Slaughterhouse-Five: A Novel; 50th Anniversary Edition by Kurt Vonnegut

Author:Kurt Vonnegut [Vonnegut, Kurt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780385312080
Google: r76NDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 1994-02-01T06:00:00+00:00

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• • •

Billy heard Eliot Rosewater come in and lie down. Rosewater’s bedsprings talked a lot about that. Rosewater was a big man, but not very powerful. He looked as though he might be made out of nose putty.

And then Billy’s mother came back from the ladies’ room, sat down on a chair between Billy’s and Rosewater’s bed. Rosewater greeted her with melodious warmth, asked how she was today. He seemed delighted to hear that she was fine. He was experimenting with being ardently sympathetic with everybody he met. He thought that might make the world a slightly more pleasant place to live in. He called Billy’s mother “dear.” He was experimenting with calling everybody “dear.”

“Some day,” she promised Rosewater, “I’m going to come in here, and Billy is going to uncover his head, and do you know what he’s going to say?”

“What’s he going to say, dear?”

“He’s going to say, ‘Hello, Mom,’ and he’s going to smile. He’s going to say, ‘Gee, it’s good to see you, Mom. How have you been?’ ”

“Today could be the day.”

“Every night I pray.”

“That’s a good thing to do.”

“People would be surprised if they knew how much in this world was due to prayers.”

“You never said a truer word, dear.”

“Does your mother come to see you often?”

“My mother is dead,” said Rosewater. So it goes.

“I’m sorry.”

“At least she had a happy life as long as it lasted.”

“That’s a consolation, anyway.”

“Yes.”

“Billy’s father is dead, you know,” said Billy’s mother. So it goes.

“A boy needs a father.”

And on and on it went—that duet between the dumb, praying lady and the big, hollow man who was so full of loving echoes.

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