said. “We’ve got some milk out there.”
    “I’m too full of cream soda,” Mary said.
    “There’s no more cream soda,” Carl said.
    Helen laughed. She closed her eyes and then opened them and then laughed again.
    “We have to go home,” Jack said. In a while he stood up and said, “Did we have coats? I don’t think we had coats.”
    “What? I don’t think we had coats,” Mary said. She stayed seated.
    “We’d better go,” Jack said.
    “They have to go,” Helen said.
    Jack put his hands under Mary’s shoulders and pulled her up.
    “Good-bye, you guys,” Mary said. She embraced Jack. “I’m so full I can hardly move,” Mary said.
    Helen laughed.
    “Helen’s always finding something to laugh at,” Carl said, and Carl grinned. “What are you laughing at, Helen?”
    “I don’t know. Something Mary said,” Helen said.
    “What did I say?” Mary said.
    “I can’t remember,” Helen said.
    “We have to go,” Jack said.
    “So long,” Carl said. “Take it easy.”
    Mary tried to laugh.
    “Let’s go,” Jack said.
    “Night, everybody,” Carl said. “Night, Jack,” Jack heard Carl say very, very slowly.
    Outside, Mary held Jack’s arm and walked with her head down. They moved slowly on the sidewalk. He listened to the scuffing sounds her shoes made. He heard the sharp and separate sound of a dog barking and above that a murmuring of very distant traffic.
    She raised her head. “When we get home, Jack, I want to be fucked, talked to, diverted. Divert me, Jack. I need to be diverted tonight.” She tightened her hold on his arm.
    He could feel the dampness in that shoe. He unlocked the door and flipped the light.
    “Come to bed,” she said.
    “I’m coming,” he said.
    He went to the kitchen and drank two glasses of water. He turned off the living-room light and felt his way along the wall into the bedroom.
    “Jack!” she yelled. “Jack!”
    “Jesus Christ, it’s me!” he said. “I’m trying to get the light on.”
    He found the lamp, and she sat up in bed. Her eyes were bright. He pulled the stem on the alarm and began taking off his clothes. His knees trembled.
    “Is there anything else to smoke?” she said.
    “We don’t have anything,” he said.
    “Then fix me a drink. We have something to drink. Don’t tell me we don’t have something to drink,” she said.
    “Just some beer.”
    They stared at each other.
    “I’ll have a beer,” she said. “You really want a beer?”
    She nodded slowly and chewed her lip.
    He came back with the beer. She was sitting with his pillow on her lap. He gave her the can of beer and then crawled into bed and pulled the covers up.
    “I forgot to take my pill,” she said.
    “What?”
    “I forgot my pill.”
    He got out of bed and brought her the pill. She opened her eyes and he dropped the pill onto her outstretched tongue. She swallowed some beer with the pill and he got back in bed.
    “Take this. I can’t keep my eyes open,” she said.
    He set the can on the floor and then stayed on his side and stared into the dark hallway. She put her arm over his ribs and her fingers crept across his chest.
    “What’s in