Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright

Author:Elizabeth Enright
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781250102874
Publisher: Square Fish

VII. “As a Ragpicker’s Pocket”

IT WAS an old bus but still jaunty looking, and the driver had a rose stuck in his cap, and a pencil behind one ear. He looked younger than the bus.

There were only two other people inside: a woman fanning herself with a newspaper, and a man asleep with his mouth open.

Garnet settled herself on a large slippery seat with a leatherette cover. The leatherettte had a rich, strong smell, and there were other smells besides, of gasoline and dust and people’s clothes.

For a long time she watched flying farms and cornfields, woods and hills, the light was very bright. Dogs lay in the shade under trees, but cats slept on front doorsteps with the sun on their fur.

The bus stopped at Melody, the next town, and the man and woman got out, the man still yawning and rubbing his face, and the woman sighing and shaking her head about the heat. Nobody else got on. The driver turned and looked at Garnet.

“Like to go fast?” he asked. “The old bus has some speed in her still. I tell you what. You’ve got it all to yourself now; and you can pretend like you’re a lady with a shofer. I’ll show you some driving. How’ll that be?”

“Oh I’d love it!” cried Garnet, and off they went.

They drove like fire, up hills and down; around curves on two wheels; and the telegraph poles rushed by like tall giraffes in a hurry. Birds flew from fences; hens rocketed out of the way, and the wind whistled.

Garnet bounced from side to side of the slippery seat and kept herself from squealing. This was better than the whip cars at the fair!

In no time at all they were in sight of the tall hill that was covered with the city of New Conniston. There it was, glittering for Garnet like Bagdad and Zanzibar and Constantinople. She shook her purse; there was still forty cents inside of it that jingled with promise.

They drove past the first shabby houses of the town, and then the larger ones, and then the stores, and then they stopped.

“Thank you for going so fast,” said Garnet to the bus driver.

“Okay, sister,” said he, helping her down. “I’m telling you it was a pleasure.”

What shall I do first, she thought to herself. First I will just walk up and down the street and listen to the noise.

There was a lot of noise. Trolley cars clanged and clattered on the tracks, automobiles hooted, hundreds of people talked and talked, and their footsteps clicked and shuffled on the pavement all day long. Garnet liked to listen to the noise of a city, the noise of things happening.

Each time she came to a store she stopped and looked in the windows. There were a thousand different things in them that you never saw in Blaiseville. One big window was full of kitchen articles: a pale green stove, and a green porcelain sink; and enamel pots and pans all pale green.

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.