Read Warhol's Prophecy for Free Online Page A

disapproval by the woman who sat in the room with them.
    Marie Anderson was in her early forties: a small woman with the kind of outrageously rosy cheeks that made her look like a badly painted doll. She looked from Hailey to Rob, and then back again. For three weeks they had been attending these Relate sessions. For three weeks she had listened to their pain and their anger spilling out into this small room. And what she had heard from them she had heard a hundred times before, from a hundred different couples.
    Words like ‘Betrayal’, ‘Infidelity’, ‘Anger’, ‘Revenge’ . . .
    ‘Hatred’.
    Marie often wondered if her role was merely that of referee to these bouts of emotional pugilism. She had voiced her concerns about that to some of her colleagues, but found they saw their own roles as something similar. They were there to guide, to cajole, to interpret; they were not there to solve problems. They could not wave magic wands and reassemble marriages shattered by infidelity or a hundred other kinds of indiscretion.
    The thing that Marie had found most difficult when she first began as a Relate counsellor was distancing herself from the personal problems of those she advised. It had been difficult then to merely lock up the office and walk home after every evening’s emotional upheavals. As time went on, Marie had found it all a little more bearable, but every now and then she was more deeply touched than she should be by the plight of a particular couple or individual. She wondered if even that would wear off in time. Was it ever possible to become immune to pain? And, if so, how long did it take?
    Hailey stared at Marie, as if willing her to force an answer from Rob. Wanting her to make him reply to the question she had asked him a moment ago.
    He took another drag on his cigarette, and blew out a stream of smoke to join the grey haze already filling the confined space.
    ‘Can you see why Hailey is still so upset, Rob?’ Marie said finally, her voice soft. ‘She’s still concerned that your affair might begin again.’
    ‘I can understand it, but it won’t happen,’ he said.
    ‘As long as she works with you, the temptation’s always there,’ Hailey intervened.
    ‘So what do you want me to do: sack her?’ he demanded.
    ‘If that’s what it takes.’
    ‘That’s not fair.’
    ‘Not fair,’ Hailey snorted. ‘She had an affair with you. It could happen again. No wonder her husband divorced her.’
    ‘I told you, I won’t let it happen again.’
    ‘Crap. If she comes on to you, you’ll fuck her. I know you, Rob. You’re weak.’
    ‘If the only way to reassure Hailey that you wouldn’t have another affair with this woman was to get rid of her, would you be willing to do that, Rob?’ Marie wanted to know.
    He took another drag and tilted his head back, a headache crawling around his skull.
    ‘Look, if I sack Sandy and get another secretary, Hailey will start thinking I’m having an affair with her. ’
    ‘It depends what she looks like,’ Hailey said acidly.
    ‘Do you think Rob would do this again, Hailey?’ Marie asked.
    ‘I know what he’s like, especially with attractive women. He likes to be surrounded by them. It boosts his ego.’
    ‘Oh, come on,’ Rob muttered.
    ‘It’s true,’ Hailey continued. ‘If you did hire another secretary, you’d make sure she was good-looking. Don’t deny it.’
    ‘All right, it’s true. If two women came for the job, both with the same qualifications, and one was pretty and the other looked like the back of a fucking bus, I’d hire the good-looking one. Satisfied?’
    ‘Is that the reason you first got to know Hailey?’ Marie asked. ‘Because she’s good-looking?’
    He nodded. ‘But it wasn’t just that. It was her sense of humour, her attitude, the way she made me laugh. It just helped that she was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.’
    ‘And is she still?’ Marie asked.
    He nodded.
    ‘Does she still make you laugh? Do you