The Osage Orange Tree by William Stafford

Author:William Stafford [Stafford, William]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781595341020
Publisher: Trinity University Press

Evangeline’s brother was emptying wastebaskets at the far end of the hall. I sauntered toward him and stopped. I didn’t know what I wanted to say. Unexpectedly, he solved my problem. Stopping in his work, holding a partly empty wastebasket over the canvas sack he wore over his shoulder, he stared at me, as if almost to say something.

“I noticed that . . . your sister wasn’t here,” I said. The noise below was dwindling. The hall was quiet, an echoey place; my voice sounded terribly loud. He emptied the rest of the wastebasket and shifted easily. He was a man, in big overalls. He stared at me.

“Evangeline couldn’t come,” he said. He stopped, looked at me again, and said, “She stole.”

“Stole?” I said. “Stole what?” He shrugged and went toward the next wastebasket, but I followed him.

“She stole the money from her bank . . . the money she was to use for her graduation dress,” he said. He walked stolidly on, and I stopped.

He deliberately turned away as he picked up the next wastebasket. But he said something else, half to himself. “You knew her. You talked to her . . . I know.” He walked away.

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