‘How much do you want?’ she asked gently.
‘Oh, damn it! You make it sound as if I were always sponging on you,’ he said irritably. ‘But you wait… in another month I’l have al the money I need. I’l pay you back. I know exactly how much I owe you. I’ve writ en it down in a book.’
‘How much, Adam?’ she asked again.
‘Well, I owe a fella thirty dollars. I had to borrow off him tonight. You were so late I had to settle an account…’
‘Never mind the details, darling, just tell me how much.’
‘Would fifty ruin you?’ he said sullenly. He liked to explain why he wanted the money. He justified himself in his own eyes when he gave her a fictitious list of debts.
She opened her bag and checked the amount of money she had in it.
‘I’ve only forty.’
‘That would do. I’l be seeing you tomorrow night. Can’t you squeeze something substantial out of Kile? I hate this continual asking. Three or four hundred would see me through to the end of the month.
He should be good for that if you’re nice to him.’