About Mrs. Leslie Page #6

Reminds me of this roland kid.

Oh, good evening, pixie.

I was just thinking

of calling you.

Well, I told you I'd be here.

What are we having for dinner?

I don't like chops.

Put your things in my room

and then come

and sit right down here.

It's all ready.

How was skating today?

All right.

There, nice cold roast ham

and a nice big salad.

Such a warm evening.

Sit down, dig in.

I'll get you some nice iced tea.

I don't like tea.

Iced tea?

Well, milk maybe.

Milk?

Come on, sit down anyway.

Aren't they pretty?

Beautiful things

make you feel beautiful inside.

Here, have a hot buttered roll.

Do you have a root beer?

Yes, I have.

Oh, well?

Well what, pixie?

Well, can I have a root beer?

Yes, sure,

right in the icebox.

Well, I can't get out.

A glass.

You haven't eaten anything,

pixie.

I guess I'm not hungry.

That's the trouble

with you children nowadays.

How do you expect

your brains to work

if you're undernourished?

My brains work.

Turn on the radio, hmm?

Do you like music, pixie?

It's all right, I guess.

Well, good music, I mean,

like Beethoven and offenbach.

Who?

- Dizzy Gillespie.

- It's all right, I guess.

Who's your favorite orchestra?

Gee, I don't know.

Certainly is warm tonight.

I wonder if your mother

found the weather any cooler

up in Santa Barbara.

Gee, I don't know.

Well, it should be

cooler there.

Have you ever been

to Santa Barbara, dear?

Uh-uh.

What places

have you been, pixie?

You ever been abroad?

San Diego, I guess.

Gee, I don't know.

- Oh, no.

- Been all over, I guess.

Well, I mean foreign places.

I mean to ketchikan maybe

or Madagascar.

Do you want to?

Gee, I don't know.

Has iris next door

got a television?

Gee, I don't know.

Iris' little baby had measles.

Did you ever have measles,

pixie?

Gee, I don't know.

Measles are unpleasant.

So itchy, you know?

They're very unpleasant to have.

Well, I better change

my clothes before the kids come.

But I have strawberry

shortcake for dessert.

Berries make me break out.

Uh, can I use your shower?

Yes, pixie, you may.

It's in the bedroom,

right through there.

You sure we're supposed

to pick her up here?

Next door, she said,

at Leslie's rooming house.

Here comes the creep now.

Good evening.

I'm Mrs. Leslie.

Where's pixie?

I said

my name was Mrs. Leslie.

Hi.

I presume

you're oswald fogelmeister.

I'm who?

I'm buddy Boyd.

How do you do, buddy?

Now we're introduced, aren't we?

We're supposed

to pick up pixie.

Yes, I know.

Who's the devoted couple

in the back seat?

That's Diane and Paul.

They're going steady.

Oh, at least.

Don't they ever come up for air?

Hey, Tyrone,

put on the brakes.

In my day,

people only acted that way

with the shades down

and the lights out

and the neighbors

away for the weekend.

- What's with her?

- Hey, where's pixie?

We're in a hurry.

Yes, I see you are.

She's not joining you

this evening.

What do you mean?

Pixie's not coming with us?

Not tonight.

Ah, I bet

she's not even there.

Who does that old queen

think she is anyway?

Yeah?

What time is it?

I'm almost ready.

We're giving sort of a little

party here tonight, pixie.

One of my roomers,

Mr. McKay, is a dancer,

and he's going to show his act

to an agent.

He said he'd like an audience.

Would you like to stay?

I already have a date.

No, I'm afraid you haven't.

I sent them away.

You did what?

Sent them away?

When?

Just now.

They've gone.

You've got a lot of nerve,

Mrs. Leslie.

It didn't seem safe to me.

They're my best friends,

and you've got

some sweet nerve doing that.

Diane's father

is a very wealthy man,

and buddy's mother

has a diamond broach,

and they're very well-known

in society.

Does your mother know

any of them?

What difference

does that make?

Besides,

what's it any business of yours?

Boy, gee, what nerve!

Pixie, put that down.

- My mother lets me.

- I don't believe it.

I take my responsibilities

very seriously.

Tonight, I'm your mother.

How could you be

anybody's mother?

Why, I heard

you weren't even married.

Of course I was married.

Then where's a picture

of your husband?

Who was he?

Mom says you're just an old maid

pretending you were married,

ashamed to own up to you

never did get yourself a man.

If that's

your mother's opinion,

I don't imagine

she'd fancy your repeating it.

It's the truth, isn't it?

Sure, it's the truth,

so don't you tell me

what to do.

I bet I know

where I can find my friends too.

Go on, pixie.

Go on, run.

Find your friends.

I won't stop you.

You're right.

I'm not your mother.

I'm not anybody's mother.

How could I be?

I'm not anybody's anything,

because once I ran too,

all the way to California.

The year since I'd seen him

hadn't been too easy for me

thanks to Rick.

He blackballed me

in the clubs around New York,

and I'd had to pick up

club dates wherever I could:

Jersey, upstate,

the island, one-nighters,

anything to keep going

until Mr. Leslie's phone call.

Oh, I've had a very busy year

this past year, Mr. Leslie.

I've been doing a lot

of reading, history books.

Ask me anything you want to know

about William lowndes yancey.

Where he was born,

when he died, anything.

Go on, ask me.

Vivi, you astonish me.

You mean you really enjoyed

reading about him?

Of course.

Well, if you liked that,

you'd love

corporal si klegg

and his pard.

Written by wilbur f. Hinman,

late lieutenant colonel,

65th regiment, Ohio veteran's

volunteer infantry.

I read it.

Read it?

You memorized it.

I also read

a rebel war clerk's diary

and the wearing of the grey

and Jeff Davis' memoirs.

I even read your precious

Roman's beauregard.

Oh, vivi.

Poor vivi.

Well, good evening,

Mr. hackley.

Good evening.

Those club dates

aren't enough, are they?

For instance, how much rent

do you pay on your apartment?

- $50.

- Okay.

There's phone, utilities,

laundry, eating.

Where do you manage pin money?

Oh, I just buy plain pins,

Mr. Leslie, honey,

not platinum ones.

But suppose you were sick.

You couldn't work for one reason

or another.

Vivi, you're not secure.

I'm secure six weeks

out of the year.

How many women can say that?

You sure there are fish

down there?

The way you live

the rest of the year,

you're on thin ice, vivi,

thin ice.

Oh, well, I'm a good skater.

You should have seen me

when I was a kid.

I was the best skater

on the lake.

I used to love the winters,

because that meant skating.

I started telling him things

I'd never spoken of

to anyone before,

about a house

hidden among maple trees

and a little girl

in a green coat

and a mother who had

hot chocolate and cupcakes

waiting when I brought

friends home from skating,

a woman who made her house

behave like a home

and taught her only child

that good manners

were the backbone

of civilization.

I told him how mama died

and left me with him

and the women he brought home

until I couldn't take anymore

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