Atlantis: Three Tales by Delany Samuel R

Author:Delany, Samuel R. [Delany, Samuel R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Historical
ISBN: 9780819571939
Amazon: 0819571938
Goodreads: 16440449
Publisher: Wesleyan University Press
Published: 1995-06-01T07:00:00+00:00

“Bless, we beseech thee, O Lord,

This food of which we are about to partake,

That it may nourish us and strengthen us

To do thy service, for Christ our redeemer’s sake . . .”

After the soup there was fresh ham; and peas and onions; and mashed potatoes—butter blurring yellow among white peaks and dells; and a gravy almost sweet that had prunes cut up in it—which Elsie said was not a gravy at all but a sauce.

“Well, then, you just pass that there gravy sauce right on over here,” Lucius said. “This is some fancy eating we’re doing today!”

They asked Sam what he’d done that afternoon.

“Sam went to see the Brooklyn Bridge,” Clarice told them.

“Well?” Dr. Corey wanted to know. “What did you think of it?”

“It’s a real nice bridge,” Sam said. “It’s big, too! But when I got over to the other side, it was all cornfields and meadows and little white houses—shoot, I thought Brooklyn was supposed to be part of New York. It’s nothin’ but country—just like down home!”—which made them all laugh again.

“Don’t say ‘shoot,’ ” Corey said. “That’s not nice.”

Clarice leaned toward him and said more quietly, “Don’t say ‘real nice’ either. It’s very nice—or really nice.”

Not paying either much mind, Sam finished up: “You could see some real good skyscrapers from it, though!” He’d already resolved not to tell them about the Italian in the boat. That kind of thing could upset people. Everybody was having too much fun.

Afterward Elsie brought in a big salad with water cress and raisins in it.

“This is all so good!” Lucius declared.

“Well, I’m glad,” Elsie said, considering. “I was just afraid it might be a bit tainted.”

“Tainted?” Lucius asked in surprise; he sat back. “Tainted? Didn’t the ice man bring ice for the weekend? What you mean, this food might be ‘tainted’?”

“I was just afraid, maybe,” Elsie said, “well, ’tain’t enough of it!” which was a joke Sam had first heard Lucius and Elsie go through back home years ago. But Clarice had never heard it, and clapped her hands now, screeching like a bird.

“Really, Elsie,” Lucius said, beaming bright-eyed about the table. “I do have to ask one thing: prunes, raisins, beans? Just what are you trying to do to us?”

Amidst more laughter, Corey’s voice cut over: “She’s just trying to keep you healthy—make sure you’re nice and regular.”

“Well, I’m going to be so regular,” Lucius declared, “nobody’ll be able to stand next to me!”

“That’s a terrible thing to say!” Corey said. But, amidst more laughter, Elsie—and Dr. Corey—were laughing too.

Was there any way to tell them about the man on the bridge, Sam wondered, without telling about the man on the boat? Should he even try? If he was a friend of Toomer’s, maybe Clarice knew him—

But here, in her enthusiasm, Clarice got to arguing with Lucius about something, and Sam was waiting for a lull into which to interject some mention of the strange fellow he’d met that afternoon, with his strange tales and talk—when Elsie, who’d slipped into the kitchen, came back in with a cake in her hands—with candles on it!

Dr.

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