Texasville by Larry McMurtry Read Free Book Online Page A

since she had been out of both their lives for thirty years.
    Duane had glimpsed her only once since her return. He had been parked at a light in Wichita Falls and her Mercedes crossed in front of him. He had only a glimpse, but even a glimpse made him feel strange. He had been very in love with Jacy once. After glimpsing her he felt rather withdrawn—a fact that Karla noticed.
    “What’s wrong with you?” she asked.
    “Nothing—more of the same,” Duane said, though it wasn’t more of the same, nor was it nothing. He was aware that he probably wouldn’t know what to say to Jacy if they did meet. She was like a local Garbo—it was hard to imagine having a conversation with her.
    Looking at the distressed Junior Nolan, Duane reflected that he had not really had a conversation with Suzie Nolan in thirty years either, though she had been right there in Thalia all thewhile. She was one of the loveliest women in town, but for some reason had made no mark on his imagination until her husband asked the question about sex.
    He remembered someone, Karla probably, saying that Suzie had no personality, which probably just meant that she wasn’t like Karla. If there was such a thing as personality glut, Karla had it. The night before, she had worn a T-shirt that said, LIFE’S TOO SHORT TO DANCE WITH UGLY MEN , a motto that dated from the days when Karla had first learned of the concept of open marriage. She read about it in Cosmo, the source of many of her concepts.
    She had immediately opened theirs up by having an affair with the carpenter who was redoing their kitchen. Then she griped at Duane because he wouldn’t go out and start a reciprocal affair.
    “You’d rather sit there and make me feel guilty,” Karla said.
    The main result of that episode was that sloppy work got done and nothing in the new kitchen really worked right. The garbage disposal functioned more like a fountain, spewing chicken bones and watermelon rind all over the place.
    “I guess Richie was so in love he couldn’t even put in a garbage disposal right,” Duane said, on occasions when he felt aggrieved.
    “Duane, he wasn’t supposed to do the plumbing too,” Karla said.
    The open marriage concept remained popular for several years, during which time Duane often irritated Karla by his refusal to find a girlfriend. But when he finally started the affair with Janine, Karla accused him of being out of step with the times.
    “Duane, all that stuff was popular in the sixties,” she said. “How come you’re doing it now? If you’re planning to have a midlife crisis you should have done it sooner, because you’re already past the middle by several years.”
    “I’m just forty-eight,” Duane pointed out. “If I live to be ninety-six, then I’m right square in the middle this year.”
    “I hope I’m not around when you’re ninety-six, grumpy as you are now,” Karla said.
    “You’re the one that started all this,” Duane reminded her. “Why couldn’t you just have picked a better carpenter?”
    “We’re supposed to be rich, why can’t we just buy a new garbage disposal?” Karla countered.
    Duane didn’t answer, but the fact that he hated Richie’s kitchen was one reason he had agreed to the building of the new house.

CHAPTER 7
    J UNIOR NOLAN HAD NOT TAKEN HIS EYES OFF THE saltshaker since asking his unexpected question—a question which had given his tablemates a bad surprise. The specter of female need had been raised, and the response of most people at the table was to look discreetly away.
    Junior himself abruptly decided not to wait for opinions, since none had been forthcoming in almost a minute.
    “Mitch, we better hit it,” he said. “It ain’t getting any cooler outside.” He got up and headed for the door, carrying his hat in his hand. Duane saw him toss it in his pickup.
    “How come Junior only wears a hat inside?” Eddie Belt asked.
    “He’s always been a little eccentric,” Sonny said.
    Mitch Mott got up