[Music] the great gatsby by f scott fitzgerald chapter seven it was when curiosity about gatsby was at its highest that the lights in his house failed to go on one saturday night and as obscurely as it had begun his career as tri-matchio was over only gradually did i become aware that the automobiles which turned expectantly into his drive stayed for just a minute and then drove soakily away wondering if he were sick i went over to find out an unfamiliar butler with a villainous face squinted at me suspiciously from the door is mr gaspi sick nope after a pause he added sir in a dilatory grudging way i hadn't seen him around and i was rather worried tell him mr carraway came over who he demanded rudely carry away carrow away alright i'll tell him abruptly he slammed the door my fin informed me that gatsby had dismissed every servant in his house a week ago and replaced them with half a dozen others who never went into west egg village to be bribed by the tradesmen but ordered moderate supplies over the telephone the grocery boy reported that the kitchen looked like a pigsty and the general opinion of the village was that the new people weren't servants at all the next day gaspi called me on the phone going away i inquired no old sport i hear you fired all your servants i wanted somebody who wouldn't gossip daisy comes over quite often in the afternoons so the whole caravan story had fallen in like a card house at the disapproval in her eyes there are some people wolshin wanted to do something for they're all brothers and sisters they used to run a small hotel i see he was calling up at daisy's request would i come to lunch at her house tomorrow miss baker would be there half an hour later daisy herself telephoned and seemed relieved to find that i was coming something was up and yet i couldn't believe that they would choose this occasion for a scene especially for the rather harrowing scene that gatsby had outlined in the garden the next day was broiling almost the last certainly the warmest of the summer as my train emerged from the tunnel into sunlight only the hot whistles of the national biscuit company broke the simmering hush at noon the straw seats of the car hovered on the edge of combustion the woman next to me perspired delicately for a while into her white shirt waist and then as her newspaper dampered under her fingers last daringly into deep heat with a desolate cry her pocketbook slapped to the floor oh ma she gasped i picked it up with a weary bend and handed it back to her holding it at arm's length and by the extreme tip of the corners to indicate that i had no designs upon it but everyone nearby including the woman suspected me just the same aha said the conductor to familiar faces some weather hot hot hot is it hot enough for you is it hot is it my commutation ticket came back to me with the dark stain from his hand that anyone should care in this heat whose flushed lips he kissed whose head made damp the pajama pocket over his heart through the hall of the buchanan's house blew a faint wind carrying the sound of the telephone bell out to gatsby and me as we waited at the door the master's body rode the butler into the mouthpiece i'm sorry madam but we can't furnish it it's far too hot to touch this noon what he really said was yes yes i'll see he sat down the receiver and came toward us glistening slightly to take our stiff straw hats madame expects you in the salon he cried needlessly indicating the direction in this heat every extra gesture was an affront to the common store of life the room shadowed well with awning was dark and cool daisy and jordan lay upon an enormous couch like silver idols weighing down their own white dresses against the singing breeze of fans we can't move they said together jordan's fingers powdered white over their tan rested for a moment in and mr thomas buchanan the athlete i inquired simultaneously i heard his voice gruff muffled husky at the hall telephone gatsby stood in the center of the crimson carpet and gazed around with fascinated eyes daisy watched him and laughed her sweet exciting laugh a tiny gust of powder rose from her bosom into the air the rumor is whispered jordan that that's tom's girl on the telephone we were silent the voice in the hall rose high with annoyance very well then i won't say the car at all i am under no obligations to you at all and as for your bothering me about it at lunchtime i won't stand for that at all holding down the receiver said daisy cynically no he's not i assured her it's a bona fide deal i happen to know about it tom flung open the door blocked out its space for a moment with his thick body and hurried into the room mr gatsby he put out his broad flat hand with well concealed dislike i'm glad to see you sir nick make us a cold drink cried daisy as he left the room again she got up and went over to gatsby and pulled his face down kissing him on the mouth you know i love you she murmured you forget there's a lady present said jordan you kiss nick too what a low vulgar girl i don't care cried daisy and began to clog on the brick fireplace then she remembered the heat and sat down guiltily on the couch just as a freshly laundered nurse leading a little girl came into the room bless said precious she crooned holding out her arms come to your own mother that loves you the child relinquished by the nurse rushed across the room and rooted shyly into her mother's dress the blessed precious did mother get powder on your yellowy hair stand up now and say how'd he do gaspi and i in turn leaned down and took the small reluctant hand afterward he kept looking at the child with surprise i don't think he'd ever really believed in its existence before i got dressed before luncheon said the child turning eagerly to daisy that's because your mother wanted to show you off her face bend into the single wrinkle of the small white neck you dream you you absolute little dream yes admitted the child calmly aunt jordan's got on a white dress too how do you like your mother's friends daisy turned her around so that she faced gatsby do you think they're pretty where's daddy she doesn't look like her father explain daisy she looks like me she's got my hair and shape of the face daisy sat back upon the couch the nurse took a step forward and held out her hand come pammy goodbye sweetheart with a reluctant backward glance the well-disciplined child held to her nurse's hand was pulled out the door just as tom came back preceding four gym rickey's that clinked full of ice gatsby took up his drink they certainly look cool he said with visible tension we drank in long greedy swallows i read somewhere that the sun's getting hotter every year said tom gina lee it seems that pretty soon the earth's gonna fall into the sun or wait a minute it's just the opposite the sun's getting colder every year come outside he suggested to gatsby i'd like you to have a look at the place i went with them out to the veranda on the green sound stagnant in the heat one small sail crawled slowly towards the fresher sea gaspy's eyes followed it momentarily he raised his glass and pointed across the bay i'm right across from you so you are our eyes lifted over the rose beds and the hot lawn and the weedy refuse of the dark days along the shore slowly the white wings of the boat moved against the blue cool limit of the sky ahead lay the scalloped ocean and the abounding blessed isles their sport view said tom nodding i'd like to be out there with him for about an hour we had luncheon in the dining room darkened too against the heat and drank down nervous gaiety with the cold ale what will we do with ourselves this afternoon cried daisy and the day after that and the next 30 years don't be morbid jordan said life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall but it's so hot insisted daisy on the verge of tears and everything so confused let's all go to town her voice struggled on through the heat beating against it molding its senselessness into forms i've heard of making a garage out of a stable tom was saying to gatsby but i'm the first man who ever made a stable out of a garage who wants to go to town demanded daisy insistently gatsby's eyes floated towards her ah she cried you look so cool their eyes met and they stared at each other alone in space with an effort she glanced down at the table you always look so cool she repeated she had told him that she loved him and tom buchanan saw he was astounded his mouth opened a little and he looked at gatsby and then back at daisy as if he had just recognized her as someone he knew a long time ago you resemble the advertisement of the man she went on innocently you know the advertisement of the man alright broken tom quickly i'm perfectly willing to go to town come on we're all going to town he got up his eyes still flashing between gatsby and his wife no one moved come on his temper cracked a little what's the matter anyhow if we're going to town let's start his hand trembling with his effort at self-control portrays lips the last of his glass of ale daisy's voice got us to our feet and out onto the blazing gravel drive are we just going to go she objected like this aren't we going to let anyone smoke a cigarette first everyone smoked all through lunch oh let's have fun she begged him it's too hot to fuss he didn't answer have it your way she said come on jordan they went upstairs to get ready while we three men stood there shuffling the hot pebbles with our feet a silver curve of the moon hovered already in the western sky gatsby started to speak changed his mind but not before tom wheeled and faced him expectantly have you got your stables here asked gatsby with an effort about a quarter of a mile down the road oh a pass i don't see the idea of going to town broke out tom savagely women get these notions in their heads shall we take anything to drink call daisy from an upper window i'll get some whiskey answered tom he went inside gaspi turned to me rigidly i can't say anything in this household sport she's got an indiscreet voice i remarked it's full of i hesitated her voice is full of money he said suddenly that was it i'd never understood it before it was full of money that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it the jingle of it the symbols is song of it high in a white palace the king's daughter the golden girl tom came out of the house wrapping a quart bottle in a towel followed by daisy and jordan wearing small tight hats of metallic cloth and carrying light capes over their arms shall we go in my car gaspi suggested he felt the hot green leather of the seat i ought to have left it in the shade is it standard shift demanded tom yes well you take my coupee and let me drive your car to town this suggestion was distasteful to gatsby i don't think there's much gas he objected plenty of gas said tom boisterously he looked at the gauge and if it runs out i can stop at a drugstore you can buy anything at a drugstore nowadays a pause followed this apparently pointless remark daisy looked at tom frowning and an indefinable expression at once definitely unfamiliar and vaguely recognizable as if i had only heard it described in words passed over gatsby's face come on daisy said tom pressing her with his hands towards gaspi's car i'll take you in this circus wagon he opened the door but she moved from the circle of his arm you take nick and jordan we'll follow you in the coupe she walked close to gatsby touching his coat with her hand jordan and tom and i got into the front seat of gatsby's car tom pushed the unfamiliar gears tentatively and we shot off into the oppressive heat leaving them out of sight behind did you see that demanded tom see what he looked at me keenly realizing that jordan and i must have known all along you think i'm pretty dumb don't you he suggested uh perhaps i am but i have a almost a second sight sometimes that tells me what to do maybe you don't believe that but science he paused the immediate contingency overlooked him pulled him back from the edge of the theoretical abyss i've made a small investigation of this fellow he continued i could have gone deeper if i'd known do you mean you've been to a medium inquired jordan humorously what confused he stared at us as we laughed a medium about gatsby about gatsby no i haven't i said i've been making a small investigation of his past and you found out he was an oxford man said jordan helpfully at oxford man he was incredulous like hell he is he wears a pink suit nevertheless he's an oxford man oxford new mexico snorted tom contemptuously or something like that listen tom if you're such a snob why did you invite him to lunch demanded jordan crossley daisy invited him to lunch she knew him before we were married god knows where we were all irritable now with the fading ale and aware of it we drove for a while in silence then as dr t.j eckelberg's faded eyes came into sight down the road i remembered gaspi's caution about gasoline we've got enough to get us to town said tom but there's a garage right here objected jordan i don't want to get stalled in this baking heat tom threw on both brakes impatiently and we slid into an abrupt dusty stop under wilson's sign after a moment the proprietor emerged from the interior of his establishment and gazed hollow eyes at the car let's have some gas cried tom roughly what do you think we stopped for to admire the view i'm sick said wilson without moving i've been sick all day what's the matter i'm run down well shall i help myself tom demanded you sounded well enough on the phone with an effort wilson left the shade and the support of the doorway and breathing hard unscrewed the cap of the tank in the sunlight his face was green i didn't mean to interrupt your lunch he said but i need money pretty bad i was wondering what you were going to do with your old car how do you like this one tom inquired i bought it last week it's a nice yellow one said winston as he strained the handle like to buy it big chance wilson smiled faintly no but i could make some money on the other what do you want the money for all of a sudden i've been here too long i want to get away my wife and i want to go west your wife does exclaimed tom startled she's been talking about it for 10 years he'd rested for a moment against the pump shading his eyes and now she's going whether she wants to or not i'm going to get her away the coupe flashed by us with a flurry of dust and a flash of a waving hand what do i owe you demanded tom harshly i just wised up to something funny the last two days remarked wilson that's why i want to get away that's why i've been bothering you about the car what do i owe you dollar twenty the relentless beating heat was beginning to confuse me and i had a bad moment there before i realized that so far his suspicion hadn't alighted on tom he had discovered that myrtle had some sort of life apart from him in another world and the shock had made him physically sick i stared at him and then at tom who made a parallel discovery less than an hour before and it occurred to me that there was no difference between the men in intelligence or race so profound is the difference between the sick and the well wilson was so sick that he looked guilty unforgivably guilty as if he had just got some poor girl with the child i'll let you have that car said tom i'll send it over tomorrow afternoon that locality was always vaguely disquieting even in the broad glare of afternoon and now i turned my head as though i had been warned of something behind over the ash heaps the giant eyes of dr t.j eckleburk kept their vigil but i perceived after a moment that the other eyes were regarding us with a peculiar intensity from less than 20 feet away in one of the windows over my garage the curtains had been moved aside a little and myrtle wilson was peering down at the car so engrossed was she that she had no consciousness of being observed and one emotion after another crept into her face like objects into a slowly developing picture her expression was curiously familiar it was an expression i had often seen on women's faces but on myrtle wilson's face it seemed purposeless and inexplicable until i realized that her eyes wide with jealous terror were fixed not on tom but on jordan baker whom she took to be his wife there is no confusion like the confusion of a simple mind and as we drove away tom was feeling the hot whips of panic his wife and his mistress until an hour ago secure and in volatile were slipping precipitately from his control instinct made him step on the accelerator with the double purpose of overtaking daisy and leaving wilson behind and we sped along towards astoria at 50 miles an hour until among the spidery girders of the elevated we came in sight of the easy-going blue coupe those big movies around 50th street are cool suggested jordan i love new york on summer afternoons when everyone's away there's something very sensuous about it over ripe as if all sorts of funny fruits were going to fall into your hands the word senuous had the effect of further disquieting tom but before he could invent a protest the coupe came to a stop and daisy signaled us to draw up alongside where are we going she cried how about the movies it's too hot she complained you go we'll ride around and meet you after with an effort her wit rose faintly we'll meet you on some corner i'll be the man smoking two cigarettes we can't argue about it here tom said impatiently as a truck gave out a cursing whistle behind us you follow me to the south side of central park in front of the plaza several times he turned his head and looked back for their car and if the traffic delayed them he slowed up until they came into sight i think he was afraid they would dart down a sight street and out of his life forever but they didn't and we all took the less explicable step of engaging the parlor of a suite in the plaza hotel the prolonged and tumultuous argument that ended by us headed into that room eludes me though i have a sharp physical memory that in the course of it my underwear kept climbing like a damp snake around my leg and the infinite beads of sweat raced cool across my back the notion originated with a daisy's suggestion that we hire five bathrooms and take cold baths and then assumed more tangible form as a place to have a mint julep each of us said over and over that it was a crazy idea and we all talked at once to a baffled clerk and thought or pretended to think that we were being very funny the room was large and stifling and though it was already four o'clock opening the windows admitted only a gust of hot shrubbery from the park daisy went to the mirror and stood with her back to us fixing her hair it's a swell sweet whispered jordan respectfully and everyone laughed open another window commanded daisy without turning around there aren't any more well we better telephone for an act the thing to do is to forget about the heat said tom impatiently you make it 10 times worse by crabbing about it he unrolled the bottle of whiskey from the towel and put it on the table why not let her alone old sport remarked gatsby you're the one that wanted to come to town there was a moment of silence the telephone book slipped from its nail and splashed to the floor whereupon jordan whispered excuse me but this time no one laughed i'll pick it up i offered i've got it gaspi examined the parted string muttered in an interested way and tossed the book on a chair that's a great expression of yours isn't it said tom sharply what is all this old sport business where'd you pick that up now see here tom said daisy turning around from the mirror if you're going to make personal remarks i won't stay here a minute call up and order some ice for the mint julep as tom took up the receiver the compressed heat exploded into sound and we were listening to the pretentious chords of mendelssohn's wedding march from the ballroom below imagine marrying anybody in this heat cried jordan dismally still i was married in the middle of june daisy remembered louisville in june somebody fainted who was it fainted tom biloxi he answered shortly a man named biloxi blocks biloxi and he made boxes that's a fact and he was from biloxi tennessee they carried him into my house appended jordan because we lived two doors from the church and he stayed three weeks until daddy told him he had to get out the day after he left daddy died after a moment she added as if she might have sounded a reverend there wasn't any connection i used to know a bill bloxy from memphis i remarked that was his cousin i knew his whole family history before he left he gave me an aluminum putter that i used today the music had died down as the ceremony began and now a long cheer floated into the window followed by an intermittent crisis yeah and finally a burst of jazz as the dancing began we're getting old said daisy if we were young we'd rise and dance remember biloxi jordan warned her where'd you know him tom biloxi he concentrated with an effort i didn't know him he was a friend of daisies he was not she denied i'd never seen him before he came down in the private car well he said he knew you he said he was raised in louisville ace a bird brought him around at last minute and asked if we had room for him jordan smiled he was probably bunning his way home he told me he was president of your class at yale tom and i looked at each other blankly biloxi first place we didn't have any president gaspy's foot be a short restless tattoo and tom item suddenly by the way mr gaspi i understand you're an oxford man no exactly oh yes i understand you went to oxford yes i went there a pause then tom's voice incredulous and insulting you must have gone there about the same time biloxi went to new haven another pause a waiter knocked and came in with crushed mint and ice but the silent was unbroken by his thank you and the soft closing of the door this tremendous detail was to be cleared up at last i told you i went there said gatsby i heard you but i'd like to know when it was in 1919 i only stayed five months that's why i can't really call myself an oxford man tom glanced around to see if we mirrored his unbelief but we were all looking at gatsby it was an opportunity they gave some of the offices after the armistice he continued we could go to any of the universities in england or france i wanted to get up and slap him on the back i had one of those renewals of complete faith in him that i experienced before daisy rose smiling fatally and went to the table open the whiskey tom she ordered and i'll make you a mint julep then you won't seem so stupid to yourself look at the mint wait a minute snap tom i want to ask mr gatsby one more question go on gatsby said politely what kind of a row are you trying to cause in my house anyhow they were out in the open at last and gatsby was content he isn't causing a row daisy looks desperately from one to the other you're causing a row please have a little self-control self-control repeated tom incredulously i suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let mr nobody from nowhere make love to your wife well if that's the idea you can count me out nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions and next they'll throw everything overboard and have inner marriages between black and white flushed with his impassioned gibberish he saw himself standing alone on the last barrier of civilization we're all white here murmur jordan i know i'm not very popular i don't give big parties i suppose you've got to make your house into a pigsty in order to have any friends in the modern world angry as i was as we all were i was tempted to laugh whenever he opened his mouth the transition from libertine to prick was so complete i've got something to tell you old sport began gatsby but daisy guested his intention please don't she interrupted helplessly please let's all go home why don't we go home that's a good idea i got up come on tom nobody wants a drink i want to know what mr gatsby has to tell me your wife doesn't love you said gatsby she's never loved you she loves me you must be crazy exclaimed tom automatically she's never loved you do you hear he cried she only married you because i was poor and she was tired of waiting for me it was a terrible mistake but in her heart she never loved anyone except me at this point jordan and i tried to go but tom and gatsby insisted with competitive firmness that we remained as though neither of them had anything to conceal and it would be a privilege to partake vicariously through their emotions sit down daisy tom's voice groped unsuccessfully for the paternal note what's been going on i want to hear all about it i told you what's been going on said gatsby going on for five years and you didn't know tom turned to daisy sharply you've been seeing this fellow for five years not seeing said gatsby no we couldn't meet but both of us loved each other all that time old sport and you didn't know i used to laugh sometimes but there was no laughter in his eyes to think that you didn't know oh that's all tom tapped his fingers together like a clergyman and leaned back in his chair you're crazy he exploded i can't speak about what happened five years ago because i didn't know daisy then and i'll be damned if i see how you got within a mile of her unless you brought the groceries to the back door but all the rest of that's a god damn lie daisy loved me when she married me and she loves me now no said gatsby shaking his head she does though the trouble is that sometimes she gets foolish ideas in her head and doesn't know what she's doing he nodded sagely and what's more i love daisy too once in a while i go off on a spree and make a fool of myself but i always come back and in my heart i love her all the time you're revolting said daisy she turned to me and her voice dropping an octave lower filled the room with a thrilling scorn do you know why we left chicago i'm surprised they didn't treat you to the story of that little spree gaspi walked over and stood beside her daisy that's all over now he said earnestly it doesn't matter anymore just tell him the truth that you never loved him and it's all wiped out forever she looked at him blindly why how could i love him possibly you never loved him she hesitated her eyes fell on jordan and me with a sort of appeal as though she realized at last what she was doing and as though she had never all along intended doing anything at all but it was done now it was too late i never loved him she said with perceptible reluctance not at capiolani demanded tom suddenly no not that day i carried you from the punch bowl to keep your shoes dry there was a husky tenderness in his tone daisy please don't her voice was cold but the rancor was gone from it she looked at gatsby there jay she said but her hand as she tried to light a cigarette was trembling suddenly she threw the cigarette and the burning match on the carpet oh you want too much she cried to gatsby i love you now isn't that enough i can't help what's passed she began to sob helplessly i did love him once but i loved you too gaspy's eyes opened and closed he loved me too he repeated even that's a lie said tom savagely shouldn't know you were alive why there are things between daisy and me that you'll never know things that neither of us can ever forget the words seem to bite physically into gatsby i want to speak to daisy alone he insisted she's all excited now even alone i can't say i never left tom she admitted in a pitiful voice it wouldn't be true of course it wouldn't agreed tom she turned to her husband as if it mattered to you she said of course it matters i'm going to take better care of you from now on you don't understand said gaspi with a touch of panic you're not going to take care of her anymore i'm not tom opened his eyes wide and laughed he could afford to control himself now why is that daisy's leaving you nonsense i am though she said with a visible effort she's not leaving me tom's words suddenly leaned down over gatsby certainly not for a common swindler who'd have to steal the ring he put on her finger i won't stand this cried daisy oh please let's get out who are you anyhow broke out tom you're one of that bunch that hangs around with meyer wolsheim that much i happen to know i've made a little investigation into your affairs and i'll carry it further tomorrow you can suit yourself about that old sport said gatsby steadily i found out what your drug stores were he turned to us and spoke rapidly he and this wolfsheim brought up a lot of streetside drugstores here in chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter that's one of his little stunts i picked him for a bootlegger the first time i saw him and i wasn't far wrong what about it said gaspi politely i guess your friend walter chase wasn't too proud to come in on it and you left him in the lurch didn't you you let him go to jail for a month over a new jersey god you want to hear walter on the subject of you he came to us dead broke he was very glad to pick up some money old sport don't you call me old sport cried tom gaspy said nothing walter could have you up on the betting laws too but wolsham scared him into shutting his mouth that unfamiliar yet recognizable look was back in gatsby's face that drugstore business was just small change continued tom slowly but you've got something on now that walter is afraid to tell me about i glanced at daisy who was staring terrified between gaspy and her husband and at jordan who had begun to balance an invisible but absorbing object on the tip of her chin then i turned back to gatsby and was startled at his expression he looked and this is said in all contempt for the babbled slander of his garden as if he'd killed a man for a moment the set of his face could be described in just that fantastic way it passed and he began to talk excitedly to daisy denying everything defending his name against accusations that had not been made but with every word she was drawing further and further into herself so he gave that up and only the dead dream fought on as the afternoon slipped away trying to touch what was no longer tangible struggling unhappily undespairingly toward that lost voice across the room please tom i can't stand this anymore her frightened eyes told that whatever intention whatever courage she had were definitely gone you two start on home daisy said tom in gatsby's car she looked at tom alarmed now but he insisted with magnanimous scorn go on he won't annoy you i think he realizes that his presumptuous little flirtation is over they were gone without a word snapped out made accidental isolated like ghosts even from our pity after a moment tom got up and began wrapping the unopened bottle of whiskey in a towel want any of this stuff jordan nick i didn't answer nick he asked again what want any no i just remembered that today is my birthday i was thirty before me stretched the portentous menacing road of a new decade it was seven o'clock when we got on the coupe with him and started the long island tom talked incessantly exalting and laughing but his voice was as remote from jordan and me as the foreign clamor on the sidewalk or the tumult of the elevated overhead human sympathy has its limits and we were content to let all their tragic arguments fade with the city lights behind 30. the promise of a decade of loneliness a thinning list of single men to know a thinning briefcase of enthusiasm thinning hair but there was jordan beside me who unlike daisy was too wise ever to carry well forgotten dreams from age to age as we passed over the dark bridge her when face fell lazily against my coat shoulder and the formidable stroke of 30 died away with the reassuring pressure of her hand so we drove on toward death through the cooling twilight the young greek mickey hales who ran the coffee joint beside the ash heaps was the principal witness at the inquest he had slept through the heat until after five when he stalled over to the garage and found george wilson sick in his office really sick pale as his own pale hair and shaking all over mickey ellis advised him to go to bed but wilson refused saying that he'd miss a lot of business if he did while his neighbor was trying to persuade him a violent racket broke out overhead i've got my wife locked up there explained wilson calmly she's going to stay there till after tomorrow and then we're going to move away michaelis was astonished they had been neighbors for four years and wilson never seemed faintly capable of such a statement generally he was one of those worn out men when he wasn't working he sat in a chair in the doorway and stared at people in their cars that passed along the road when anyone spoke to him he invariably laughed in an agreeable colorless way he was his wife's man and not his own so naturally michaelis tried to find out what happened but wilson wouldn't say a word instead he began to throw curious suspicious glances at his visitor and ask him what he had been doing at certain times on certain days just as the latter was getting uneasy some workmen came past the door bound for his restaurant and michiales took the opportunity to get away intending to come back later but he didn't he supposed he forgot to that's all when he came outside again a little after seven he was reminded of the conversation because he heard mrs wilson's voice loud and scalding downstairs in the garage beat me he heard her cry throw me down and beat me you dirty little coward a moment later she rushed out into the dusk waving her hands and shouting before he could move from his door the business was over the death car as the newspapers called it didn't stop it came out of the gathering darkness wavered tragically for a moment and then disappeared around the next bend michaelis wasn't even sure of its color he told the first policeman that it was light green the other car the one going toward new york came to a rest a hundred yards beyond and his driver hurried back to her myrtle wilson her life violently extinguished knelt in the road and mingled her thick dark blood with the dust mickey ellis and this man reached her first but when they tore open her shirt waist still damp with perspiration they saw that the left breast was swinging loose like a flap and that there was no need to listen for the heart beneath the mouth was wide open and ripped at the corners as though she had choked a little in giving up the tremendous vitality she had stored so long we saw the three or four automobiles and the crowd when we were still some distance away wreck said tom that's good wilson will have a little business at last he slowed down but still without any intention of stopping until as we came nearer the hushed intent faces of the people at the garage door made him automatically put on the brakes we'll take a look he said doubtfully just a look i became aware now of a hollow wailing sound which issued incessantly from the garage a sound which as we got out of the coupe and walked towards the door resolved itself in the words of oh my god uttered over and over in a gasping moan there's some bad trouble here said tom excitedly he reached up on tiptoes then peered over a circle of heads into the garage which was lit only by a yellow light in a swinging wire basket overhead then he made a harsh sound in his throat and with a violent thrusting movement of his powerful arms pushed his way through the circle closed up again with a running murmur of ex-postulation it was a minute before i could see anything at all then new arrivals disarranged the line and jordan and i were pushed suddenly inside myrtle wilson's body wrapped in a blanket and then in another blanket as though she suffered from a chill in the hot night lay on a work table by the wall and tom with his back to us was bending over it motionless next to him stood a motorcycle policeman taking down names with much sweat and correction in a little book at first i couldn't find the source of the high groaning words that echoed clamorously through the bear garage then i saw wilson standing on the race threshold of his office swaying back and forth and holding to the doorpost with both hands some man was talking to him in a low voice and attempting from time to time to lay a hand on his shoulder but wilson neither heard nor saw his eyes would drop slowly from the swinging light to the laden table by the wall and then jerk back to the light again and he gave out incessantly his high horrible call oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god presently tom lifted his head with a jerk and after staring around the garage with glazed eyes addressed a mumbled incoherent remark to the policeman m a v the policeman was saying o no r corrected the man m-a-v-r-o listen to me mother tom fiercely ah said the policeman oh g g he looked up as tom's broad hand fell sharply on his shoulder what do you want fella what happened that's what i want to know otto hid her instantly killed instantly killed repeated tom staring she ran out in a road son of a didn't even stop his car there was two cars said mickey ellis one coming one going see going where asked the policeman keenly one going each way well she his hand rose towards the blanket but stopped halfway and felt with sight she ran out there and the one coming from new york knock right into her groin 30 40 miles an hour what's the name of this place here demanded the officer it hasn't got any name a pale well-dressed negro stepped near it was a yellow car he said big yellow car new see the accident asked the policeman no but the car passed me down the road going faster than 40. going 50 60. come here and let's have your name look out now i want to get his name some words of this conversation must have reached wilson swaying in the office door for suddenly a new theme found voice among his gasping cries you don't have to tell me what kind of car it was i know what kind of car it was watching tom i saw the wad of muscle back of his shoulder titan under his coat he walked quickly over to wilson and standing in front of him seized him firmly by the upper arms you've got to pull yourself together he said with soothing gruffness wilson's eyes fell upon tom he started up on his tiptoes and then he would have collapsed to his knees had tom not held him up right listen said tom shaking him a little i just got here a minute ago from new york i was bringing you that coupe we've been talking about that yellow car i was driving this afternoon wasn't mine do you hear i haven't seen it all afternoon only the negro and i were near enough to hear what he said but the policeman caught something in the tone and looked over with translucent eyes what's all that he demanded i'm a friend of his tom turned his head but kept his hands firm on wilson's body he says he knows the car that did it it was a yellow car some dim impulse moved the policeman to look suspiciously at tom and what color is your car it's a blue car a coupe we've come straight from new york i said someone who had been driving a little behind us confirmed this and the policeman turned away now if you'll let me have that name again correct picking up wilson like a doll tom carried him into the office and set him down at a chair and came back if somebody will come here and sit with him he snaps authoritatively he watched while two men standing closest glanced at each other and went unwillingly into the room then tom shut the door on them and came down the single step his eyes avoiding the table as he passed close to me he whispered let's get out self-consciously with his authoritative arms breaking away we pushed through the still gathering crowd passing a hurried doctor case in hand who had been sent for in wild hope half an hour ago tom drove slowly until we were beyond the bend then his foot came down hard and the koopa raced through the night in a little while i heard a low husky sob and saw that the tears were overflowing down his face the god damn coward he whimpered he didn't even stop his car the buchanan's house floated suddenly towards us through the dark rustling trees tom stopped beside the porch and looked up at the second floor where two windows bloomed with light among the vines daisy's home he said as we got out of the car he glanced at me and frowned slightly ah to have dropped you in west egg nick there's nothing we can do tonight a change had come over him and he spoke gravely and with decision as we walked across the moonlight gravel to the porch he disposed of the situation in a few brisk phrases no telephone for a taxi to take you home and while you're waiting you and jordan better go in the kitchen and have them get you some supper if you want any he opened the door come in no thanks but i'll be glad if you order me a taxi i'll wait outside jordan put her hand on my arm won't you come in nick no thanks i was feeling a little sick and i wanted to be alone but jordan lingered for a moment more but it's only half past nine she said i'd be damned if i go in i had enough of all of them for one day and suddenly that included jordan too she must have seen something of this in my expression for she turned abruptly away and ran up the porch steps into the house i sat down for a few minutes with my head in my hands until i heard a phone taken up inside and the butler's voice calling a taxi then i walked slowly down the drive away from the house intending to wait by the gate i hadn't gone 20 yards when i heard my name and gatsby stepped from between two bushes in the path i must have felt pretty weird by that time because i could think of nothing except the lumosity of his pink suit under the moon what are you doing i inquired just standing here hold spot somehow that seemed a despicable occupation for all i knew he was going to rob the house in a moment i wouldn't have been surprised to see sinister faces the faces of wolshine's people behind him in the dark shrubbery did you see any trouble on the road he asked after a minute yes he hesitated what's was she killed yes i thought so i told daisy i thought so it's better that the shock should all come at once she stood it pretty well he spoke as if daisy's reaction was the only thing that mattered i got to west egg by a side road he went on and left the car in my garage i don't think anybody saw us but of course i can't be sure i disliked him so much by this time that i didn't find it necessary to tell him he was wrong who was the woman he inquired her name was wilson her husband owned the garage how the devil did it happen well i tried to swing the wheel he broke off and suddenly i guessed the truth was a daisy driving yes he said after a moment but of course i'll say i was you see when we left new york she was very nervous and she thought it would steady her to drive and this woman rushed out at us just as we were passing a car coming the other way it all happened in a minute but it seemed to me that she wanted to speak to us thought we were somebody she knew well first daisy turned away from the woman towards the other car and then she lost her nerve and turned back the second my hand reached the wheel i felt the shock must have killed her instantly it ripped her open don't tell me old sport he winced anyhow daisy stepped on it i tried to make her stop but she couldn't so i pulled on the emergency brake then she fell over into my lap and i drove on she'll be all right tomorrow he said presently i'm just going to wait here and see if he tries to bother her about that unpleasantness this afternoon she's locked herself in her room and if he tries any brutality she's going to turn the light out and not again he won't touch her i said he's not thinking about her i don't trust him old sport how long are you going to wait all night if necessary anyhow till they go to bed a new point of view occurred to me suppose tom found out that daisy had been driving he might think he saw a connection in it he might think anything i looked at the house there were two or three bright windows downstairs and the pink glow from daisy's room on the second floor you wait here i said i'll see if there's any sign of commotion i walked back along the border of the lawn traversed the gravel softly and tiptoed up the veranda steps the drawing room curtains were open and i saw that the room was empty crossing the porch where we had dinner that june 9th three months before i came to a small rectangle of light which i guessed was the pantry window blend was drawn but i found a little rift at the sill daisy and tom were sitting opposite each other at the kitchen table with a plate of cold fried chicken between them and two bottles of ale he was talking intently across the table at her and in his earnestness his hand had fallen upon and covered her own once in a while she looked up at him and nodded in agreement they weren't happy and neither of them had touched the chicken or the ale and yet they weren't unhappy either there was an unmistakable air of natural intimacy about the picture and anybody would have said they were conspiring together as i tiptoed from the porch i heard my taxi feeling its way along the dark road towards the house gatsby was waiting where i left him in the drive is it all quiet up there he asked anxiously yes it's quiet i hesitated you better come home and get some sleep he shook his head i want to wait here till daisy goes to bed good night i'll sport he put his hands in his coat pockets and turned back eagerly to his scrutiny of the house as though my presence marred the sacredness of the vigil so i walked away and left him standing there in the moonlight watching over nothing thank you so much for 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