In ten minutes’ time, they both agreed they had better go for an ice-cream soda or something.

Linda buttoned her blouse and put on fresh lipstick.

24

On Thursday night Felix Anders saw Larry’s car leave the development and then, not five minutes later, Margaret came down the front steps and drove away in her car.

He was amazed that they could run their affair in such a slipshod manner and still escape detection. It was a wonder everyone in the world, no less the development, did not know exactly what was going on between them. But even while considering them the most careless sort of fools, he managed to find a tender spot in his heart for them. They were, after all, in love. This spoke in their favor. Like a father picking lice from the hair of two idiot children, Felix Anders felt great paternal compassion for these two tormented fools.

At the same time there was something immensely satisfying about their tortured writhings, something quite pleasurable about watching their silly gyrations and knowing they were rank amateurs playing a game invented for experts. Amateurs amused him. This entire Cole-Gault affair was an entertainment being performed solely for Felix Anders.

And then there was Eve.

Eve was something else again.

Felix walked into the kitchen where Betty was washing the dishes. “Leave them,” he said. “Let’s go to bed.”

“Oh, stop it,” Betty said, pleased.

“Come on, come on,” he said impatiently.

“I don’t like to leave dirty dishes,” Betty said.

He put his hands on her buttocks. “Come on.”

“No. Later.”

“Okay,” he said, shrugging, having made his stud-bull impression, having left Betty with the idea that all he desired in this budding world of beautiful women was her enticing little form alone. “I’m going for a walk. I’ll be back in a little while.”

“Where are you going?” she asked, having become partially interested by his damned wandering hands and toying with the idea of leaving the dirty dishes in the sink.

“Over to say hello to Larry.”

“I’ll be finished soon” she said.

“Okay,” he answered. He kissed her, and he let his hand drift caressingly over her buttocks again. He enjoyed arousing her. He enjoyed being in complete control of the castle which was his home. “I’ll be back.”

Outside, the stars pecked fiercely at the deep blue-black sky. Felix walked the streets of Pinecrest Manor knowing full well that Betty would be waiting at home in her nightgown whenever he decided to return. He would let her wait a while. A long while. He would let her wait until he was ready. It was better for her that way. It was the only way to treat her.

He had long ago stopped believing it was the male of the species who possessed the deep yearning, the insatiable sex drive. He had come to the conclusion that the reverse was true. There was an empty chasm in a woman, and only a man could fill that chasm. And until the chasm was filled, a woman was essentially incomplete. Women had invented marriage only to insure repeated completion, and then had destroyed their own invention when they’d discovered insurance was not necessary. The chasm could be filled, the completion accomplished, by anyone at all.

Felix smiled and ambled up the walk to the Cole house. He rang the bell once, a short, sharp ring. He waited.

Eve answered the door. She was wearing black Bermuda shorts and a black sweater. Her long black hair hung to her shoulders. Her eyes were intensely blue against the overwhelming mass of unrelieved black.

“Oh, hello, Felix,” she said.

Felix stepped into the house quickly. He did not want to ask for Larry while standing on the doorstep. He did not want to be told that Larry was not home and then have no further excuse for entering. Once inside the house, he walked casually into the living room.

“Out for a walk,” he said nonchalantly. “Thought I’d stop by and say hello to Larry.” Quickly, he sat on the couch.

“Larry’s not home,” Eve said.

“Oh, that’s too bad,” Felix answered. He made no motion to rise.

“He went to a lecture at Pratt. He goes every other week or so.”

“Well, too bad he’s not home,” Felix said. “I felt like going for a beer.”

“I have beer, if you want some,” Eve said politely.

“No, no,” Felix said, standing. “You’ve got work to do, kids to get to bed.”

“Well...” Eve hesitated. She had already done the dishes and put the children to bed, and so her evening was free. But she’d planned on reading a book she’d taken from the library. She was, in fact, in a particularly uncommunicative mood and was almost glad Larry had gone to his lecture. She did not, however, wish to be rude to Felix. “The children are in bed already,” she said, “and I’ve done the dishes. Would you like a glass of beer?”

She hoped he would say no, but instead he said, “If it’s no trouble, Eve.”

“No trouble at all,” she lied, and she went into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. “How’s Betty?” she called.

“Fine,” Felix said. “When I get home, I’ll tell her you’re alone. She may want to drop in.”

“Oh, no need to do that,” Eve said hastily. She had visions of this becoming one of those development drop-in evenings. That was exactly what she needed tonight. Carrying the bottle of beer, a bottle opener and a glass, she went back into the living room. Felix was thumbing through a magazine, which he put down the moment she entered. He uncapped the beer, poured, and then said, “Aren’t you having any?”

Eve shook her head. She smiled to let him know it was perfectly all right to drink without her, and then sat opposite him.

“I always wonder,” Felix said, sipping at the beer, “how a woman feels when she’s alone in the house and a man comes calling.”

Eve shrugged. “The same way she feels when a woman comes calling.”

“Well, not really,” Felix said. He smiled indulgently.

“Mmm,” Eve said, nodding. “Really.”

“Do you mean to tell me that an attractive woman doesn’t feel any difference when her visitor is a man?”

Eve frowned momentarily. Felix had not sounded at all like himself just then. He had called her an attractive woman, and her frown was partially provoked by surprise — she had not thought Felix capable of a subtle pass — and partially by the uncomfortable knowledge of which Felix had suddenly made her aware. She was alone with a man. And whereas she normally might have considered this an unexceptionable situation, Felix had managed to give it a different slant. Still, she didn’t want to seem silly or overly reserved. The frown vanished.

“I guess it depends on the frame of mind of the man or woman involved,” she said.

“Well,” Felix said easily, “what’s your frame of mind, Eve?”

“If a man drops in,” Eve said, “he drops in. I’m not looking for anything, and I assume he isn’t either.”

“What do you mean by ‘anything’?” Felix asked.

“Well...” Again she frowned. Instead of helping the situation, she seemed to have aggravated it. She was becoming slightly annoyed. She’d never really discussed sex with anyone but Larry, and she didn’t feel like discussing it with Felix, who was an absolute stranger and, after all, a man. “Well, anything,” she said, hoping she had stressed the word strongly enough to cut the conversation dead instantly.

“Yes, but what do you mean by anything?” Felix persisted.

She became suddenly flustered by his perseverance. “Oh, anything,” she said, and then she laughed a forced laugh and tried to make her voice light. “I’m just a faithful, one-hunnerd-per-cent American housewife. Very dull. Very boring.”

“Very interesting,” Felix corrected. “The American housewife is the most fascinating person you can find.”

“Well, I’m glad you think so,” Eve said, hoping the conversation was moving onto fresher ground.

“Otherwise I wouldn’t be married to one,” Felix said, laughing.

“Well, Betty must certainly make married life inter—”

“Of course,” Felix said, “some situations develop whether the man and woman are looking for them or not.”

“Perhaps,” Eve said. She felt very uncomfortable now. She did not believe that anyone could dwell so long on a subject unless he had a point to make. She was beginning to receive Felix’s message and was convinced he’d come here to deliver it. She wondered for an instant if he’d known Larry wasn’t home, and then suddenly wished she were wearing slacks instead of shorts.

“Sure,” Felix said, sipping at his beer as if he intended it to last all night. “Sometimes a man and a woman are thrown together and things happen. They just happen. Take a man and a woman on a desert island. How long can they remain platonic friends?”

“That’s a slightly different situation,” Eve said.

“Different from what?” Felix asked, suddenly leaning forward.

“From... from the situation you were describing.”

“Which situation?”

“Where a man and a woman... just are... where...”

“Where they become a male and a female?” Felix supplied.

“This is a pretty stupid conversation, isn’t it, Felix?” Eve asked. She smiled because he was a guest in her home, but the smile was nervous and unsure.

“Well, I like to speculate,” Felix said.

“So do I, but not on situations in which I’ll never be involved.”

“You never know, Eve.”

Eve laughed, but it sounded hollow even to her own ears. “There isn’t the slightest possibility that I’ll ever be stranded on a desert island with any man but Larry.”