Part 42 (1/2)

Joe nodded, watching his face, and Saarette,” Joe said

Sammy fished one out of his jacket and stuck it between Joe's lips

”I'm sorry,” Joe said

”Are you?”

”About Tracy, I o but I”

”Yeah,” Sa I'm sorry about, anyway,” Joe said

10

The view out the as pure cloud bank, a gray woolen sock pulled down over the top of the building On the walls of Joe's strange apart sketches of the head of a rabbi, a man with fine features and a snohite beard The studies were tacked up with pushpins, and they depicted this noble-looking gentle, afraid There were fat books on the tables and chairs; thick reference volu a little research himself Sammy saw, stacked neatly in a corner, the wooden crates in which Joe had always kept his comics-only there were ten times asoccupation by a solitary e, dirty linens

”Welcome to the Bat Cave,” Lieber said when Saman Harkoo said, ”it's apparently known as the Chamber of Secrets”

”Is it?” Sammy said

”Well, uh, that's what I call it,” said To ”But not really”

You came into the Chamber of Secrets froly decorated to si concern It had a steel desk and typist's table, an ar cabinet, a telephone, a hat stand On the desk stood a na the daily presence behind it of a Miss Sraph of Miss S baby, played by a six-e co factory, lu, chi crearaved label affixed to the bottom of the frame, ho-ho-kus, new jersey

No one, not even To in the E this ti a lot of comic books On the floor stood ten piles of Bristol board, every sheet in each pile covered in neat panels of pencil drawings At first Saes-there must have been four or five thousand-to look very closely at any of them, but he did notice that they seees of lead, letting his pencils do the tricks of light and mass and shadow that were usually pulled off with ink

In addition to the rabbis, there were studies of organ-grinders, soldiers in breastplates, a beautiful girl in a headscarf, in various attitudes and activities There were buildings and carriages, street scenes It didn't take Sa archways of what ue, lanes of queer houses huddled in the snow, a bridge of statues casting a brokenalleyways The characters, for the arbed, draith all of Joe's usual fluidity and detail The faces, Salier, than the lexicon of generic cos that Joe had learned and then exploited in all his old work They were hu horror but hoping for so more All except for one One character, repeated over and over in the sketches on the walls, had barely any face at all, the conventional V's and hyphens of a conomy simplified to almost blank abstraction

”The Gole a novel,” Lieber said

”He was,” Tommy said ”It's all about the Golem Rabbi Judah Ben Beelzebub scratched the word 'truth' into his forehead and he caue? Joe saw the real Golem His father had it in a closet in their house”

”It really does look man said ”I can't wait to read it”

”A coendary novel, American Disillusionment, American Disillusionment, that cyclone which, for years, had woven its erratic path across the flatlands of his iration, picking up characters and plotlines like houses and livestock, tossing the on It had taken the forwayesque tragedy, a hard-nosed lesson in social anato by John O'Hara, a bare-knuckles urban that cyclone which, for years, had woven its erratic path across the flatlands of his iration, picking up characters and plotlines like houses and livestock, tossing the on It had taken the forwayesque tragedy, a hard-nosed lesson in social anato by John O'Hara, a bare-knuckles urban Huckleberry Finn Huckleberry Finn It was the autobiography of a man who could not face himself, an elaborate system of evasion and lies unredeemed by the artistic virtue of self-betrayal It had been two years now since his last crack at the thing, and until this very instant he would have sworn that his ancient a more than the hack scribbler of co went, as vaudeville ”My God” It was the autobiography of a man who could not face himself, an elaborate system of evasion and lies unredeemed by the artistic virtue of self-betrayal It had been two years now since his last crack at the thing, and until this very instant he would have sworn that his ancient a more than the hack scribbler of co went, as vaudeville ”My God”

”Come on, Mr Clay,” Lieber said ”You can ride over to the hospital withto the hospital?” Sah he knew the answer

”Well, I feel pretty strongly that I have to arrest hi the peace, I suppose Or al habitation I'es I don't know I'll figure it out on the way over”

Sammy saw his father-in-law's senerally genial blue eyes went dead and glassy It was an expression Saallery,[15][15] when he was dealing with a painter who overvalued his oork or some lady with a title and most of a dead civet around her shoulders, as better equipped with ins in retail, ”his rug- with a painter who overvalued his oork or some lady with a title and most of a dead civet around her shoulders, as better equipped with ins in retail, ”his rug-man said, with deliberate indiscretion and a sideways look at Saents at every level of theto the mayor's mother last week”

Your father-in-law is kind of a blowhard, said Detective Lieber's eyes I know it, Sammy's replied

”Excuse me” There was a new visitor to the offices of Kornblu in a featureless govern a dark blue suit In one hand he held a long white envelope me” There was a new visitor to the offices of Kornblu in a featureless govern a dark blue suit In one hand he held a long white envelope

”Sa for Mr Saht find him-”

”Here” Sa ressional subpoena” The youngthe brientle the envelope against his hand

”You better call Mom,” said Tommy

11

HOSE Saxon, the Queen of Roe of her house in Bloomtown, New York, when her husband phoned froht with her, he would be bringing hoiven up for dead

Miss Saxon was at work on the text of a new story, which she intended to begin laying out that night, after her son went to bed It would be the lead story for the June issue of Kiss Comics Kiss Coe” The story would be based on an article that she had read in She planned to call it ”The Boe” The story would be based on an article that she had read in Redbook Redbook about the hu overnment at a top-secret facility in thesoout her panels, one by one, at the typewriter Over the years, Sarown no less detailed but looser; he never bothered with telling an artist what to draw Rosa couldn't operate that way; she hated working froured out in advance-storyboarded, they called it in Hollywood-shot by shot, as it were Her scripts were a tightly nu scripts for ten-cent epics that, in their sparse elegance of design, elongated perspectives, and deep focus, somewhat resemble, as Robert C Harvey has pointed out, about the hu overnment at a top-secret facility in thesoout her panels, one by one, at the typewriter Over the years, Sarown no less detailed but looser; he never bothered with telling an artist what to draw Rosa couldn't operate that way; she hated working froured out in advance-storyboarded, they called it in Hollywood-shot by shot, as it were Her scripts were a tightly nu scripts for ten-cent epics that, in their sparse elegance of design, elongated perspectives, and deep focus, somewhat resemble, as Robert C Harvey has pointed out,[16][16] the fil with such intense slowness that when her boss and husband called, she did not at first hear the ringing phone the fil with such intense slowness that when her boss and husband called, she did not at first hear the ringing phone

Rosa had gotten her start in comics soon after Sa over the editor's desk at Gold Star, Sammy's first move had been to clear out many of the subcompetents and alcoholics who littered the staff there It was a bold and necessary-step, but it left hie of artists, in particular of inkers

To to understand the true horror of her destiny, the arrant purposelessness of her life whenever her son was not around, one day when Sammy came home at lunch, harried and frantic, with an arins ink, and a bunch of 3 brushes, and begged Rosa to help hiht with the pages-it was some dreadful Gold Star superhero strip, The Human Grenade The Human Grenade or or The Phantom Stallion The Phantom Stallion-and had the job finished by the tin of the Queen had co her ink brush at first only now and then, unsigned and uncredited, to a story or a cover that she would spread out on the dinette table in the kitchen Rosa had always had a steady hand, a strong line, a good sense of shadow It ork done in a kind of unreflective crisis mode-whenever Sammy was in a jam or shorthanded-but after a while, she realized that she had begun to crave intensely the days when Saht, as they lay in bed, talking in the dark, Sammy told her that her brushwork already far exceeded that of the best people he could afford to hire at lowly Gold Star He asked her if she had ever given any thought to penciling; to layouts; to actually writing and drawing comic book stories He explained to her that Si considerable success with a new kind of feature they'd cooked up, based partly on teen features like Archie Archie and and A Date with Judy A Date with Judy and partly on the old true-roenres to be exhuiven new life in the comics) It was called and partly on the old true-roenres to be exhu Ro Romance It was aimed at women, and the stories it told were centered on wolected until now as readers of coht enjoy one that had actually been It was aimed at women, and the stories it told were centered on wolected until now as readers of coht enjoy one that had actually been written and draritten and drawn by one of their own Rosa had accepted Saratitude whose poas undiminished even now by one of their own Rosa had accepted Saratitude whose poas undiminished even now

She knehat it had meant to Sammy to return to comics and take the editor's job at Gold Star It was the one e when Sa his cousin into the world of s to Rosa He had blamed her for his penury and his debased condition and the interminable state of American Disillusionment of American Disillusionment If there were not a wife and a child for him to support, If there were not a wife and a child for him to support, a child not even his own a child not even his own He had gone so far as to pack a suitcase, and walk out of the house When he returned the next afternoon, it was as the editor in chief of Gold Star Publications, Inc He allowed the world to wind him in the final set of chains, and climbed, once and for all, into the cabinet of mysteries that was the life of an ordinary man He had stayed Years later, Rosa found a ticket in a dresser drawer, dating from around that terrible time, for a seat in a second-class compartment on the Broadway Limited: yet another train to the coast that Saht he offered her the chance to draw ”a coolden key, a skeleton key to her self, a way out of the tedium of her existence as a housewife and a mother, first in Midwood and now here in Bloo sense of gratitude to Saether, sorip like Tos started to go wrong And the truth was that their e had ier seeues, coworkers, partners in an unequal but well-defined way thattoo closely at the locked cabinet at the heart of things a golden key, a skeleton key to her self, a way out of the tedium of her existence as a housewife and a mother, first in Midwood and now here in Bloo sense of gratitude to Saether, sorip like Tos started to go wrong And the truth was that their e had ier seeues, coworkers, partners in an unequal but well-defined way thattoo closely at the locked cabinet at the heart of things

TheGals, Working Gals, ”shocking but true tales froirls” It debuted in the back pages of ”shocking but true tales froirls” It debuted in the back pages of Spree Co title put out by Gold Star After threesales, Sa title put out by Gold Star After threeGals Working Gals to the front of the book and allowed Rosa to sign it with her best-known pseudonyn it with her best-known pseudonym[17][17] A fewGals Working Gals was launched in its own title, and shortly thereafter, Gold Star, led by was launched in its own title, and shortly thereafter, Gold Star, led by three three ”Rose Saxon Roan to show a profit for the first time since the heady early days of the war Since then, as Sammy had moved on from Gold Star to editorshi+ps at Olympic Publications and now Pharaoh House, Rosa, in a tireless and (for the n to portray the heart of that mythical creature, the American Girl, whoes of ”Rose Saxon Roan to show a profit for the first time since the heady early days of the war Since then, as Sammy had moved on from Gold Star to editorshi+ps at Olympic Publications and now Pharaoh House, Rosa, in a tireless and (for the n to portray the heart of that mythical creature, the American Girl, whoes of Heartache, Love Crazy, Lovesick, Sweetheart, Heartache, Love Crazy, Lovesick, Sweetheart, and now and now Kiss Kiss with all the force and frustration of a dozen years of lovelessness and longing with all the force and frustration of a dozen years of lovelessness and longing

After Sa the phone, trying to make sense of what she had just heard Soed to find thefetched back, alive, fro (”Just like Doc Savage,” according to Sa to sleep in her house

She took clean linens from the built-in cupboard in the hall and carried them toward the couch on which, a few hours froinable body Where the hallwayroole with a ht of her hair She turned around, went into the bedroorant armful of sheets, and yanked out the variety of junk, office supplies, and small bits of hardware she used to keep her hair out of her face when she was at hoot up, went to her closet, and stood there, the sight of her wardrobe filling her with doubt and a nized as, so since lost the sense of her dresses and skirts and blouses; they were rote phrases of rayon and cotton that she daily intoned Now they struck her as, to a skirt, appallingly sensible and dull She took off her sweatshi+rt and rolled dungarees She lit a cigarette and walked into the kitchen in her underpants and brassiere, the bra around her head like a crown of plumes

In the kitchen she took out a saucepan, melted half a cup of butter, and thickened it with flour to a paste To the paste she added milk, a little at a time, then salt, pepper, and onion powder She took her roux off the stove and started a pot of water for noodles Then she went into the living room and put a record on the hi-fi She had no idea what record it was When the an she did not listen, and when it finished she took no notice It puzzled her to see that there were no sheets on the couch Her hair was in her face When flakes of ash had fallen into her roux, she now perceived, she had stirred theht in, as if they were dried bits of parsley She had, however, forgotten to add the actual dried parsley And for soht,” she told herself ”And so what?” The sound of her voice calhts ”He doesn't know froarette in an ashtray that was shaped like an eyebrow arched in surprise ”Get dressed”

She went back into the bedrooth, with a white waistband and a collar of dotted swiss Various contradictory and insidious voices arose within her at this point to say that the dress ht to wear slacks She ignored them She brushed out her hair till it shot from her head in all directions like the mane of a dandelion, then brushed it back and tucked it up at the nape and fastened it there with a silver clasp A dazed hesitancy returned to her manner over the question of makeup, but she settled quickly on lipstick alone, two plum streaks not especially well applied, and went out to the living roo now, and she shook a rattling box ofbowl a block of school-bus-yellow cheese Macaroni and cheese It seemed, as a dish, to exist at the very center of her sense of embarrassment over her life; but it was Tommy's favorite, and she felt an impulse to reward her son for the feat he had performed And somehow she doubted that Joe-had he really been cooped up in an office in the E since the nineteen-forties?-would be sensitive to the socioeconoold square, in its white Corning casserole with the blue flower on the side