room. Hubert was sitting in the pink chair looking at a magazine.
"She gone?" he whispered.
"Yes."
"What the hell does she think this is? A clinic?"
"Oh, I felt sorry for her, didn't you?"
"No. What the hell. Two kids isn't such a raft, you know. She ought to be willing to have two."
"But she isn't well."
"Bunk. She just doesn't want two kids to wash for."
"Gee, I kinda thought you'd help her out."
"You didn't tell her I would, did you?"
"No."
"That's good, because I'm not going to. She's no sicker than I am. She's just lazy."
Lillian didn't understand at all until she recalled that after all Mary was one of the crowd and Hubert had grown tired of doing favors for them.
He had forgiven the Sullivans and the Fishers for their treatment of Lillian. He hadn't meant to, but they had all called on New Year's Day and he found it hard to hold a grudge when they sang "For he's a jolly good fellow."
So they'd been as intimate as ever. Lillian was glad. Friends were friends in her simple calculations.
Billy was going to broadcast again. He was getting a more prominent position than he had ever had before. He was getting promoted to 11.15 a.m., and Louise said there was no standing it with the high opinion he had of himself.
"What I'm hoping," Billy explained to his friends,
