Free The Housewife Blues by Warren Adler Page B

admonition. "He's a vice-president
of an advertising agency." She deliberately held back on offering him any
more specifics. But he was relentless.
    "Bet he makes a lot of money," Teddy said.
    "I have no complaints," she offered, standing up.
He still hadn't finished his tea and hadn't touched the brownies.
    "If they move," Teddy said with an intonation as
if it were an announcement, "I may not go."
    "Won't go?" She had been heading toward the
kitchen with her cup in hand. Now she stopped dead in her tracks and studied
the boy, who had averted his eyes, looking into his teacup. She was suddenly
frightened, as if she had crossed some forbidden boundary.
    "I'd stay right here with Bob and Jerry," Teddy
said firmly.
    "Bob and Jerry?"
    The question was purely rhetorical. She knew whom he meant.
Far too much revelation for one day, she rebuked herself, a part of her wanting
to send the boy packing. But this other part was yearning with curiosity. She
braced herself for what might be coming next, yet she made no effort to flee to
the kitchen.
    "Right below us," he said, looking toward the
floor. "And Peter. That's their cat." He paused and smiled thinly,
shaking his head. She did not offer a response, feeling increasingly
uncomfortable, still standing above him, caught on the what-happens-next aspect
of his revelation, expecting him to confess his—
    "Actually I should be down there now, doing my
homework, with Peter. I have a key to their place, but I've misplaced that as
well. It was on the same key ring." He sighed and finished his tea, which
must have been quite cold by now, although he didn't seem to mind. Then he put
the teacup back on the tray. "I really am a screw-up," he said.
    Without another word she put her own cup back on the tray
and bent to grab both handles.
    "Sure you wouldn't like a brownie?" she asked.
    "No thanks." He got up and walked to the chair
beside which was his book. Then he sat down and began to flip the pages. Before
she could carry the tray into the kitchen, he looked up at her.
    "I hope you don't tell my parents," he muttered,
casting her a brief sideways glance.
    "I wouldn't—"
    "I mean about me going to Bob and Jerry's every day.
Dad has seen me with them on weekends. You know, just chewing the fat. He'd
really be pissed if he knew I was there after school every day. Actually it's
Peter. I come in and feed him, see if he's okay. Better than just going
upstairs to an empty place. I'd get a pet, but Mom is sick and all."
    "I won't say a word." Jenny winked. "Word of
honor." She raised her right hand.
    "If they weren't gay..." He shrugged.
    "Are they?" She hurried past him with the tray.
In the kitchen she put the tray beside the sink and began to rinse the cups, furious
at being on the receiving end of all these revelations.
    "My father would beat the shit out of me."
    He had come up behind her, and his voice, so close,
startled her, and she dropped one of the teacups into the sink, breaking it.
    "Damn," she cried, reaching into the sink and
carefully picking up the shards. The accident didn't deter the boy.
    "He thinks that I'll become one if I associate with
them," Teddy said, growing thoughtful, as if he had left something unsaid.
When he spoke again it seemed as if he had recalibrated his thoughts.
"Probably thinks I'll get AIDS by just playing with the cat. Shows how
much he knows. Calls them 'fruits,' 'queers.' Tell you the truth, they've been
great to me. I really hate doing my homework up there." He glanced toward
the ceiling.
    She continued to concentrate on picking up the shards of
the teacup and throwing them into the garbage can beside the sink. She
deliberately didn't respond or turn to face him. Why is he telling me all this?
she asked herself, angry with him now.
    "I mean, the whole idea that you can get AIDS from a
cat or by being around them is really stupid. He must think I'm really a dummy.
He keeps harping on the subject. If he knew that I was doing my homework there,
he'd