1987-02 (February)

Sunday, February 1st[1987]

Slept till 7:45; cereal, Sunday paper. Then came back + resumed the Wolfe. Cooked bacon + eggs for Gwyn + myself before watching midday Brinkley Report.

Rain blocked walk—weight, 164. Shrimp etouffée for dinner, followed by a dreadful monster-movie VCR Hugs got from Video Magic. Earlier, however, we watch an excellent film on Picasso.

Monday, February 2nd[1987]

Sarah unarrived; flu. Bank; cashed $00 check. Seessels; got Dover sole filets for dinner, plus a bagette; brought up a bottle of fumé blanc + put it in the ice box for tonight. Mail brought my annual $10,000 Civil War royalty check from Random. I drove to bank + deposited it. Resumed Wolfe biography, nearing end. Finished it shortly after 5 oclock; another god-damned writer goes to glory in a miserable ram-shade way. Page-proofs of Tournament in two weeks arrived. Look clean except for a comma in the next-to-final line.

Tuesday, February 3rd[1987]

Huger’s leaving day, but note on icebox says his delayed his flight till early evening. Read gant’s John Hopkins daydream + then his past Jack hour. good writing in these sections, whatever shortcomings occur elsewhere. At 2 o’clock, when he got up, + took him to Payne’s on Lamar for a barbeque sandwich; also brought one back for Gwyn. Walked two miles; Keats poems, read by Ralph Richardson, some by Richard Burton. Phone call from Justin James Webb, assistant secretary of defense; is resigning to go back to writing, + has in mind a novel covering the first years of the Civil War in Arkansas. Took Hugs to airport at 7:30 to catch his 7:50 flight to N.Y. He’s heading to Paris on Friday, either to close out or keep on with his Rue de la Verrerie apartment. Back home, had martinis, then cereal for supper. Unpleasant time in many ways.

Wednesday, February 4th[1987]

Isaiah here, raking leaves, replacing the tower lightbulb, etc. Unneeded but welcome. I read the opening chapter of Meredith’s Diana: verbal fireworks, the best of its kind. Sent Bill Carter the single correction for e Tournament page proofs; a misplaced comma, but a truly important one. Walked 2.5; equaled my record time, 37 minutes. Played Vieuxtemps + Mendelssohn violin concertos. Temperature, mid-40’s. Began diet: back to Lean Cuisine.Saw third episode of “Eyes on the Prize,” the Civil Rights series on Public TV.

Thursday, February 5th[1987]

Read Robinson Jeffers’ give your Heart to the Hawks. Didn’t hold up too well, alas.Paid New York bills for Hugs’s birthday—including $8600 to Paul Stuart for a pair of suspenders. Jesus Christ! Bob Johnson + his eleven-year-old son + a like-aged friend came by to talk with me about a school history project involving the Battle of Shiloh. I talked with them + autographed a copy of Shiloh for each of them. Dinner at Grisanti's; spaghetti carbonara, plus a complimentary bottle of red wine. Not a happy meal by a long shot, aspersions galore-sharp-pointed, too.