The Headmaster's Wife by Greene Thomas Christopher

Author:Greene, Thomas Christopher [Greene, Thomas Christopher]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2014-02-25T00:00:00+00:00

From Basra they take Ethan Winthrop to Baghdad and then fly him to a hospital in Germany, where he lives nine long days made less miserable by pillowy morphine dreams. When the time comes, there isn’t a damn thing they can do for him anymore. He goes as quickly as smoke. His flag-draped casket joins others on a cargo plane, where it first goes to Andrews Air Force Base and then to Logan Airport, where it is taken by hearse to Lancaster, Vermont.

The funeral is held in the field house, and the crowd is tremendous. The entire student body is there, as are many alumni; the faculty, of course; the trustees; and then the full congressional delegation from Vermont and the governor, who has asked to say a few words. Chaplain Edwards leads the service and even delivers the eulogy, which surprises many, since when other students have died—a car accident, say—the headmaster became the willing repository for the community’s grief. This time is different, naturally, since it is the headmaster’s son, but they are so used to hearing from him on all matters great and small, it is a bit of a surprise that he sits with his head down in the front row during the entire service, and even more of a surprise when he is not in the receiving line afterward, but instead is spied walking out near the woods, his hands behind his back, his head hung low, like some country gentleman out for his afternoon constitutional. But since no one will try to measure a father’s grief, people keep their thoughts to themselves, and Mr. Winthrop is given a pass.

In the days that follow, the grand headmaster’s house fills with visitors. Trays of cold cuts and petit fours make their appearance on the large table in the dining room, get brought to the refrigerator, and then returned the next day as if they never left. Elizabeth is ever gracious with the visitors, and despite her lack of patience with being told to sit down or to relax—as if that were possible—she gives in to it for the most part, though it occurs to her that moments like these, the unfathomable trenches of life, are belittled by becoming excuses for people to indulge themselves. The whiskey and the gin and the vodka carafes are constantly in need of refilling, especially for her husband, who suddenly drinks scotch as if it were water. There is no blueprint for grief, she thinks, and Arthur is acting like a tortoise crossing a road: Sometimes his head is there, and then a moment later it is not. The only constant for him is that he now drinks with impunity, since no one dares give him an ounce of crap about it.

And for a week or so, Ethan Winthrop is the talk of campus. He is regarded, as the dead always are, more fondly than he was when he was alive.

Faculty members describe him as a sweet boy, someone who tried hard to fit in, always a challenge for the son of a headmaster.

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.