ERNIE AND ERNESTINA: The Writer, His Wife, and their Afterlife
Book One, Part One, Chapter 22: A Novel Connection
Lying on the daybed, Ernie props Joshua against his bent knees. Joshua’s Caribbean-blue eyes glitter in the lamplight. His creamy skin glows.
“Bring all your money to your daddy,” Ernie coos to him.
A strange thing to say to a baby, I think, but Ernie worries about money. Now that there’re three of us, he worries even more. Also, he’s thinking about his real writing. The Marvelous Kingdom of Wee was just a warm-up. “But if I’m ever going to write a novel, I need time, and for that I need a stockpile of money. I’m going to call Carol.”
Carol is married to Spencer, one of Ernie’s fraternity brothers. When Ernie was gathering money for our marriage, he sold an oil painting and a library table to Carol and Spence. They grant Ernie favors because he introduced them, back when Carol wrote for the college newspaper when Ernie was its editor. Carol is the unofficial keeper of the fraternity flame; she knows the names and current addresses of all the brothers. Over the years, she’s met most of them.
At the pre-arranged time, Carol knocks on the front door of the stucco cottage. I recognize her from her college yearbook photo; she still wears her straight brown hair chin length, with bangs.
The four of us — Joshua’s on my lap — settle in the living room.
“What’s for sale today?” Carol asks Ernie. She knows Ernie’s ways.
“A Whistler etching,” Ernie says. “It’s called The Ragpicker.” He takes down the etching from its place of honor in the entrance hall. Carol passed it coming in but didn’t notice it. “It’s from the Vincent Price collection. Janey and I acquired it when he brought his collection to town seven or eight years ago.”
Carol looks it over. “We just bought young Spence a co-op in Chelsea,” she says in her slow, deliberate way. “This would make a lovely housewarming gift. How much?”
Ernie tosses out a number that shocks me.
“Put a SOLD sign on it,” she says. “Now, what have you two been up to, besides making this beautiful baby?”
“I’m free-lancing. Mainly writing speeches, press releases, and articles for a house organ. It pays the bills. But I want to write fiction. You know that.”
“Why don’t you call Andy? He’s writing science fiction these days. My younger son’s a huge fan of his.”
Andy is another fraternity brother.
“When he was sports editor on The Cardinal, he always turned in five times the copy I needed,” Ernie says. “I wonder if he still overwrites.”
“Maybe he gets paid by the word,” Carol says.
“Okay, give me his phone number. Maybe he can help me.”
