The Hope by Herman Wouk

Author:Herman Wouk [Wouk, Herman]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
ISBN: 978-0-7953-4411-4
Publisher: RosettaBooks
Published: 2014-03-21T16:00:00+00:00

24

Missions to America

A very little thing decided Zev Barak to withdraw, if he could, from a mission to Washington with Pasternak.

He was sitting at the small desk in his den at 1 A.M., with a late moon wanly shining through his black window, trying to finish a letter to Emily Cunningham before Sam picked him up for a visit to an armor exercise in the Negev. Propped against the desk lamp was the last snapshot Emily had sent him; inscription on the back, “New assistant headmistress of Foxdale School, with beloved friend Zev.” Zev was a big red horse. In brown baggy riding clothes and glasses, Emily Cunningham was an unglamorous figure, lean and almost plain. The second page of his letter ran so:

…You give me hell, Emily dearest, whenever I bring up marriage again, but I swear I worry about you. What a fooler that photograph is! Just a spinster assistant headmistress, to the life. You’re burning away in secret, consuming yourself. Not only could you make a man very happy with your power to love, you’d find out for the first time what happiness can be. The ultimate joy in life is children, but the ultimate sweet part is passionate love, and since your upbringing or your fastidiousness, I’m not sure which, won’t let you have casual relationships, you must put up with my nagging. Remember how Shakespeare in the sonnets keeps telling that mysterious handsome friend of his to get married and have children? So many of those lines apply to you, and “the bird of time is on the wing.” The other day, I can’t tell you why, I read the Rubaiyat again—it only takes ten minutes, you know—and my eyes were dropping tears when I finished. And I kept thinking of you…

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.