A Man with Women by Margaret Lee Runbeck

Author:Margaret Lee Runbeck
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fiction, romance, short story
Publisher: Distributed Proofreaders Canada
Published: 1950-12-15T05:00:00+00:00

* * *

The driver came around, opened the door, and reached in and picked her up with ease. It made me feel bad; if there was any carrying to be done, I should have been big enough to do it. Sara must have known that, for she took my arm and said, “Son, help your old mother over these cobblestones.”

But even that, kind as it was meant to be, Sara had no right to say. A mother of a married man has no right to be so close that she tries to shape his private thoughts. She has no right—and if he were a real man, she’d know that, and keep her hands off.

Inside the hospital there was a nurse who added us up quickly. “Just follow me, please,” she said, and we tagged along behind her, past doors with eyes turned to look out into blank space, not curiously but only with ineffable patience.

In the elevator the nurse said, “Mr. Garland, suppose you and your mother go into the reception room. I’ll call you when we’re ready.” She took Julie’s arm, and they went down the hall together, looking like two conspiring strangers.

I followed Sara into the reception room. It had wicker furniture to make it look like a sun porch, or something, but the dingy gray walls gave it away. A man with a strong, lean face was sitting on the settee in the corner, his hands hanging between his knees.

Sara took charge immediately. “Good evening. I’m Mrs. Taggard Garland, and this is my son.”

He said his name was Daly, and rose uncertainly. He and I shook hands, because we didn’t know quite what else to do. Sara sat at a center table, and immediately the dead room looked as if it had some meaning and life in it.

“This your first?” she asked cheerfully.

He said it was his third, and he went on talking to Sara and I tried to look interested; but I felt inadequate and out of character, like a clumsy actor who had staggered onto the wrong stage and didn’t know what was expected of him.

Mr. Daly said, “I like girls, but I want another boy. I’ve got a little repair shop, and I figure I’ve got a lot of things I could give a boy. Besides, help’s so unreliable, and I don’t figure it’ll be getting much better.”

“Take twenty years to make him something you could consider ‘help,’ wouldn’t it?” Sara pointed out jovially.

“Nope. I’m going to begin teaching him first thing,” Daly said seriously. “A good mechanic’s got it born in him. Being handy with motors and things—well, I figure that’s part of what I’ve given him.”

Sara wasn’t a bit interested in this. But I was. I could see he did have a lot of things he’d probably given to his son already. In a panic, I began to wonder what I had given my son. The only two assets I could think of were a grandmother and a mother. With Sara strong enough to wipe out the weakness of Tag.

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