Their talk had ended by revolting himHe was...
Their talk had ended by revolting himHe was becoming a prude, Hearn decidedHe was disgusted and there wasn't sufficient cause for itSlowly he extended his arms and legs, lowered himself gradually to the ground, feeling the muscle tension in his stomachThere had been an instant when he was tempted to hug Conn and Dove with his arms, and rather deliberately knock their heads togetherAll right, he was toughBut there had been too many thoughts like that lately, in officers' mess, the time he wanted to strike the General, or just nowIt was the trouble with being a big manHe raised his head and stared across the bulk of his body, pinching the roll of fat that had started on his bellyUnder the hair that covered his chest his flesh had become whiteFive years more, ten at most, and he might be having to buy it from womenWhen a big man's body started chanel 2.55 bag going, it fell apart quicklyThen he'd end up like Conn and to hell with itHe'd buy it and talk about it, and it was probably a damn sight easier than getting rid of women who had found something in him that he didn't have or he didn't care to give
"She looked at it, and she said, 'Major' -- I was a major then -- 'what are they gonna do next? White ones, silver ones, gold ones, they'll probably be puttin' the American flag on 'em' " Conn laughed and spat a little phlegm into the sand
Why didn't they quit? Hearn rolled over on his belly, and felt the sun warming his body to its coreHe'd be needing a woman soon, and short of ferrying to the next island, a couple of hundred miles away, where there were supposed to be native women, he was going to find little comfort
"Hey," he said abruptly to Conn and Dove, "if you can't bring a whorehouse in, how chanel cambon tote about letting the women go for a while?"
"Beginning to get you down?" Conn asked with a smile
"It's brutal," Hearn said, imitating DoveHe lit a cigarette, shaking the sand out of the pack
Dove looked at him, tried another gambit"Say, I was thinking before, Hearn, is your father's name William?"
"Yeah
"We had a William Hearn who was a Deke about twenty-five years ago; could it be him?"
Hearn shook his head"Hell, no, my father can't even read or writeAll he can do is sign checks"Wait a moment," Conn said, "Bill Hearn, Bill Hearn, by God, I know him, has some factories in the Middlewest, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota?"
"That's right
"Sure," Conn said, "Bill HearnYou look like him, come to think of itI met him when I was out of the Army in 'thirty-seven, organizing the stock for a couple of companiesHis father would throw back his straight omega automatic geneve black hair, and clap Conn on the back with one of his meaty moist hands"Hell you say, man," he could hear his father booming, "either you throw your goods on the table, and we talk a little turkey, or you can admit you're just a goddam fraud" -- then the twinkle, the charm -- "and we can just get potted together, which is what the hell we want to do in the first place But, no, Conn wasn't right; Conn didn't quite fit it
"I saw his picture in the papers about a month agoHave about ten papers sent to me regularlyI can see your old man's putting on a little weight
"Keeping about even, I guess He had been sick in the past three years and was down to almost the normal weight for a man his sizeConn didn't know his fatherConn wasn't even a first sergeant in 'thirty-sevenYou didn't quit the Army to organize companies when you were a staff chanel handbags collection sergeantAbruptly Hearn realized that Conn had not whored with Generals Caldwell and Simmons in Washington, oh, possibly once he'd had a drink with them, or more likely he'd served under them as a noncom before the war but the whole thing was pathetic, and a little disgustingConn, the big operatorEven now the watery sagging eyes, the paunch, the mottled bulbous nose, were staring at him with sinceritySure he knew Bill HearnIf they put Conn on the rack, he'd die swearing he knew him, believing he knew him
"I'll tell you what, when you see Bill Hearn again, you tell him you saw me, or write to him, tell him that
What had gone on in Conn's head for twenty years in the Army? Or particularly the last five when he had discovered he could swim as an officer?
Pop! went Dalleson's carbineWhy don't you look him up? He'll be glad to see youI'd kinda like to see him chanel white watch agai