Under The Yum Yum Tree Page #10

with the girl I love

in front of a quiet little fire,

listening to some quiet little music

and let nature take its quiet little course.

- See you around, Professor.

- David! David!

Hey, buddy-bud, I've been waiting for you.

We've got just enough light left

for about two sets of tennis

and then a little workout in the gym.

A nice cool shower.

How are you today, old boy?

- Fine, fine, brother, but not today.

- Wait a minute. Not today?

Now, boy, I don't need to tell you

the value of exercise.

You're a man of the world. You know

how important it is to be exhausted.

This was passed on down to us

by the Greeks.

- Sophocles and Plato.

- True.

A womanless world is the very foundation

of the Platonic theory, isn't it?

- Wonderful, wonderful.

- Listen, you've got to fight hard

against your arch enemy, kid. Vitality.

I tell you, that sounds just great, Hogan.

You go play tennis.

I'm going to let my vitality just sit by

a cozy fire tonight and enjoy itself.

- Listen, I have misjudged you, boy.

- I'll see you later.

I'm ashamed of you. Ashamed!

Yeah, well, look us up in the morning,

will you?

- Not too early. I may be sleeping late.

- He's catching on.

Hello.

- Honey, I just want to say...

- Look, do me one favor. Don't say anything.

- Last night never existed, agreed?

- Whatever you say.

- You're the boss.

- Okay. I love you very much.

- I love you, too, David.

- Okay.

- That's all that matters, then, really, isn't it?

- Yeah.

- And tonight...

- What?

...is another story.

Well, I think I'll go upstairs and

finish dressing, okay? I'll be back in...

Hey, honey, what did you buy? What is it?

Nothing. Some little goodies.

- Now, you run along, I'll show you later.

- You're acting very strangely.

Well, there may be a lot of strange

developments tonight.

Okay.

- It's me again.

- Yeah, so I see.

- Where's Robin?

- Why?

I've been giving this some serious thought,

David. I want to talk to both of you.

You don't mind if I go ahead and work,

do you?

- No, no, go right ahead.

- Okay.

I want to discuss with both of you some

of the ramifications of living together,

which neither of you considered.

Yeah, well, it sounds fascinating,

but not tonight, Irene.

- I'm going to have my say.

- Okay.

You see, trial marriage among intelligent,

literate people can essentially...

What's this?

That's E. E. Cummings' Puella Mea.

It's a rare copy I happened to come by.

- The drawings.

- Yeah. It's a private printing.

David Manning! You wouldn't.

Yeah, yeah. Little David. I did it.

After you gave your word

you wouldn't touch that girl.

Irene, I am not going to continue playing

Alice-Through-the-Looking-Glass

with an adorable juvenile

that I happen to love.

You know, it's my fault

all this came about.

I've been confusing

softness with tenderness.

I've played buddy-buddy to her

instead of lover.

And if I can rectify it tonight, I...

Well, I'm going to,

with marriage as the door prize.

Well, what about your sense of ethics?

Well, if you don't mention

it, I won't, either.

Maybe it'll pass into oblivion with the help

of this strange and rare drink called mescal.

Made from cactus juice, I think.

- Hi, Irene.

- Robin.

- What's going on?

- Irene was just leaving, Rob.

- You know what he...

- Thanks a lot for dropping by, Irene.

So long.

- Come back and see us sometime.

- Goodbye, Irene.

- Goodbye, Irene.

- Goodbye, Irene.

- Yeah, we'll see you at school tomorrow.

- You poor baby.

- Yeah, so long.

- Be careful.

- Bye. Bye now.

- Be careful, darling.

Now, what was that all about?

Women, who can figure them?

- Well, isn't this beautiful?

- Yeah, yeah.

A fireplace, candles. Is that brandy?

- No, no. That is mescal.

- Mescal?

It's a native Mexican drink

distilled from pulque.

Are we celebrating something?

Yeah, no, well, could be.

There you go.

It's made from some sort of

desert cactus plant, I think.

- They left the needles in it.

- Yeah, they sure did.

- Would you like some music?

- I'd love it.

- Would you like to dance?

- I don't know if we should.

- Well, arms length.

- All right.

- Okay.

- It's nice.

Dave?

Tonight, I'm filled with new hopes

and resolve.

I just have a feeling everything's

going to work out just great.

Yeah. Let's drink to that.

All right. Whatever you say, I'm your slave.

- There we go. Cheers.

- Cheers.

When you get used to it,

it tastes just like fruit juice.

Yeah.

Would you pour me another drink, please?

Thank you.

David?

- Do you know what I think mescal is?

- What?

I think it's some mysterious concoction

designed to destroy

lovely Mexican girls' willpowers-es.

Willpowers-es?

- That's the plural form.

- The plural form.

I like it. I like it.

Rob, honey,

you know that I love you, don't you,

and that I'd never do anything to harm you?

- Of course.

- Yeah.

Well, of course, it might happen that

I would do something, which,

at the moment, might seem to be harmful...

- David, that's impossible...

- Well, no, what I mean is...

You're not capable of it.

I mean, you're much too trustworthy

and fine and upstanding.

That's just you.

- Yeah, but what I was thinking...

- When you make a promise, you stick to it.

Dave, you have

a marvelous sense of integrity.

Swell.

- Let's drink to your integrity.

- Yeah, okay.

- What's this?

- Just a little book of poetry

that I happened to stumble across.

E. E. Cummings' Puella Mea. I just love it.

- Yeah, you know it?

- By heart.

Well, some of it, at least.

Poetry, music, booze.

Fireplace.

David Manning, if I didn't know you so well,

I'd swear you were trying to seduce me.

Robin! Well, how can you say

a thing like that?

- Well, I was just teasing.

- Well...

"Caliph and king their ladies

had to love them and make them glad

"when the world was young and mad,

in the city of Baghdad. "

The poem is a description of the girl

Cummings loved madly.

- It's so beautiful it makes you want to cry.

- Yeah, yeah.

Let's drink to old Caliph, huh?

- There you go.

- Okay.

After a couple of these, you hardly notice

the needles at all, do you?

- You read it to me.

- Okay. Now, let's see here...

Let me get to the good part.

"In her perfectest array,

my lady, moving in the... "

- And I can prove it, too.

- You can prove what?

Your integrity.

Why, what other fellow in the whole world

would have stuck to such a difficult promise

- as you made to me?

- Rob, why have you suddenly developed

such a narrow range of conversation?

Now, let's enjoy the evening

and not talk about integrity.

- Sorry.

- Okay.

Buddy!

Rob, you'd better slow down on that stuff.

- Read me!

- Yeah, okay, okay.

"In her perfectest array, my lady

"moving in the day,

is a little stranger thing than all... "

That's me, big boy, strange! Here.

Yeah.

"If she a little... If she a little turn

her head, I know that I am wholly dead.

"But should my... "

"But should my lady smile,

it were a flower of pure surprise.

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