Mildred Pierce (18 page)

On the choice of a casket, Bert haggled bravely, bringing all his business judgment to bear, and presently settled on a white enamelled one, with silver handles and satin lining, which would be furnished complete for 200 dollars, with two limousines and the usual bearers. Mr Murock got up. The body, he said, would be delivered at five, and they took him to the door, on which two assistants had already fastened a white crepe. Mr Murock paused a moment to inspect the wire frames they were erecting in the living-room, for flowers. Then he started. ‘Oh – I almost forgot. The burial clothes.’

Mildred and Bert went back to the children’s room. They decided on the white dress Ray had worn at the school pageant, and with the little pants, socks, and shoes, they packed it in one of the children’s little valises. It was the gilt crown and fairy wand that broke Bert up again, and Mildred once more had to pat him back to normal. ‘She’s in heaven, she’s
got
to be.’

‘Of course she is, Bert.’

‘I know goddam well she’s not anywhere else.’

A minute or two after Mr Murock left, Mrs Gessler came over and joined them in the den. She slipped in without a greeting, sat down beside Mildred, and began patting her hand with the infinite tact that seemed to be the main characteristic of her outwardly bawdy nature. It was a minute or two before she spoke. Then: ‘You want a drink, Bert?’

‘Not right now, Lucy.’

‘It’s right there, and I’m right here.’

‘Thanks, I’d rather not.’

Then to Mildred: ‘Baby, Mamma’s listening.’

‘There’s a couple of things, Lucy.’

Mildred took her to the bedroom, wrote a number on a piece of paper. ‘Will you call my mother for me, and tell her? Say I’m all right, and the funeral is tomorrow at twelve, and – be nice to her.’

‘I’ll do it on my phone. Anything else?’

‘I have no black dress.’

‘I’ll get one for you. Size twelve?’

‘Ten.’

‘Veil?’

‘Do you think I should?’

‘I wouldn’t.’

‘Then no veil. And no hat. I have one that’s all right. And no shoes. I have them too. But – gloves. Six-six. And I think I ought to have a mourning handkerchief.’

‘I’ll have everything. And—’

‘What is it, Lucy?’

‘They be dropping in now. People, I mean. And – I’ll probably pull something. I just thought I’d tell you, so you’ll know I had a reason.’

So a little while later, Mrs Gessler was back, and certainly pulled something. By then, quite a few people were there: Mrs Floyd, Mrs Harbaugh, Mrs Whitley, Wally, and to Mildred’s surprise, Mr Otis, the federal meat inspector, who had seen the notice in one of the afternoon papers. Letty’s contribution was tea and sandwiches, which she had just begun to pass when Mrs Gessler came in, hatted, gloved, and carrying a gigantic set of lilies. With a wave of the hand she dismissed the florist’s driver, and finding the card, read: ‘Mr and Mrs Otto Hildegarde – oh, aren’t they beautiful, just
beautiful
!’ Then, to everybody in the room: ‘You know, the couple Mildred visited over the weekend, up at the lake. Lovely people. I’m just crazy about them.’

Then Mildred knew that there had indeed been talk, serious talk. But she also knew, from the look that went around, that
now it was squelched, once and for all. She felt a throb of gratitude to Mrs Gessler, for dealing with something she would have been helpless to deal with herself. Bert took the lilies outside, where he spread them on the lawn. Then, coupling up the hose, he attached the revolving nozzle, so they were gently refreshed by the edge of the whirling spray. Other flowers came, and he set them out too, until there was a canopy of blossoms on the grass, all glistening with tiny drops. There was a basket of gladioli from the Drop Inn, which touched Mildred, but the one that made her swallow hardest was a mat of white gardenias, to which was attached a blue-bird card, reading:

As she was fingering this a hush fell over the room, and she turned to see Mr Murock’s assistants carrying Ray in the door. Under Bert’s direction, they set up trestles near the window, arranged the casket, and stepped back to permit the guests to pass by. Mildred couldn’t look. But then Mrs Gessler caught her arm, and she was looking in spite of herself. In the setting sun, a rainbow was shimmering over the spray, framing Ray’s head. This broke Bert up again, and most of the guests tiptoed silently out. But it left Mildred unstirred. There was something unreal about Ray’s appearance. The hot flush of the last few minutes was gone, also the animation of life, also the deadly pimple. All that remained was a waxy pallor that suggested nothing but heaven, which Bert was now babbling about for the fourth or fifth time.

Letty served the rest of the sandwiches for supper, and Bert and Mildred ate tremulously, silently, hardly tasting what was put in front of them. Then Mr Pierce and Mom arrived, with Veda, and after viewing Ray, came back to the den. Then Dr Aldous arrived, a tall, grey, kindly man who sat near Mildred, and didn’t put her on the defensive at all for not being a member of his church. Then Mom and Dr Aldous were in an argument, or rather Mom was, with Dr Aldous having little to say, and Mr
Pierce correcting Mom on a number of points of ritual. The trouble was that Mom, who had been originally a Methodist, only joining the Episcopal Church after marrying Mr Pierce, was somewhat confused as to the service that was to be used tomorrow. As Mr Pierce told her, she had the burial service, the communion service, the psalms, and perhaps even the wedding service, so thoroughly mixed up that it was rather difficult to disentangle them. Mom said she didn’t care, she wanted the Twenty-third Psalm, it was only right they should have it when the child was dead, and also there was no use telling her there would be no praying for the child’s soul. What were they doing there, anyway? Mr Pierce sharply reminded her that the burial service had nothing to do with a soul. The whole point was that the soul had already gone, and the burial was nothing but the commitment of a body. As Bert listened unhappily, Mr Pierce kept calling on Dr Aldous, as a sort of referee. That gentleman, listening with bowed head, presently said: ‘As the child wasn’t baptised, certain changes will have to be made in the service anyway. Small omissions, but I’m required to make them. Now, in that case, there’s no reason why the Twenty-third Psalm, and the little passage in the Communion Service that Mrs Pierce evidently has in mind, and whatever else we want, can’t be included. At the end of the service, special prayers can be, and often are, offered, and I’ll be very glad to include these passages – that is, if the mother feels the need of them too.’

He looked at Mildred, who nodded. At first, she had resented Mom’s taking charge in this high-handed way, and felt mean remarks rising within her. Just in time, she had remembered that the Pierces were paying for everything, and kept her reflections to herself. Now she went to the children’s room and packed Veda’s things, so the Pierces could have her back in the morning, properly dressed. When she came out with the little suit-case, the Pierces decided it was time to go. Dr Aldous, however, stayed a few minutes longer. Taking Mildred’s hand, he said: ‘I’ve often thought the burial service could be a little more intimate, a little more satisfying to the emotions, than it is. It’s quite true, as Mr Pierce said, that it is the commitment of a body, not the consecration of a soul. Just the same, most people find it hard to
make the distinction, and – to them, what they see isn’t a body. It’s a person, no longer alive, but still the same person, loved and terribly mourned . . . Well, I hope I can arrange a little service that will be satisfactory to the old lady, and the mother, and father, and – everybody.’

After Dr Aldous left, Bert and Mildred were able to talk a little more naturally. She still had to make the inexorable pies, and as he kept her company in the kitchen, and even helped her where he could, he gave details of what had happened at the beach, and she reciprocated with a final version of what happened at the lake, making it correspond with Mrs Gessler’s version, though not feeling any particular desire to deceive. She merely wanted to be friendly. Bert nodded when she got to the part about Mrs Floyd. ‘One hell of an end to a nice vacation.’

‘I didn’t care what she thought. But about Ray, I could feel it, even before I got to the hospital. I knew it, even then.’

When the pies were made, they sat with Ray for a time, then went back to the den. She said: ‘You don’t have to worry about me, Bert. If Mrs Biederhof is waiting up for you, why don’t you run along.’

‘She’s not waiting up.’

‘You sure?’

‘Yeah, I’m sure.’

‘. . . She was awfully nice.’

‘Mildred, can I tell you something? About what really happened Saturday?’

‘Certainly.’

‘Mom, she was just scared, that was all. Mom was never any good in a spot like that. And me, maybe I take after her, because I was scared too. That’s why, when Doc Gale began talking hospital I fell for it so quick. But Maggie, she wasn’t scared. We had to stop there, on our way to the hospital, because I was still in my beach shorts, and I had to put on some pants. And Maggie, she raised hell about taking Ray to the hospital. She wanted to bring her right in, then and there. That’s what I wanted too. It seemed a hell of a note, a poor little kid, and nobody even had a place for her. But – I didn’t know how you’d feel about it.’

‘If that’s what happened, it does her credit.’

‘She’s a goddam good friend.’

‘If that’s what she did, I want you to thank her for me, and tell her I would have been only too glad. It was better that she
was
brought to the hospital, but if she had been put in Mrs Biederhof’s care, I wouldn’t have had any objection at all. And I know she’d have been properly taken care of,
well
taken care of.’

‘She’s as broken up as if it was her own child.’

‘I want you to tell her.’

‘And she will be glad to hear it.’

Bert got wood, and made a fire, and lit it. The next Mildred knew, it was daylight, and one arm was asleep, and her head was on Bert’s shoulder. He was staring into the embers of the fire. ‘Bert! I must have been asleep.’

‘You slept three or four hours.’

‘Did you sleep?’

‘I’m all right.’

They went in with Ray for a few minutes, and then Bert went out to look at the flowers. The spray was still whirling, and he reported they were ‘as fresh as when they were cut’. She got a dustcloth and began moving about the house, cleaning, dusting, putting things in order. Presently she got breakfast, and they ate it in the kitchen. Then he took his departure, to dress.

Around ten, Mrs Gessler came over, with the black dress, and took the pies, for delivery. Then the Pierces arrived, with Bert, in a dark suit, and Veda, in white. Then Letty arrived, in a Sunday dress of garnet silk. Before her clean apron could be issued, Mildred saw the Engels drive up with her mother, and sent her out to let them in. When Mildred heard them in the den, she sent Veda to say she would be there in a minute. Then she tried on the dress, noted with relief that it was a fair fit. Quickly she got into the rest of her costume. Carrying the black gloves, she went to the den.

Her mother, a small, worried-looking woman, got up and kissed her, as did her sister Blanche. Blanche was several years older than Mildred, and had a housewifey look, with some touch
about her of the ineffectuality that seemed to be the main characteristic of the mother. Neither of them had the least trace of the resolute squint that was the most noticeable thing about Mildred’s face, nor did they share her voluptuous figure. Harry Engel, the unfortunate possessor of the anchor inventory, got up and shook hands, awkwardly and self-consciously. He was a big, raw-boned man, with a heavy coat of sunburn and a hint of the sea in his large blue eyes. Then Mildred saw William, a boy of twelve, in what was evidently his first long-pants suit. She shook hands with him, then remembered she should kiss him, which she did to his acute embarrassment. He sat down, and resumed his unwinking stare at Veda. To Veda, the Engels were the scum of the earth, and William was even scummier than his parents, if that was possible. Under his stare she became haughtily indifferent, crossing one bored leg over the other, and fingering the tiny cross which hung from a gold chain around her neck. Mildred sat down, and Mr Pierce resumed his account of the catastrophe, giving a fair version this time, with full faith and credence to Mildred’s visit to the Hildegardes, at Lake Arrowhead. Mildred closed her eyes and hoped he would make it long and complete, so she wouldn’t have to talk herself. Bert tiptoed over and took the receiver off the hook, so there would be no jangling phone bell.

But when Letty, now aproned, came in to ask if anybody wanted coffee, the Engels stiffened, and Mildred knew something had gone wrong. As soon as the girl had gone, it developed that when she had let them in, they had all shaken hands, taking her for ‘a friend’. Mildred tried to shrug it off, but Blanche was quite bitter about it, obviously feeling that Letty had compromised her social position in front of the Pierces. Mildred began getting annoyed, but it was Veda who put an end to the discussion. With an airy wave of her hand, she said: ‘Well personally, I don’t see why
you
should object to shaking hands with
Letty
. She’s really a
very
nice
girl
.’