Mother Night

39: Resi Noth Bows Out ...

'My only regret,' Dr. Jones said to the boss G-man there on the cellar stairs, 'is that I have but one me to give to my country.'

'Well see if we can't dig up some other regrets for you, too,' said the boss.

Now the Iron Guard of the White Sons of the American Constitution crowded in from the furnace room. Some of the guardsmen were hysterical. The paranoia their parents had been inculcating for years had suddenly paid off. Here was persecution!

One youth clutched the staff on an American flag. He waved it back and forth, banging the eagle on the tip of the staff against overhead pipes.

'This is your country's flag!' he cried.

'We already know that,' said the boss G-man. 'Take it away from him!'

'This day will go down in history!' said Jones.

'Every day goes down in history,' said the boss. 'All right — ' he said, 'where's the man who calls himself George Kraft?'

Kraft raised his hand. He did it almost cheerfully.

'Is that your country's flag, too?' said the boss wryly.

'I'd have to look at it more closely,' said Kraft

'How does it feel to have such a long and distinguished career come to an end?' the boss asked Kraft.

'All careers do end,' said Kraft. 'That's something I've known for a long time.'

'Maybe they'll make a movie of your life,' said the boss.

Kraft smiled. 'Maybe,' he said. 'I would want a lot of money for the rights.'

'There's only one actor who could really play the part, though,' said the boss. 'He might be hard to get.'

'Oh?' said Kraft 'Who is that?'

'Charlie Chaplin,' said the boss. 'Who else could play a spy who was steadily drunk from 1941 until 1948? Who else could play a Russian spy who built an apparatus composed almost entirely of American agents?'

Kraft's urbanity dropped away, revealing him as a pale and puckered old man. 'That's not true!' he said.

'Ask your superiors, if you don't believe me,' said the boss.

'They know?' said Kraft.

'They finally caught on,' said the boss. 'You were on your way home to a bullet in the back of your neck.'

'Why did you save me?' said Kraft

'Call it sentimentality,' said the boss.

Kraft thought his situation over, and schizophrenia rescued him neatly. 'None of this really concerns me,' he said and his urbanity returned.

'Why not?' said the boss.

'Because I'm a painter,' said Kraft 'That's the main thing I am.'

'Be sure to bring your paintbox to prison,' said the boss. He switched his attention to Resi 'You, of course, are Resi Noth,' he said.

'Yes,' she said.

'Have you enjoyed your little stay in our country?' said the boss.

'What am I supposed to say?' said Resi.

'Anything you like,' said the boss. 'If you have any complaints, I'll pass them on to the proper authorities. We're trying to increase the tourist trade from Europe, you know.'

'You say very funny things,' she said unsmilingly. 'I am sorry I can't say funny things back. This is not a funny time for me.'

'I'm sorry to hear that,' said the boss lightly.

'You aren't sorry,' said Resi. I am the only person who is sorry.

'I am sorry I have nothing to live for,' said Resi. 'All I have is love for one man, but that man does not love me. He is so used up that he can't love any more. There is nothing left of him but curiosity and a pair of eyes.

'I can't say anything funny,' said Resi. 'But I can show you something interesting.'

Resi seemed to dab her lip with a finger. What she really did was put a little capsule of cyanide in her mouth.

'I will show you a woman who dies for love,' she said.

Right then and there, Resi Noth pitched into my arms, stone dead.