F. Scott Fitzgerald

“ DORIS. I never heard of a mailman being good.
JERRY. They’re mostly all good. Some professions anybody can get into them, like business or politics for instance, but you take postmen—they’re like angels, they sort of pick ’em out. [Witheringly.] They not only pick ’em out—they select ’em.
FISH [fascinated] . And you’re the best one.
JERRY [modestly] . Yes, I’m the best one they ever had. [He looks over the letters.] Now here’s what I call a clever ad. Delivered a lot of these this morning. Children like ’em, you know. They’re from the carpet company. ”

“ She goes to the door and opens it. The figure of the new postman is outlined in the doorway against the morning sky. It is Jerry Frost.
But for a particular reason neither Doris nor Joseph Fish recognize him. He is utterly changed. In the gray uniform his once flabby figure appears firm, erect—even defiant. His chin is up—the office stoop has gone. When he speaks his voice is full of confidence, with perhaps a touch of scorn at the conglomerate weaknesses of humanity.
JERRY. Good morning. Would you like some mail? ”

“ Doris goes to the window.
DORIS. It’s only the postman.
FISH. I never heard a postman with a whistle like that.
DORIS. He must be a new one on this beat. That’s too bad. The old one used to give me my mail wherever I met him, even if he was four or five blocks from my house. ”

“ DORIS. Some vampire was sitting on his lap in a café. [Charlotte moans.] But it does show that if you do have the dives combed, you can find ’em. That’s what this woman did....There’s where most men go when they wander out like that.
CHARLOTTE. Oh, no, Jerry wouldn’t go to the dives, or the—the morgue, either. He’s never drank or done anything like that till that night. He’s always been so mild and patient.
This is a new note from Charlotte.
DORIS [after a thoughtful pause] . Maybe he’s gone to Hollywood to go in the movies. They say a lot of lost men turn up there. ”

“ DORIS. No, not exactly that, but it just sort of makes me uncomfortable, Charlotte, to know that you can’t throw over the man you’ve got without causing a lot of talk. Suppose he took to drink or something. You know everybody can’t get rid of their husbands as easy as you did.
CHARLOTTE. One husband was always enough for me. ”

“ But when a fella wanders out tight after drinking some of this stuff, you can’t tell where you’ll find him. Let me tell you, Charlotte, I’ve had more experience with this sort of thing than you have.
CHARLOTTE. The detective is coming to report this morning.
DORIS. Has he been combing the dives? You ought to have him comb the dives, Charlotte. I saw a picture last week that ought to be a lesson to any woman that loses her husband in a funny way like this. The woman in this picture lost her husband and she just combed the dives and—there he was. ”

“ She rings off and stands silently by the table. The storm reaches its height. Simultaneously with a terrific burst of thunder that sets the windows rattling the front door blows open suddenly, letting in a heavy gust of rain. ”

“ I wish I had now. And my sister here and her fellow went away. Then I went to bed, and it seems to me I could hear Jerry talking to himself in his sleep all night. I woke up about twelve, and he was saying something loud, and I told him to shut the door, because I could smell that awful sympathetic gin way up-stairs.
THE DETECTIVE. Yes.
CHARLOTTE. And that’s all. When I came down next morning at seven, he was gone.
THE DETECTIVE [rising] . Well, Mrs. Frost, if your man can be located, I’m going to locate him.
DORIS. Have you thought of combing the dives?
THE DETECTIVE. What? ”

“ DORIS. It’s gum. I thought I asked you not to chew gum. It doesn’t look clean-cut for a man to be chewing gum. You haven’t got any sense of what’s nice, Joseph. See here, suppose I was at a reception and went up to Mrs. ”