Free Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West Page A

still failed to respond, she got up abruptly and went into the parlor.
They followed a few minutes later and found her mixing ginger-ale highballs.
    They all drank silently. Doyle
looked sleepy and his wife was just beginning to get drunk. Miss Lonelyhearts made no attempt to be sociable. He was busy
trying to find a message. When he did speak it would have to be in the form of
a message.
    After the third highball, Mrs. Doyle
began to wink quite openly at Miss Lonelyhearts , but
he still refused to pay any attention to her. The cripple, however, was greatly
disturbed by her signals. He began to fidget and mumble under his breath.
    The vague noises he was making
annoyed Mrs. Doyle. "What in hell are you talking about?" she
demanded.
    The cripple started a sigh that
ended in a groan and then, as though ashamed of himself, said, " Ain't I the pimp, to bring home a guy for my wife?" He
darted a quick look at Miss Lonelyhearts and laughed
apologetically.
    Mrs. Doyle was furious. She rolled a
newspaper into a club and struck her husband on the mouth with it. He surprised
her by playing the fool. He growled like a dog and caught the paper in his
teeth. When she let go of her end, he dropped to his hands and knees and
continued the imitation on the floor.
    Miss Lonelyhearts tried to get the cripple to stand up and bent to lift him; but, as he did so,
Doyle tore open Miss Lonelyhearts ' fly, then rolled
over on his back, laughing wildly.
    His wife kicked him and turned away
with a snort of contempt.
    The cripple soon laughed himself
out, and they all returned to their seats. Doyle and his wife sat staring at
each other, while Miss Lonelyhearts again began to
search for a message.
    The silence bothered Mrs. Doyle.
When she could stand it no longer, she went to the sideboard to make another
round of drinks. But the bottle was empty. She asked her husband to go to the
corner drug store for some gin. He refused with a single, curt nod of his head.
    She tried to argue with him. He
ignored her and she lost her temper. "Get some gin!" she yelled.
"Get some gin, you bastard!"
    Miss Lonelyhearts stood up. He had not yet found his message, but he had to say something.
"Please don't fight," he pleaded. "He loves you, Mrs. Doyle;
that's why he acts like that. Be kind to him."
    She grunted with annoyance and left
the room. They could hear her slamming things around in the kitchen.
    Miss Lonelyhearts went over to the cripple and smiled at him with the same smile he had used in
the speakeasy. The cripple returned the smile and stuck out his hand. Miss Lonelyhearts clasped it, and they stood this way, smiling
and holding hands, until Mrs. Doyle reentered the room.
    "What a sweet pair of fairies
you guys are," she said.
    The cripple pulled his hand away and
made as though to strike his wife. Miss Lonelyhearts realized that now was the time to give his message. It was now or never.
    "You have a big, strong body,
Mrs. Doyle. Holding your husband in your arms, you can warm him and give him
life. You can take the chill out of his bones. He drags his days out in
areaways and cellars, carrying a heavy load of weariness and pain. You can
substitute a dream of yourself for this load. A buoyant dream
that will be like a dynamo in him. You can do this by letting him
conquer you in your bed. He will repay you by flowering and becoming ardent
over you..."
    She was too astonished to laugh, and
the cripple turned his face away as though embarrassed.
    With the first few words Miss Lonelyhearts had known that he would be ridiculous. By avoiding
God, he had failed to tap the force in his heart and had merely written a
column for his paper.
    He tried again by becoming
hysterical. "Christ is love," he screamed at them. It was a stage
scream, but he kept on. "Christ is the black fruit that hangs on the
cross-tree. Man was lost by eating of the forbidden fruit. He shall be saved by
eating of the bidden fruit. The black Christ-fruit, the love fruit..."
    This time he had