“You mean like parts of the South Bronx?”
“Maybe. Anyway, Delia wants to make sure there’s no mistake about who she is, see. So she says to other . . .” Corrigan mimicked a prim tone: ” `Ah, I hope you don’t imagine that I am accustomed to sharing like this. Usually, I go to the private wing.’ ”
He changed to a shrill, coarser accent. ” `Oh, yiss?’ says the other, who we’ll say was Mary. `Dat’s noice.’
” `I’ll have you know,’ says Delia, `that my husband is an extremely successful man and takes very good care of me. The last time I was a patient, he took me on a Caribbean cruise to recuperate.’
” `Dat’s noice.’
” `And on the occasion before that, he bought me a diamond pendant to compensate for the discomfort.’ . . .” Corrigan nodded an invitation at Sherri to supply the response.
“That’s nice,” she obliged.
“Ah, no,” he said. “You have to do it with the proper accent. Come on, now: `Dat’s noice.’ ”
“Dat’s noice.”
“Perfect. And then your Delia says, `Out of curiosity, does your husband show such consideration when you are confined?’
” `Oh, yiss, o’ course ‘e does,’ says Mary. `When we ‘ad our last one, ‘e sent me fer elocution and etiquette lessons.’ ”
Sherri chuckled, and Corrigan continued, “Naturally, Delia’s astounded. `What!’ she exclaims. `Elocution? How would somebody like you even know what the word means?’
” ` ‘E did, too,’ Mary tells her. `See, at one time, whenever oi ‘eard people tellin’ me a load o’ bullshit, oi used to tell ’em ter fuck orf. Now oi just smiles at ’em all proper, like, and oi say . . .’ ” Corrigan paused expectantly. Anyone should see it now. But Sherri’s eyes were still blank, waiting. He completed, ” `Dat’s noice.’ ”
There was a barely perceptible delay, and then she laughed. But the laugh wasn’t real. She had missed the point. Corrigan had seen the same thing too many times before. He turned to restocking the mixers shelf. What was it about the modern world that had changed people? he wondered. Sarah Bewley tried to tell him that nothing had changed, that it was his idea of humor that had been distorted. But the story he’d told Sherri was from his student days in Ireland, and everyone back then had found it funny. Or had nothing in those years happened the way he remembered it at all?
A knot of people appeared in the doorway, clustered about a squat, rotund figure whose name Corrigan couldn’t bring to mind instantly—some kind of city official, who worried all the time about his public visibility. The last time they were in, the talk had been about sending political messages through the communications chips that some people were having put in their heads. One of the aides couldn’t seem to comprehend why Corrigan was cool toward the idea. “Why would anyone choose to stay out of touch?” he had wanted to know.
Then a man with shoulders like a blockhouse came in and stopped, obviously checking the place. Moments later, a commotion of voices came from the hall outside the lounge. The Dree fans leaped to their feet with a clamor of squeals and shouts as the idol himself swept in ahead of an entourage of photographers and starlets, resplendent in a white glitter suit and red shirt, blond hair falling to his shoulders, arms held high to acknowledge the accolades.
The funny thing was that although Dree featured in commercials everywhere and appeared at all kinds of public events, he didn’t sing, dance, play, act, tell stories, or entertain in any way that was traditionally recognizable. As far as Corrigan was aware, he didn’t actually do anything. He was the ultimate celebrity: well known for no other reason than being well known.
Even Sherri was standing enraptured as the circus moved in and took over the bar. “You call this having a good time?” Dree yelled to the general delight: his standard catchphrase.
“You ain’t seen nothing yet!” they chorused back. All the way from Jolson. Sherri joined in; so did Delia, Wilbur, and the girls talking to the pink fedoras. The party dispersed to a corner, and an aide came across to the bar to give their order. Corrigan turned to set out the glasses, and as he did so he noticed a woman looking in through the doorway. She was tall, with long dark hair, wearing a suede coat over a satiny black dress. The noise and antics inside made her start to turn away; but then she caught sight of Corrigan, seemed to change her mind, and came in.