Light Years

1

WE DASH THE BLACK RIVER, ITS flats smooth as stone. Not a ship, not a dinghy, not one cry of white. The water lies broken, cracked from the wind. This great estuary is wide, endless. The river is brackish, blue with the cold. It passes beneath us blurring. The sea birds hang above it, they wheel, disappear. We flash the wide river, a dream of the past. The deeps fall behind, the bottom is paling the surface, we rush by the shallows, boats beached for winter, desolate piers. And on wings like the gulls, soar up, turn, look back.

The day is white as paper. The windows are chilled. The quarries lie empty, the silver mine drowned. The Hudson is vast here, vast and unmoving. A dark country, a country of sturgeon and carp. In the fall it was silver with shad. The geese flew overhead in their long, shifting V’s. The tide flows in from the sea.

The Indians sought, they say, a river that ran both ways. Here they found it. The salt wedge penetrates as far in as fifty miles; sometimes it reaches Poughkeepsie. There were huge beds of oysters here, seals in the harbor, in the woods inexhaustible game. This great glacial cut with its nuptial bays, the coves of wild celery and rice, this majestic river. The birds, like punctuation, are crossing in level flight. They seem to approach slowly, accelerate, pass overhead like arrows. The sky has no color. A feeling of rain.

All this was Dutch. Then, like so much else, it was English. The river is a reflection. It bears only silence, a glittering cold. The trees are naked. The eels sleep. The channel is deep enough for ocean liners; they could, if they wished, astonish the inner towns. There are turtles and crabs in the marshes, herons, Bonaparte gulls. The sewage pours from the cities further up. The river is filthy, but cleanses itself. The fish are numbed; they drift with the tide.

Along the banks there are houses of stone, no longer fashionable, and wooden houses, drafty and bare. There are still estates that exist, remnants of the great land parcels of the past. Near the water, a large Victorian, the brick painted white, trees high above it, a walled garden, a decaying greenhouse with ironwork along the roof. A house by the river, too low for the afternoon sun. It was flooded instead with the light of morning, with the eastern light. It was in glory at noon. There are spots where the paint has turned dark, bare spots. The gravel paths are dissolving; birds nest in the sheds.

We strolled in the garden, eating the small, bitter apples. The trees were dry and gnarled. The lights in the kitchen were on.

A car comes up the driveway, back from the city. The driver goes inside, only for a moment until he’s heard the news: the pony has gotten loose.

He is furious. Where is she? Who left the door unlatched?

Oh God, Viri. I don’t know.

In a room with many plants, a kind of solarium, there is a lizard, a brown snake, a box turtle asleep. The entry step is deep, the turtle cannot leave. He sleeps on the gravel, his feet drawn up close. His nails are the color of ivory, they curl, they are long. The snake sleeps, the lizard sleeps.

Viri has his coat collar up and is trudging uphill. Ursula! he calls. He whistles.

The light has gone. The grass is dry; it creaks underfoot. There was no sun all day. Calling the pony’s name, he advances toward the far corners, the road, the adjoining fields. A stillness everywhere. It begins to rain. He sees the one-eyed dog that belongs to a neighbor, a kind of husky, his muzzle gray. The eye is closed completely, sealed, covered with fur so long ago was it lost, as if it never existed.

Ursula! he cries.

She’s here, his wife says when he returns.

The pony is near the kitchen door, tranquil, dark, eating an apple. He touches her lips. She bites him absent-mindedly on the wrist. Her eyes are black, lustrous, with the long, crazy lashes of a drunken woman. Her coat is thick, her breath very sweet.

Ursula, he says. Her ears turn slightly, then forget. Where have you been? Who unlocked your stall? She has no interest in him.

Have you learned to do that? He touches an ear; it is warm, strong as a shoe. He leads her to the shed, whose door is ajar. Outside the kitchen he stamps dirt from his shoes.

The lights are on everywhere: a vast, illuminated house. Dead flies the size of beans lie behind the velvet curtains, the wallpaper has corner bulges, the window glass distorts. It is an aviary they live in, a honeycomb. The roofs are thick slate, the rooms are like shops. It gives off no sound, this house; in the darkness it is like a ship. Within, if one listens, there is everything: water, faint voices, the slow, measured rending of grain.

In the principal bath, with its stains, sponges, soaps the color of tea, books, water-curled copies of Vogue, he steams in peace. The water is above his knees; it penetrates to the bone. There is carpeting on the floor, a basket of smooth stones, an empty glass of the deepest blue.

Papa, they call through the door.

Yes. He is reading the Times.

Where was Ursula?

Ursula?

Where was she?

I don’t know, he says. She went out for a walk. They wait for something further. He is a storyteller, a man of wonders. They listen for sounds, expecting the door to open.

But where was she?

Her legs were wet, he announces.

Her legs?

I think she was swimming.

No, Daddy, really.

She was trying to get the onions on the bottom.

There are no onions there.

Oh, yes.

There are?

That’s where they grow.

They explain it to each other outside the door. It’s true, they decide. They wait for him, two little girls squatting like beggars.

Papa, come out, they say. We want to talk to you. He puts aside the paper and sinks one last time into the embrace of the bath.

Papa?

Yes.

Are you coming out?

The pony fascinates them. It frightens them. They are ready to run if it makes an unexpected sound. Patient, silent, it stands in its stall; a grazing animal, it eats for hours. Its muzzle has a nimbus of fine hair, its teeth are browned.

Their teeth never stop growing, the man who sold her to them said. He was a drunkard, his clothes were torn. They keep growing out and getting wore down.

What would happen if she didn’t eat?

If she didn’t eat?

What would happen to her teeth?

Make sure she eats, he said.

They often watch her; they listen to her jaws. This mythical beast, fragrant in the darkness, is greater than they are, stronger, more clever. They long to approach her, to win her love.

2

IT WAS THE AUTUMN OF 1958. Their children were seven and five. On the river, the color of slate, the light poured down. A soft light, God’s idleness. In the distance the new bridge gleamed like a statement, like a line in a letter which makes one stop.

Nedra was working in the kitchen, her rings set aside. She was tall, preoccupied; her neck was bare. When she paused to read a recipe, her head bent, she was stunning in her concentration, her air of obedience. She wore her wrist watch, her best shoes. Beneath the apron, she was dressed for the evening. People were coming for dinner.

She had trimmed the stems of flowers spread on the wood of the counter and begun to arrange them. Before her were scissors, paper-thin boxes of cheese, French knives. On her shoulders there was perfume. I am going to describe her life from the inside outward, from its core, the house as well, rooms in which life was gathered, rooms in the morning sunlight, the floors spread with Oriental rugs that had been her mother-in-law’s, apricot, rouge and tan, rugs which though worn seemed to drink the sun, to collect its warmth; books, potpourris, cushions in colors of Matisse, objects glistening like evidence, many of which might, had they been possessed by ancient peoples, have been placed in tombs for another life: clear crystal dice, pieces of staghorn, amber beads, boxes, sculptures, wooden balls, magazines in which were photographs of women to whom she compared herself.

Who cleans this large house, who scrubs the floors? She does everything, this woman, she does nothing. She is dressed in her oat-colored sweater, slim as a pike, her long hair fastened, the fire crackling. Her real concern is the heart of existence: meals, bed linen, clothing. The rest means nothing; it is managed somehow. She has a wide mouth, the mouth of an actress, thrilling, bright. Dark smudges in her armpits, mint on her breath. Her nature is extravagant. She buys on impulse, she visits Bendel’s as she would a friend’s, gathering up five or six dresses and entering a booth, not bothering to draw the curtain fully, a glimpse of her undressing, lean arms, lean trunk, bikini underpants. Yes, she scrubs floors, collects dirty clothes. She is twenty-eight. Her dreams still cling to her, adorn her; she is confident, composed, she is related to long-necked creatures, ruminants, abandoned saints. She is careful, hard to approach. Her life is concealed. It is through the smoke and conversation of many dinners that one sees her: country dinners, dinners at the Russian Tea Room, the Café Chauveron with Viri’s clients, the St. Regis, the Minotaur.

Guests were driving from the city, Peter Daro and his wife.

What time are they coming?

About seven, Viri said.

Have you opened the wine?

Not yet.

The water was running, her hands were wet.

Here, take this tray, she said. The children want to eat by the fire. Tell them a story.

She stood for a moment surveying her preparations. She glanced at her watch.

The Daros arrived in darkness. The doors of their car slammed faintly. A few moments later they appeared at the entrance, their faces bright.

Here’s a small gift, Peter said.

Viri, Peter’s brought wine.

Let me take your coats.

The evening was cold. In the rooms, the feel of autumn.

That’s a beautiful drive, Peter said, smoothing his clothes. I love to take that drive. As soon as you cross the bridge, you’re in trees, in darkness, the city is gone.

It’s almost primeval, Catherine said.

And you’re on your way to the beautiful house of the Berlands. He smiled. What confidence, what success there is in a man’s face at thirty.

You look wonderful, both of you, Viri told them.

Catherine really loves this house.

So do I. Nedra smiled.

November evening, immemorial, clear. Smoked brook trout, mutton, an endive salad, a Margaux open on the sideboard. The dinner was served beneath a print of Chagall, the mermaid over the bay of Nice. The signature was probably false, but as Peter had said before, what difference did it make, it was as good as Chagall’s own, perhaps even better, with just the right degree of carelessness. And the poster, after all, was an issue of thousands, this angel afloat in pure night, the great majority of them not even distinguished by a signature of any kind, however fraudulent.

Do you like trout? Nedra asked, holding the dish.

I don’t know which I like more, catching or eating them.

Do you really know how to catch them?

There are times I’ve wondered, he said. He was helping himself generously. You know, I’ve fished everywhere. The trout fisherman is a very special fellow, solitary, perverse. Nedra, this is delicious.

He had hair that was thinning, and a smooth, full face, the face of an heir, of someone who works in the trust department of a bank. He spent his days on his feet, however, fishing for Gauloises from a crumpled package. He had a gallery.

That’s how I won Catherine, he said. "I took her fishing. Actually, I took her reading; she sat on the bank with a book while I fished for trout. Did I ever tell you the story about fishing in England? I went to a little river, perfect. It wasn’t the Test, that’s the famous one presided over for so many years by a man named Lunn. Marvelous old man, typically English. There’s a wonderful photograph of him with tweezers, sorting out insects. He’s a legend.

This was near an inn, one of the oldest in England. It’s called the Old Bell. I came to this absolutely beautiful spot, and there were two men sitting on the bank, not too happy to have someone else appear, but of course, being English, they acted as if they hadn’t even seen me.

Peter, pardon me, Nedra said. Have some more.

He served himself.

Anyway, I said, ‘How is it?’ ‘Lovely day,’ one of them said. ‘I mean, how is the fishing?’ Long silence. Finally one of them said, ‘Trout here.’ More silence. ‘One over by that rock,’ he said. ‘Really?’ ‘I saw him about an hour ago,’ he said. Long silence again. ‘Big bugger, too.’ 

Did you catch it? she asked.

Oh, no. This was a trout they knew. You know how it is; you’ve been to England.

I’ve never been anywhere.

Come on.

"But I’ve done everything, she said. That’s more important. A wide smile over her wineglass. Oh, Viri, she said, the wine is marvelous."

It is good, isn’t it? You know, there are some small shops—it’s surprising—where you can get quite good wines, and not expensively.

Where did you get this? Peter asked.

Well, you know Fifty-sixth Street …

Next to Carnegie Hall.

That’s it.

On the corner there.

They have some very good wines.

Yes, I know. Who is the salesman again? There’s one particular salesman …

Yes, he’s bald.

It’s not only that he knows wines; he knows the poetry of them.

He’s terrific. His name is Jack.

That’s right, Peter said. Nice man.

Viri, tell that conversation you overheard, Nedra said.

That wasn’t in there.

I know.

It was in the bookstore.

Come on, Viri, she said.

It’s just something I overheard, he explained. I was looking for a book, and there were these two men. One said to the other, his imitation was lisping and perfect, " ‘Sartre was right, you know.’

 ‘Oh, yeah?’  He imitated the other. " ‘About what?’

" ‘Genet’s a saint,’ he said. ‘The man’s a saint.’ "

Nedra laughed. She had a rich, naked laugh. You do that so well, she told him.

No, he protested vaguely.

You do it perfectly, she said.

Country dinners, the table dense with glasses, flowers, all the food one can eat, dinners ending in tobacco smoke, a feeling of ease. Leisurely dinners. The conversation never lapses. Their life is special, devout, they prefer to spend time with their children, they have only a few friends.

You know, I’m addicted to a number of things, Peter began.

Such as? Nedra said.

Well, the lives of painters, he said. I love to read them. He thought for a moment. Women who drink.

Really?

Irish women. I’m very fond of them.

Do they drink?

Drink? All Irish drink. I’ve been to dinners with Catherine where great ladies of Ireland have pitched forward into their plates, dead drunk.

Peter, I don’t believe it.

The butlers ignore them, he said. "It’s known as the weakness. The Countess of—who was it, darling? The one we had such trouble with—drunk at ten in the morning. Rather a dark lady, suspiciously dark. A number of them are like that."

What do you mean, dark complexion?

Black.

How is that? Nedra asked.

Well, as a friend of mine would say, it’s because the count has a big cock.

You do know a lot about Ireland.

I’d like to live there, Peter said.

A slight pause. What do you like best of all? she said.

Best of all? Are you serious? I would rather spend a day fishing than anything in the world.

I don’t like getting up so early, Nedra said.

You don’t have to get up early.

I thought you did.

I promise you, no.

The bottles of wine were finished. The color of their emptiness was the color in cathedral naves.

You have to wear boots and all that, she said.

That’s only for trout.

They’re always filling with water and drowning people.

Occasionally, he said. You don’t know what you’re missing.

She reached in back of her head, as if not listening, unfastened her hair and shook it behind her.

I have a marvelous shampoo, she announced. It comes from Sweden. I get it at Bonwit Teller’s. It’s really grand.

She was feeling the wine, the soft light. Her work was finished. The coffee and Grand Marnier she left to Viri.

They sat on the couches near the fire. Nedra went to the phonograph. Listen to this, she said. I’ll tell you when it comes.

A record began of Greek songs. It’s the next one, she explained. They waited. The passionate, wailing music beat against them. Listen. It’s a song about a girl whose father wants her to marry one of her nice suitors …

She moved her hips. She smiled. She slipped off her shoes and sat with her legs drawn up beneath her.

… but she doesn’t want to. She wants to marry the town drunk because he will make marvelous love to her every night.

Peter watched her. There were moments when it seemed she revealed everything. In her chin was an indentation, clear, round as a shot. A mark of intelligence, of nakedness, which she wore like a jewel. He tried to imagine scenes that went on in this house, but was hindered by her laughter. It was a disclaimer, a garment she could leave behind, like empty stockings, like a bather’s robe on the beach.

They sat in the soft cushions talking until midnight. Nedra drank freely, holding out her glass to have it refilled. She was carrying on a separate conversation with Peter, as if the two of them were closest, as if she understood him utterly. All the rooms and closures here were hers, the spoons, the fabrics, the floor beneath one’s feet. It was her province, her serai where she could walk barelegged, where she was free to sleep, her arms naked, her hair strewn about her. When she said good night her face seemed already washed, as if in preparation. The wine had made her sleepy.

The next time you marry, Catherine said as she drove home with her husband, you should marry someone like her.

What do you mean by that?

Don’t be frightened. I just mean it’s obvious you’d like to go through all that …

Catherine, don’t be foolish.

… and I think you should.

She’s a very generous woman, that’s all.

Generous?

I’m using it in the sense of abundant, rich.

She’s the most selfish woman on earth.

3

HE WAS A JEW, THE MOST ELEGANT Jew, the most romantic, a hint of weariness in his features, the intelligent features everyone envied, his hair dry, his clothes oddly threadbare—that is to say, not overly cared for, a button missing, the edge of a cuff stained, his breath faintly bad like the breath of an uncle who is no longer well. He was small. He had soft hands, and no sense of money, almost none at all. He was an albino in that, a freak. A Jew without money is like a dog without teeth. The urgency of it, yes, he often knew that but its presence was all accident, like rain, it came or it did not. He was innocent of any real instinct.

His friends were Arnaud, Peter, Larry Vern. All friends are friends in a different way. Arnaud was his closest friend; Peter, his oldest.

He lingered before the counter, his eye passing over colored bolts of cloth.

Have we made shirts for you before, sir? a voice asked, an assured voice, immensely wise.

Are you Mr.…?

Conrad.

Mr. Daro gave me your name, Viri said.

How is Mr. Daro?

He recommended you very highly.

The salesman nodded. He smiled at Viri, the smile of a colleague.

Three in the afternoon. The tables in the restaurants have emptied, the day has begun to fade. A few women loitering among the distant displays of the store, otherwise everything quiet. Conrad had a slight accent, difficult at first to place. It seemed not so much alien as a little special, a mark of perfect manners. It was, in fact, Viennese. There was a profound wisdom in it, the wisdom of a man who could be discreet, who dined sensibly, even frugally, alone, who read the newspaper page by page. His fingernails were cared for, his chin well-shaved.

Mr. Daro is a very engaging man, he said as he accepted Viri’s coat, hanging it near the mirror with care. He has one unusual feature. His neck is seventeen and a half.

Is that large?

From the shoulders up, he could easily be a prizefighter.

His nose is too fine.

From the shoulders up and the chin down, Conrad said. He was measuring Viri with the care and delicacy of a woman, the length of each arm, the chest, waist, the circumference of his wrists. Each figure he noted down on a large, printed card, a card which he explained would exist always. I have customers from before the war, he said. They still come to me. On Tuesdays and Thursdays; those are the only days I am here.

He laid his sample books on the counter, opening them as one unfolds a napkin. Now, look through these, he said. These are not everything, but they are the best things.

The pages had squares of fabric, lemon, magenta, cocoa, gray. There were stripes, batiks, Egyptian cottons light enough to read through.

Here is a good one. No, not quite right, Conrad decided.

What about this? Viri said. He was holding a piece of cloth. Would that be too much, a whole shirt of it?

It would be better than half a shirt, Conrad said. No, truthfully … He reflected. It would be fabulous.

Or this, Viri said.

I can see already—I have known you only a few minutes, but I can see you are a man of definite tastes and opinions. Yes, I mean there is no question.

They were like old friends; a vast understanding had risen between them. The lines in Conrad’s face were those of a widower, a man who had earned his knowledge. His style was respectful but confident.

Try these collars, he said. I am going to make you some wonderful shirts.

Viri stood before the mirror inspecting himself in various collars, long, pointed, collars with rounded tips.

Not bad.

Not quite high enough for you, Conrad suggested. You don’t mind me saying this?

Not at all. There is one thing, though, Viri said, changing collars. The sleeves. I noticed you put down thirty-three.

Conrad consulted the card. Thirty-three, he agreed. Correct. The tape does not err.

I don’t like them quite that long.

That’s not long. For you, thirty-four would be long.

And thirty-two?

No, no. That would be witty, Conrad said, but what is there about sleeves that makes you incline toward the grotesque?

I like to see my knuckles, Viri said.

Mr. Berland—

Believe me, thirty-three is too long.

Conrad reversed his pencil.

I am committing a crime, he said, erasing half an inch. They won’t be too short, I assure you. I don’t like a long sleeve.

Mr. Berland, a shirt … no, I don’t have to explain it to you.

Of course not.

A bad shirt is like the story of a pretty girl who is single and one day she finds herself pregnant. It’s not the end of life, but it’s serious.

What about the pocket? I like a fairly deep pocket. Conrad looked pained. A pocket, he said. What earthly use do you have for a pocket? It ruins the shirt.

Not completely, does it?

When a shirt already has sleeves that are a little short, and on top of that a pocket …

The pocket isn’t really on top of the sleeves. I pictured it more or less between them.

What can I say to you? Why do you want a pocket?

I need to carry a pencil, Viri said.

Not there. Now that, he said, referring to a collar Viri had put on, that is an extremely nice collar, do you agree?

It’s not too high in the back? He was turning his head to one side to see better.

No, I don’t think so, but if you like we can make it a little lower—a quarter of an inch, say.

I’m not trying to be too demanding.

No, no, Conrad assured him. Not at all. I’ll just make a little note … He wrote as he talked. "Details are everything. I have had clients … I had a man from a famous family in the city, politically very important, he had two passions, dogs and watches. He owned large numbers of both. He used to write down the precise time at which he went to bed and got up every day. His left cuff was made half an inch bigger than the right, for his wrist watches, of course. They were mostly Vacheron Constantins. Actually, a quarter of an inch would have been enough. His wife, who was in every other respect a saint, called him Doggy. In his monograms was the profile of a schnauzer.

I have also had customers of the type—I am not being specific—but of the Lepke-Buchalter type. You know who he was?

Yes.

Gangsters. Well, you know that criminal fashions have often made the transition into chic, but the fact is, these men were marvelous customers.

They spent a lot of money?

Oh, money … aside from money. Conrad gestured broadly. Money was not a consideration. They were so pleased to have someone who paid attention to them, who tried to dress them properly. Pardon me, but what do you do?

Me?

Yes.

I’m an architect. It seemed a bit weak after kings of crime.

An architect, Conrad said. He paused as if to allow the thought to descend. Have you done any buildings around here?

Not around here.

Are you a good architect? Will you show me one of your buildings?

That depends, Mr. Conrad, on what the shirts are like.

Conrad uttered a little sound of appreciation and understanding.

In that regard, he said, "I can assure you. I am thirty, no, thirty-one years at my business. I have made some very good shirts, I have made some bad shirts, but altogether I have not failed to learn my art completely. I can say to myself, Conrad, you lack, unfortunately, the proper schooling, your exchequer is a bit frail, but one thing is acknowledged: you know shirts.