Day, a Night, Another Day, Summer by Christine Schutt

Author:Christine Schutt [Schutt, Christine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4804-3847-7
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2013-07-02T16:02:00+00:00

VI

How he had found his bedroom, he could not remember, but the sun through the trees stippled the blanket that covered him, and he knew, at least, that it was late afternoon, the bay calmed, the water too blue and sun scratched to look at. He knew he had slept and that the shrill part of the day was over; the house was very quiet. The quiet of the wholly present tense, the luxurious absence of melancholy, ire, and whatever other meanness switched him through the house, all was easy and now. Now and now and now. He stepped onto the porch with a dish of peanuts and his drink, his glasses, his book. Hearts ease at dusk, the sky orange edged at first, then “Ellen!” he was calling. “You’re missing this. Come look!” But she was already just behind him, humming approvingly at the plummy clouds.

But here she comes, blooded with sunset, his daughter and his granddaughter. His granddaughter saying, “It’s all right, Poppie. There’s no reason to be sad.”

“Jimmy,” Ellen said, “Charlotte is asking you a question,” and she was shaking him back to the porch and the girl who was grown.

His daughter is combing with her fingers what is left of her hair. Her face is flat against a screen. She is talking but he doesn’t know about what.

See the candles, the cake.

Balloons, brushed against, snap, and her fine hair stands on end, and her black patent leather shoes make staticky cracks, and a little girl cries, “They bite!”

The sunburn that had put him to sleep woke him to his wife asking, “Are you cold, dear?” saying, “Charlotte, darling, get Poppie his jacket, will you?”

“I’m not hungry,” he said. “I feel sick.”

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.