The Big Seven by Harrison Jim

Author:Harrison, Jim [Harrison, Jim]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Published: 2015-01-07T21:14:44+00:00

Chapter 16

Monica came home and threw herself on him in the bed. He carefully explained he wasn’t feeling well because he had eaten three pasties very fast. She was disappointed especially when she noticed that two people had had dinner and he admitted to Delphine’s company.

“That big slut is after you,” Monica shrieked.

“Monica, take that back. She’s a married woman.” He wasn’t ready to level with her.

“Everyone in town but you knows that she would fuck a rock pile if there was a snake in it,” she said, a witticism from the north.

To calm things down they took a long stroll down to a beach on Lake Superior. It was a warmish evening and the lake was placid as it rarely is. The last time he had been there, there were still frozen mounds of snow on the shoulder and huge mounds of plowed snow piled up in beach parking lots. Sunderson recalled as a child digging in a sand dune near Grand Marais and coming upon a huge trove of snow and ice in July. Sunderson loved the little harbor village of Grand Marais where sometimes they had enough money to rent a cabin for a week or two when he was a kid. It was crowded and he always slept on the floor in his sleeping bag. They swam and fished for a weekend with him helping out his brother who was missing a leg.

Monica sat down on a bench and whispered, “I have to tell you something. I think I’m pregnant,” and Sunderson thought he would vomit. She said she thought she had gotten pregnant before she moved to Marquette with him, probably with Lemuel. Her ready admission startled him. Lemuel knew and had offered to take care of her in his big home. It would be pleasant as long as she could avoid everyone else. She felt stupid and careless for getting pregnant with her uncle of all people and wished it had been Sunderson. He couldn’t say how happy and relieved he felt that it wasn’t, which would have been a disaster at his age. He had to assume that she was being honest about the matter. Lemuel had told him that the buyers’ estate had called in the sheriff’s office when Bert wouldn’t surrender the land. They were on the way and would seize the other two houses but not his.

Sunderson reflected that the rest of this family bumbled and mumbled their way through life while Lemuel pinned it down. It was amazing how many men were slovenly fuckups. Diane had always taken care of all details in regard to insurance, taxes, etc., for him and he was sure Lemuel was good at these, too, while the rest of the family was out to lunch. He himself had needed Marion’s advice with some of his own paperwork. The world, of course, was full of needless details. When a questionnaire asks for your mother-in-law’s maiden name you should look for the dynamite.

His thoughts were confused about Monica’s pregnancy.

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