She leaned forward to turn on the radio, fleeing one wad of sound for another there as he swung the curve past the pepperidge tree. — Uh? She’d snapped the radio off. — I kind of liked that, he said as she rested back with that aspirate sigh leaving no sound but the regular rhythm of the windshield wipers. Passing the firehouse he began to hum and, passing the dark cavity of the Marine Memorial Plaza, she turned the radio on and sat back abandoning it to a novelty group playing Phil the Fluter’s Ball with vocal accompaniment that could only be described as suitable.
— Kind of hated to go off and leave him like that… they stopped for a light, — the way he was acting, you think he’ll be all right? The car moved ahead. — Stella?
— What is it.
— I said do you think Edward will be all right.
— Whatever all right means.
— Well does he always go around with his necktie tied out over his neck and his hair like that? and his shirttail out under his jacket in the back? Just seeing his face, the look on it…
— I’m sure you’d have a look on your face if we came home and found the place ransacked.
— That isn’t just what I meant though, he…
— You’re driving too fast with this rain.
— It was you that was in such a hurry.
— I just, I thought we should leave.
— Do you think he’s going to press a claim? to your father’s estate I mean.
— If you force him to.
— Me? Why would I want to do that?
— Just by going on about it the way you do.
— Well hell Stella what am I supposed to do then, it’s all got to be settled he could just as well give you that waiver even if he wants to claim your father for his instead of James like you said he…
— That’s not what I said. Can’t we go more slowly?
— All right, but you said…
— I said maybe Edward’s suddenly afraid he’s not Uncle James’ son. There’s quite a difference.
— Why. What’s James got to leave him? The car slowed somewhat. — Stella? What’s…
— I heard you! You just can’t understand anything you can’t get your hands on, anything you can’t feel or see or, or count…
— Well I just meant…
— Be careful…!
— It’s all right I saw him coming, the way they build these little foreign cars they don’t give you room to move your…
— Obviously it wasn’t built for someone your size I don’t know why you insisted on buying it, but you can’t drive so fast on these wet roads.
— It’s all right, he said, — I saw him coming… and he leaned forward and turned the radio off, and stayed that way, leaning forward over the wheel as though searching for landfall on a horizon far out ahead. — Why hell, I’m just trying to hold things together here, everything your father and I built up there. All this time every penny’s gone right back into the business so there’s just no cash, there’s no excess cash around to pay off these death taxes and they come in, the tax people come right in and take their bite before anybody else even gets to taste, you see what I mean? There’s two, three million dollars tied up here, maybe closer to four altogether but there’s no way to know what value the tax people will put on your father’s forty-five percent because it’s a family company and the shares have never been traded. They can just get some shyster appointed to administrate forcing us to go public and sell shares to raise cash for these taxes, they all end up with a nice cut and we end up with a crowd of stockholders squabbling for dividends and bankers who know as much about punch cards and continuous forms as a hog does about holy water in there telling us…
— Yes, all right.
— You see what I mean? And we’ve already borrowed against assets, we borrowed for that last big expansion and now the tax people are even trying to deny us interest on that loan as a deduction like we been taking it the last six years, can you beat that? And they’re trying to force us to settle that claim right now, too, can you beat that?
— No.
— What?
— I can’t beat it, no. I can’t even understand it. I simply wish we could stop constantly talking about it.
— Stella how can we just not talk about it if you’re going to be the administrator? You come right down to it after all, it hasn’t been too bad to you.
— What are you talking about.
— Just these concerts and benefits of yours and these artists and people you collect…
— What people do I collect.
— Just these artists and these musicians and…
— But who.
— Well you take this Reuben we were talking about, he…
— If you could simply see something more there than, what was it you said, a little sissified…
— I didn’t mean anything Stella I just, I said there was people that might think he was kind of effeminate, he seemed like a nice enough little fellow that time you introduced me. But I just mean you add up these concerts and benefits and like this hundred dollar a plate dinner you’ve got tonight for this art museum, you add it all up and…
— I thought you added it all up and took it off taxes and were just delighted.
— Well all right Stella, all right. It’s just…
— What.
— I guess nothing.
