"Well, I thought it would be nice to give them something, don't you?"
"I think it's kind of foolish."
"Why?"
"Oh, Christmas is a lot of bunk anyhow. It's for women and children. The department stores get fat on it and that's all it's good for."
Lillian said nothing nor did she cross the men's names off the list. She sat tapping her pencil against the arm of the couch while Hubert re-read the list.
"Is Mary Jackson going to open a stocking store?" he asked.
"Why?"
"You got six pairs of stockings down for her. Gee, two are enough."
"It's cheap-looking to only give her two pairs."
"I don't know. Helen's got a friend, a Mrs. Winters, who's worth a hell of a lot of money, and she gave Helen two pairs of stockings for Christmas one year."
"Maybe she's stingy," Lillian suggested.
Hubert shook his head. "No, I don't think she is. She gave our kid a wrist watch the year he graduated that I bet cost her fifty or sixty bucks. I don't think two pairs of stockings look cheap."
Lillian's lips curved into an expression of annoyance. She crossed out the generous six she had written and inscribed above it a cramped little two.
"You got enough underwear down for Anna and Louise, too," Hubert proceeded. "Gee, you must think we're in the silk business."
