INDUSTRIAL NEW JERSEY & GEORGIA The only abnormality is the incapacity to love. —ANAÏS NIN ‘THE MAYOR CAN go straight to hell. I mean, who does he think he is? You don’t just cancel on a dinner party that’s been planned for six weeks! The whole reason for the goddam party in the first place was so the mayor could meet all those boring assholes. And my husband, that painintheassbastard, you know what he said to me? He said, “Handle it.” I’ll give him something to handle, the miserable prick.’Georgia paces and smokes like a nervous chimney. Mr Hartley told me to be here at four o’clock. I’m gonna get a hundred dollars. Plus a tip, of course. If I get the job done.TV’s on low, so you can barely hear excited people winning more money. A painting of a schooner that looks like it’s from a starving-artist sale sails on the wall. An envelope on a dresser whispers my name.Georgia lights a new cigarette off the cherry of the one she holds, while another smolders from the ashtray.
