About Schmidt by Louis Begley

Author:Louis Begley
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780449911167
Publisher: Serpent's Tail
Published: 1996-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Thursday, 12/12/91

Just before they all left for the city, Charlotte came to see me. I was still in bed, feeling less definably sick but very tired, unable to stay awake for more than an hour at a time. She said she wished she could stay to look after me, but urgent work at the office, etc., wouldn’t allow it. Then she told me the Rikers had been very generous. They were going to pay that part of the price of the apartment that couldn’t be financed, and that was why Jon decided they could afford to take over this place after all.

I can hardly think of a more irritating way she could have described the situation. In one or two sentences, she managed to make much of what the Rikers were doing—less than five hundred thousand, I suppose, but how is one to know since the apartment in question hasn’t been found—and deprecate my gift. Worse, the business about being able to afford to take over this place “after all” sounded as though they were doing me a favor, relieving me of an onerous obligation!

I didn’t respond, and I am glad I didn’t, not just because I want to keep peace but because, if one looks at the thing from a certain angle, there is an ugly grain of truth in what her remarks suggested—a grain of truth the existence of which nevertheless did not, in my opinion, justify her speaking to me as she did. It is this: I have a selfish motive in this transaction—to avoid the duty I would feel to treat my married daughter and her husband as co-owners with me of this house. The Rikers have no such motive. They are very simply helping their son, who is on his way to becoming rich but hasn’t got there yet. When I think of how much money he will be making if the firm doesn’t fall apart, I am tempted to advise the Rikers to make Jon a loan, not a gift, but that would be against Charlotte’s interest. But maybe it is a loan. It is also true that I have no legal duty, in case I were not to give Charlotte my life estate in this place, to treat her as a co-owner. She isn’t, not while I am alive. I could, if only I knew how, act more naturally, and say that while I am alive I am the owner, with the rights and obligations of such, and you and Jon, my dears, will have to wait your turn.

I did, on the other hand, ask why I hadn’t been told, by letter or a phone call, that they had decided to accept my offer. Charlotte seemed disconcerted by the question. I guess we thought we’d tell you when we got here, was her answer. Then Myron spoke up before we ever got a chance.

So be it.

Christmas festivities were next on her agenda.

Did I know where I would be going?

No, not yet.

Probably they would be unable to squeeze in another weekend in the country.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.