Dead to the World by Susan Rogers Cooper Read Free Book Online Page B

said.
    ‘The white is in the refrigerator, of course, and the red is in the cupboard above the sink. The wine glasses—’
    ‘That’s OK,’ I said. ‘I’ll just use the one you’ve already—’
    ‘Of course not! These are high ball glasses! Let me get you a wine glass,’ she said, again starting to push herself up. I, of course, was wishing I’d just drunk the damn whiskey.
    ‘No, no, you sit. I’ll find the wine glasses.’
    ‘In the hutch in the dining room. Top right door,’ she said.
    And I was off in search of my goodies, leaving the four of them to devour the whiskey, which, I noticed when I returned, they’d done.
    ‘Oh, I have another bottle! Uncle Herbert bought a whole case a week before he died. He was only able to drink about four bottles of it,’ she said. ‘Willis, dear, it’s also in the hutch. Bottom right. You might want to bring two bottles.’
    And so we sat and drank, and I noticed Humphrey Hammerschultz seemed to partake of more than his share. Diamond was limply drunk after about four glasses, while I wasn’t far behind after three glasses of chilled white wine. After losing those thirty-five pounds, I find I get drunk faster. Who knew? Willis, the animal, sees that as a plus.
    At around ten, both Diamond and I excused ourselves and helped each other up the stairs. An hour later, Willis woke me up when he came in the room by turning on the overhead light.
    ‘Arugh!’ I said, shielding my eyes while simultaneously staring daggers at my husband. ‘Turn off that effing light!’
    ‘God, you’re a mean drunk,’ he said.
    ‘Don’t make me hurt you!’
    ‘Yeah, you and what army?’ he said, crawling on the bed and attempting to kiss me. It felt more like he was licking me.
    ‘You’re drunk!’ I accused.
    ‘Hey, kettle, pot calling!’ he said and grinned at me.
    ‘So everybody’s gone to bed?’ I asked.
    ‘Well, I helped Miss Hutchins to her room, but Humphrey insisted he had to stay downstairs and do some, as he put it, “recon.”’
    ‘What does that mean?’ I asked.
    Willis rolled off me and sat up, shrugging his shoulders. ‘Hell if I know. The guy’s weird. Even weirder with a little too much whiskey in his belly.’
    ‘I bet we’ll find him sound asleep on the sofa in the morning,’ I said.
    ‘Wouldn’t be surprised,’ Willis said and yawned. ‘I’ll brush my teeth in the morning.’ He rolled over and began to snore.
    Little did I know at the time that I was more prophetic than Diamond Lovesy. A little wrong, but closer than she’d gotten so far.
    1935–1941
    Edgar’s deployment to Shanghai didn’t start out well. He discovered seasickness, and lost the entire ten pounds he’d gained during boot camp. Although most trainees lost weight during boot camp, Edgar, who’d been forced into a habit of sporadic eating, discovered three square meals a day much to his liking. This did not continue on the long voyage to China. But once he arrived at the International Settlement outside of Shanghai, the seasickness disappeared and he was able to get back to his three squares a day. He also learned that, despite his overnight stays in the brig, and his less-than-stellar performance in boot camp, he had been assigned to the 4th Marine Regiment, one of the most sought-after assignments in the Marines. Edgar figured getting the 4th was a mistake, but one he saw no reason to rectify. Billets were converted schools, office buildings or private mansions. His platoon was housed in one of the latter, which Edgar figured was his due, after being deprived of the life he could have lived in the house on Post Oak Street back home in Peaceful.
    There were other things he discovered about his Shanghai duty that were even better than three meals a day and a nice billet: the U.S. dollar went a very long way, the Chinese and Russian girls were good to look at and better to bed, beer was cheap and, even as a private, Edgar could afford to hire a houseboy to take care of his