Великий Гэтсби

           "Goodnight,Nick,"saidDaisy.

           Herglanceleftmeandsoughtthelightedtopofthesteps,whereThreeO’clockintheMorning,aneat,sadlittlewaltzofthatyear,wasdriftingouttheopendoor.Afterall,intheverycasualnessofGatsby’spartytherewereromanticpossibilitiestotallyabsentfromherworld.Whatwasitupthereinthesongthatseemedtobecallingherbackinside?Whatwouldhappennowinthedim,incalculablehours?Perhapssomeunbelievableguestwouldarrive,apersoninfinitelyrareandtobemarvelledat,someauthenticallyradiantyounggirlwhowithonefreshglanceatGatsby,onemomentofmagicalencounter,wouldblotoutthosefiveyearsofunwaveringdevotion.

           Istayedlatethatnight,Gatsbyaskedmetowaituntilhewasfree,andIlingeredinthegardenuntiltheinevitableswimmingpartyhadrunup,chilledandexalted,fromtheblackbeach,untilthelightswereextinguishedintheguest-roomsoverhead.Whenhecamedownthestepsatlastthetannedskinwasdrawnunusuallytightonhisface,andhiseyeswerebrightandtired.

           "Shedidn’tlikeit,"hesaidimmediately.

           "Ofcourseshedid."

           "Shedidn’tlikeit,"heinsisted."Shedidn’thaveagoodtime."

           Hewassilent,andIguessedathisunutterabledepression.

           "Ifeelfarawayfromher,"hesaid."It’shardtomakeherunderstand."

           "Youmeanaboutthedance?"