Shadow of Ashland, A Witness to Life, and St. Patrick's Bed by Terence M. Green

Author:Terence M. Green
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781504049627
Publisher: Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Published: 2017-10-06T16:00:00+00:00

When the children come back, it is Jack who looks at the thermos, smells it, and I note the small cloud of disapproval rise behind his eyes—so like his mother—a cumulus that I have seen floating there more and more frequently. It is becoming clearer. It has always been Jack who judges me, whom I cannot win over fully, who puzzles me, and I wonder, again, what it is I am doing wrong.

2

When Jack and Margaret are finally asleep, I sit in the maroon upholstered easy chair, feet up, enjoying reading the newspaper by electric light. One of the attractions of this Berkeley Street flat is that it is electrically wired, the first that we have lived in. At forty-three, though, I cannot read without eyeglasses, which bothers me, because even they do not stop the strain, fatigue, and I dab at my eyes with my handkerchief, rub them often. Still, the light is a wonder, a marvel.

There is a wooden mantle over the stove, and beside the earphones to the crystal set I see the mix of books lined up atop it: Seventeen, The U.P. Trail, Mr. Britling Sees It Through, Penrod, Tarzan of the Apes, Tom Swift and His Motor-Cyde, This Side of Paradise, Main Street, The Scarlet Letter, The Shoes of Happiness by Edwin Markham, whom Maggie tells me is her favorite poet, others.

I have no favorite poet. Only one of the books is mine, one of the two copies of Sister Carrie that is also there.

I take my eyeglasses off, hold them by the spidery wire rims in my hands, polish the lenses with my handkerchief. We must be up early tomorrow. Forty miles is a long trip.

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.