Confidential File

But in those days I could tell by the way he said it that Plain Bill was damn well worried. He was just covering up for Nancy.

I could also determine, by the merest inflection in her voice, that Myrt was really mad at Marge for carrying on with that saxophone player and was just not saying anything about it.

But my talent as a listener has diminished to the vanishing point. I realized that when I tuned in on soap opera the other day.

Of
course, it should be said in my behalf that I tuned in late. And even
if you come in at the beginning it’s difficult to unravel the story of
the tangled lives involved.

At any rate, the male lead had a deep, syrupy voice that had to be Don Ameche.
He was talking, but mostly listening, to the feminine lead, whose name,
I think, was Melinda. Things, he was telling her, would improve.

Things, she was telling him, better improve.

"I’m
sick of this ‘backstreet’ life," was the way she put it. "Sick of it.
Are you ashamed of me? Do you have to hide me from people?"

"Darling,"
he whispered in that persuasive voice he once used to tell Mr. Watson
to come here, "you know I’m not ashamed of you. You know I don’t LIKE
to hide you from people. I’d LIKE to shout it from the rooftops."

"Don’t do me any favors," she said, in effect. "Don’t shout it from rooftops. Just tell Cara about us."

Well,
it doesn’t take a bomb to fall on me. I figured that neat, little
mathematical design out in a hurry. Wife, husband and girlfriend.

After the commercial, the plot thickened to the consistency of glue. Melinda went to Don Ameche’s
house while Cara was away for the evening. She wanted to prove to him
that she could whip him up a dinner just like any housewife. And she
had to clean up the dishes and get out before Cara came home. I mean,
how would it look?

As if that situation weren’t bad enough, I got the impression through further snatches of dialogue that Don Ameche wasn’t really married to Cara. Of course, it was just an impression. I don’t know it for a fact.

However,
rather than get involved in that parlay, I switched the dial to Al
Jarvis. I don’t understand him either. But, at least, he keeps his nose
clean.