The Loud Silence of Francine Green by Karen Cushman

Author:Karen Cushman
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

I couldn't imagine Mr. Bowman in jail. I couldn't imagine any of it—A-bombs and H-bombs, communist sympathies, losing your job or worse. It was like something out of a horror movie. "You could always live with us, Sophie." I said, "but probably it won't come to that. Maybe you could talk to your father and ask him to be more careful. Not speak up so much or call attention to himself. Not get involved. Maybe he should—"

"Give it a rest, Francine," she said. "What do you know about it?" Her words were clipped and sharp edged, as if she had cut them with a knife.

I was startled and a little bit hurt. If free speech meant Mr. Bowman saying what he really thought, then free speech meant I could say what I thought. But Sophie didn't seem to see it that way.

All the talk about communists made my stomach hurt. I didn't feel like staying for dinner. I told Sophie I had to go home, even though it was my mother's meatless Wednesday—spaghetti and rice balls. You'd think there was still a war on.

Sophie walked me toward the front door. Mr. Bowman was sitting on the couch with a martini, listening to the radio. He didn't even notice us. "Today," the voice on the radio was saying, "Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin claimed he had a list of 205 people working in our government who are known to be members of the Communist Party."

Mr. Bowman grunted and took a sip of his martini. When the newscast paused for a commercial—"Lucky Strike means fine tobacco"—I sat down on the arm of the couch. "Is that true?" I asked Mr. Bowman. "Are there really communists in the government?"

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