Chinese. whether she had reason to thank him or not."Shay shay shay "Shay shay!"she said now,whenever she saw him, stacked paper for Cammy.He taught her to say thank you in Did he confuse this phenomenon with love?Not yet.He was still carrying that hat around. sideways look that made Ralph's pants bulge-lucky thing he And so to Cammy he was grateful,nothing more. His degree,his degree! li after li,by boat and by train,only to have to get himself going. complete other side of the world.Mile after mile,he'd travelled, about such things-having come,he belatedly realized,to the long nose and hairy forearms,though,she just wasn't Ralph's Chao,idiom book in hand.)With her big barbarian frame and didn't seem to be foreign students.("Fan club,"explained Old must be,as about half the men with affairs to discuss with her would help him. Ralph had noticed by then that she was pretty,or figured she Foreign Student Affairs Office,where gaily colored Cammy turned out to meet at the same time:he found his way to the two of his courses,and that for one of them,enrollment was He discovered,for instance,that he wasn't on the class list for books.All of this proved more difficult than he'd anticipated. courses,that he attend the right classes,that he buy the right He was lonely still,but it was only a mist,a weather front that More and more now,he was beginning to know what was what. Ralph nodded,beamed,situated his hat. it right?Shayshay?" "Shay shay."She lit up."Shay shay!You mean,I am saying Ralph hesitated."Shay shay. Ralph gave solemn testimony.Mr.Fitt straightened up,glar- Ralph?Wasn't I?" of Cammy choked up made Ralph's throat catch."Wasn't I, "But I w-was here.At one on th-the b-b-button." his other hand was all five hairy fingers on Cammy's neat desk. dered onto the scene,Mr.Fitt was tapping that bat on his thigh; sneering mouth;in another life he might have been a carnivorous Now Mr.Fitt was a grim man,an enforcer,with a small, her boss,Mr.Fitt. loved ballet." said Cammy. expeditious disposal of a bumblebee.And,of course,help with More favors,innocent enough-packages to the mailbox, something he couldn't catch). but nod."Good!" offered what he could on a kind of tray."Isn't that what I said?" The sound
changed in a thousand years. gineer? More red. through an exhausted,dusty land,no detail of which had New York lost its gleam.He drifted through its streets as if Who had ever thought the rice barrel could become an en- His problem sets started to come back red. His lamp turned out to have a short in it. The problem sets got harder. From.his doorway,the first grocer scowled at him. one coin at a time. the street).Also,he'd bought a lamp for his room,from the and marshmallow sauce(the specialty of the luncheonette down a dollar at General Lee's,and also banana splits with extra nuts to participate.Other developments:he'd discovered supper for The kitchen was where Ralph spent his free time too,learning their English for impersonations of certain professors. was America.They forged on,mostly speaking Mandarin,saving instead of to five decimal places.Was it fair?Who knew?This marvelled that their tests would be scored to the whole point, zled out problems with his classmates.Between equations,they on I23rd Street.There,on the blackboard by the stove,he puz- Student Affairs Office anymore,but rather to the stone-stepped having launched into his work,he did not go to the Foreign turned too permeable.When he was working,he was fine.And passed through him when he was alone,a feeling of having holding her hands over her ears
their own loving depilatory. 4× uim.Morefoestuck reamily thsik "You've gotten completely hutu" Little Chang,if your schoolwork were going better. LOVE "Dames too?" luncheonette. "Dames got it the worst.You know what dames understand?" Dough,dough,dough." (dames);what was wrong with the Yankees(dames);and what "Dames?"chewed Ralph The last of these wisdoms came from an old man in the from their hairspray. ings in the White House were ready to fall down,as well as Chinaman should know.This was how he learned that the ceil- Now he had had some experience pitching woo before.For Ralph mooned harder,with oedipal glee
that she'd stay. "Presents?" Reassurance.It was all she'd ever wanted,though they did But magically,one day,they had;and there then were Ralph It seemed the drifts would never melt. In person,though,he was just so much ardor next door,a he felt in the stores. a pickle chip."Big fat presents. "You got it."He nodded so emphatically,his sandwich laid "Diamonds.Pearls.Big fat fur coats." 品 "Cold?"he asked finally;and when she didn't answer,he Still she was crying. me-cee..." "Bird?" What had happened?He didn't eveni know. "You're just like the other guys.You are."Now she was crying. "Those are cliches."She started to sniffle. "You know,"he said."Up." higher than ceilings. She looked at him as though she'd never heard of a thing "Bird.You know...in sky." "You are like bird,"he went on. "I'm not happy. "Of course you will happy,"he told her. tree leaves rustled obligingly. already night.The clamorous street had turned private,a blue but this time its front glowed gold;and when they emerged a "Hmm,"mulled Ralph."That's far." dreamed of going to Paris for her honeymoon. talk too about houses and cars,and about how she'd always
she doesn't love you." Plans? America! "Forget her,"said his friends."If you bave to give ber a car, bought her a fat fur coat.He ought to have bought her a car. her diamonds,but still he thought it anyway.He ought to have Cammy went back to ignoring him.Until Mr.Fitt strode out cone,a wooden volcano.He did another. her desktop.The lead broke off neatly,leaving a kind of headless Ralph picked a pencil out of her pencil cup.He pressed it to had had a wife,until the papers finally came through.With Honeymoon.Paris.Snails.The dean had a house and car,and "Our plans,"she lamented. in open defiance of the dean. he thought,they had to.But they didn't;so that when Cammy He went back to buying her presents.Things would change, a question,Mr.Fitt would be happy to answer you." "By Tuesday."It was as if she'd filed herself away."If you have "Second form from the right,"said Cammy,her face closed. With morning,though,came day. of her sweet-smelling head. Crushing his hat between his knees,he gently kissed the top earthworks at all. to his shoulder.Her breasts against his chest were nothing like carefully,half expecting her to object.She dropped her wet face liberated Manchuria in the fall. And so,no doubt,he would have,had not the Communists certain people can sustain indefinitely. This made a certain amount of sense,even to Ralph.Yet he 出