Baby

By Kirsten Thorup

Mark stood with his legs slightly apart and his pants were light blue and he had strong thighs and black shoes and no socks and when he hitched up his pants you could see his thin ankles and they were smooth and white. He wore a purple shirt that was open at the neck and he wore no jewelry except a wedding ring on the ring finger of his right hand, and he brought his cigarette up to his thick, sensitive lips and he had a small perfect nose and bushy eyebrows and large gray eyes and while he talked with Suzie he looked over at Ross, the wonderful disc jockey, and he waved to him when he played his favorite record.
    "As long as I have a family to support, I have to work. I can´t just let them take care of themselves," said Mark. He had a large face and he was 37.
    "You´re really a good person," said Suzie in her hysterical voice.
    "I wouldn´t say that," shouted Mark through the noise. He didn´t want to be good or to be patted on the ass by a woman.
    "But if we absolutely must talk about me, I don´t mind," he continued. He seemed preoccupied and he turned around and saw Leni, who had been standing behind him, and he put a hand on her shoulder.
    "It´s funny," he said raising his eyebrows, "you remind me of a boy."
    "Just because I won´t go to bed with you, I don´t have to change my sex," said Leni. Mark didn´t like her, but he was attracted to her because she was taller than he.
    "In any case, it would be a perversion to screw you," said Mark as if he admired her, as if he really wanted to know something about her.
    "Is it beneath you, maybe, to make a pretty friend happy?" laughed David. He had a mass of brown hair and large, fluttering hands.
    "What a stupid conversation," said Suzie. Her face was gentle and she set her glass down on the bar.
    "This little lady once wrote a book," said Mark suddenly, shoving Leni out in front of him. He enjoyed serving her like a plate of inedible food.
    "You don´t say! Am I allowed to touch you?" David said in an affected tone as he took a pack of cigarettes out of his shoulder bag.
    "Was it a cookbook?" he went on, and Leni couldn´t help smiling.
    "Yes, with very simple recipes," she said.
    "I´ve often tried to write," David said staring dreamily into space.
    "Can´t we be spared having to look at your obscenities in print?" shouted Suzie. She was unhappy because David hadn´t said a word to her all evening. She was in love with him and she was reminded of it each time she happened to meet him.
    "Suzie hates men," whispered Mark to Leni. Leni nodded, but she didn´t know anything about Suzie and she thought about how Mark had helped her when she didn´t have any money. He had bought food for her and had given her one of Cadett´s coats.


From: Kirsten Thorup: Baby, Lousiana State University Press, Baton Rouge and London 1980.

Translated by Nadia Christensen