WHEN Bert and Ella and I were settled in a little house of our own, Herb and Lorna were alone at last, truly private for the first time ever. On their first night alone, Herb began bustling around as soon as he got home from work, laying a fire in the fireplace, plumping the pillows on the sofa, humming “Lake Serenity Serenade,” while he worked. As soon as he and Lorna had finished dinner, Herb lit the fire and began fussing at it with the bellows. When he had it going to his satisfaction, he went into the kitchen and tugged Lorna away from the sink, tugged her, against her coy objections, into the living room, to the sofa, where he sat her down and sat himself beside her and put his arm around her.
“I’ve been waiting years for this,” he said.
They kissed.
“Mrs. Stolz,” called Herb, “can you hear me?”
They listened to the silence.
“Elllllla!” he called. “Are you listening? Your mother and I are spooning!”
Lorna giggled.
“I’m unbuttoning her dress!” called Herb.
They brushed cheeks.
“She’s squeezing my — ”
Lorna put her hand over his mouth. “Shhhh,” she said. “We do have — ”
A loud and urgent banging at the front door.
“ — neighbors.”
“Oh, no,” said Herb. He hopped up and ran to the door. “Who is it?” he called.
“It’s Dudley!” cried Dudley. “I was walking by and I heard shouting. Is there some trouble?”
“No,” said Herb. “No trouble.”
“You’re quite certain, Herb?” asked Dudley.
“Dudley,” said Herb. “Go home. I’m making love to my wife.”
Silence. A muffled laugh, from the sofa. Another muffled laugh, from outside, on the porch.
“Good night, Herb,” said Dudley. Footsteps down the front steps. A pause. Footsteps back up the front steps. “Have fun.”
Herb returned to the sofa, where he and Lorna allowed themselves to carry on like a couple of passionate youngsters, the passionate youngsters who had made love in that rowboat on Lake Serenity, whose sexual inventiveness had created the animated coarse-goods business. In a while, they moved to the floor, in front of the fire. The importance of that fire, what it meant to them, was another thing that I couldn’t have known then.
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In Topical Guide 372, Mark Dorset considers Fire: As a Symbol for Passion, Love, and Romance from this episode.
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