running away.”
“All right, all right.” Daniel breathed deep. “But keep it short.”
They approached, Zack gliding their cart ahead.
Daniel hadn’t seen Elena since the dinner party—and certainly not since
he and Abbas had started getting together. Yet she was often in his head. He
was surprised by how opaque she looked in person, an unfamiliar stranger.
He didn’t really know her, did he?
She turned. She saw them. She smiled.
“Hello, Elena,” said Zack. “Hi, Mina. This must be Osh.” He pointed at
the little boy under the groceries. Osh grinned up at them, baring his teeth
like an upside-down monkey.
“Good evening,” said Elena. “Good evening to you both.”
She stared straight at Daniel, as if she couldn’t quite place him. Then her
gaze swung down and up, brazenly inspecting him, Daniel thought, as if she
were picturing him naked, the bald little Jew who was humping her husband.
“Where’s Abbas?” said Zack. “He doesn’t help with groceries?”
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C h r i s t o p h e r B r a m
“Oh no. Abbas stays home and rests from his busy day.”
Zack smiled. “Abbas always gets what he wants?”
Elena smiled with him. “Always.”
Daniel grew more uncomfortable. They weren’t looking at him, but he
could feel them wanting to look. He squatted down to talk to Osh. “What’re
you doing down here, monkey? Who you hiding from?”
The boy giggled and turned away.
“I have been meaning to call you,” Elena told Zack.
“If you need to use our washer again,” said Zack, “feel free.”
Daniel wished Zack weren’t so damn comfortable with her.
“Thank you. We are fine this week. But your friend Ross has been calling
and asking us to come to his movie theater?”
“Oh yes. Ross is very proud of his theater.”
And he’s hot to see you again, thought Daniel. He slowly stood up, won-
dering where this would go.
“But there was nothing we wanted to see,” said Elena. “Until this Friday.
He is showing one of my favorites, An American in Paris. ”
“With Gene Kelly?” said Zack.
Daniel was surprised. He thought Elena’s taste would be more grim and
sophisticated, leaning toward Bergman or Tarkovsky. He loved musicals him-
self, although he hated An American in Paris.
“A silly movie,” Elena admitted. “A Hollywood extravaganza about artists
in a make-believe Paris. But I love the music and the dancing. Ross says it is a
beautiful new print. He suggested you come too and we could make it a party.
The five of us.”
She spoke so cheerfully, so innocently. Daniel decided she was bluffing,
daring him to spend a whole evening out with his boyfriend, his fuck buddy,
and his fuck buddy’s wife.
He waited for Zack to make an excuse, but Zack remained silent, watch-
ing Daniel, waiting for him to reply. Zack was smirking. He tried to look in-
nocent, but his mouth was pinched in the teeniest smirk.
Elena couldn’t be serious. Daniel decided to call her bluff. “I think we’re
free,” he said. “Talk to Abbas. If he wants to see the movie, sure. Why not?
We could all see it together.”
E x i l e s i n A m e r i c a
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She looked surprised, but she did not back down. “Good. I cannot wait to
tell him.” Her smile returned. Even when she and Zack didn’t look at each
other, they seemed to be smiling at each other.
“Ma- ma!” Mina stood ten feet away, arms folded, foot tapping. She did
not want her mother talking to these gay men in public—Daniel imagined her
thinking gay and thinking it nastily. He’d noticed how kids now used gay the same way they had used queer when he was a kid: “That is so gay.”
“Patience, my dear,” said Elena. “But she is right. We must go. They have
school tomorrow. Osh, darling. Out of the wagon. You are too heavy to push.”
The boy performed a slow-motion somersault from the rack. He jumped
to his feet, holding out his arms—ta da!—as he faced away from the grown-
ups toward an imaginary audience.
“Will the kids come, too?” asked Zack.
“Oh no. It will be a treat only for us.” She turned to Daniel, her smile more
sly and sinister now. “I will talk to Abbas. I think he will be amenable. See you
Friday then. See you both. Good night.” She pushed off with her cart, much
lighter without Osh, who had run off to annoy his sister.
Daniel watched them disappear around the corner. He waited a moment.
“Damn that was weird. That was fucking weird. Why didn’t you help me?”