The Wright Sister by Patty Dann

Author:Patty Dann
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2020-06-09T16:00:00+00:00

October 13, 1927

Orv!

News alert: Harry is married to the Kansas City Star—she is his real lover, although I have no doubt of our love. And I am feeling more comfortable with Harry Jr. I know it is not easy to lose a mother, at any age. I recently confided that to him, that I understood, and I could see a tear in his eye. We were at the dining table, just the two of us, about to eat one of Mrs. Crossbottom’s dreadful zucchini concoctions that taste like watery pudding. His father had not yet come home from downtown. He is a dear boy, really young man now. And I know what it’s like to be a young man in his twenties, after living with you boys. He is musical and does seem wistful when I play the piano. I know he is thinking of his mother, but he has never shown any objection that his father had married again. He acts very kindly to me, his stepmother, although that word has never been said aloud by anyone. The other day I made up a batch of my chocolate toffee cookies, and the next day I found some of the cookies in the trash bin, but I have a feeling it was Mrs. Crossbottom, not Harry Jr.

I had never been down to the paper and I asked Harry if he could give me a tour. He said he would be delighted to, so I went yesterday. I had awoken in the morning, riding a blue wave of melancholia—perhaps because it was a Wednesday—but when I appeared at his desk and Harry blushed, my spirits lifted. He jumped up and guided me around the office. At each desk we passed, all the men stood up and nodded, even those with green eyeshades on, then quickly returned to hunching over their desks, clacking away at their typing machines. I do find those garters on their sleeves most lovely. I imagine someday there will be women reporters, but when? Judging from the cloud of cigar smoke in that room, it could be many years before those cigar boys let us in.

Most interesting was the linotype machine room. The sound of those machines was louder than a locomotive. Have you ever heard it? Harry had told me before, but I had forgotten, that all the linotype workers were deaf, and it was startling to observe them the moment we stepped into that room. In contrast to the painfully loud machines, the men looked like they were doing an intricate dance with their hands to communicate. They weren’t deaf because the machines made them so, but that is why they were hired! They can concentrate amid all that noise. Isn’t that curious? I took a course in sign language at Oberlin, but these men’s hands flew faster than hummingbird wings, and I understood nothing. When you visit us, not only will you have your own quarters and as much privacy as you need, but I do think you would enjoy a tour of the Star.

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