The Female Man (S.F. MASTERWORKS) by Russ Joanna

Author:Russ, Joanna [Russ, Joanna]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Science fiction
ISBN: 9780575095007
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2010-11-10T16:00:00+00:00

3

Jeannine has an older brother who’s a mathematics teacher in a New York high school. Their mother, who stays with him during vacations, was widowed when Jeannine was four. When she was a little baby Jeannine used to practice talking; she would get into a corner by herself and say words over and over again to get them right. Her first full sentence was, ‘See the moon.’ She pressed wildflowers and wrote poems in elementary school. Jeannine’s brother, her sister-in-law, their two children, and her mother live for the summer in two cottages near a lake. Jeannine will stay in the smaller one with her mother. She comes downstairs with me behind her to find Mrs Dadier arranging flowers in a pickle jar on the kitchenette table. I am behind Jeannine, but Jeannine can’t see me, of course.

‘Everyone’s asking about you,’ says Mrs Dadier, giving her daughter a peck on the cheek.

‘Mm,’ says Jeannine, still sleepy. I duck behind the bookshelves that separate the living room from the kitchenette.

‘We thought you might bring that nice young man with you again,’ says Mrs Dadier, setting cereal and milk in front of her daughter. Jeannine retreats into sulky impassivity. I make an awful face, which of course nobody sees.

‘We’ve separated,’ says Jeannine, untruly.

‘Why?’ says Mrs Dadier, her blue eyes opening wide. ‘What was the matter with him?’

He was impotent, mother. Now how could I say that to such a nice lady? I didn’t.

‘Nothing,’ says Jeannine. ‘Where’s Bro?’

‘Fishing,’ says Mrs Dadier. Brother often goes out in the early morning and meditates over a fishing line. The ladies don’t. Mrs Dadier is afraid of his slipping, falling on a rock, and splitting open his head. Jeannine doesn’t like fishing.

‘We’re going to have a nice day,’ says Mrs Dadier. ‘There’s a play tonight and a block dance. There are lots of young people, Jeannine.’ With her perpetually fresh smile Mrs Dadier clears off the table where her daughter-in-law and the two children have breakfasted earlier; Eileen has her hands full with the children.

‘Don’t, mother,’ says Jeannine, looking down.

‘I don’t mind,’ says Mrs Dadier. ‘Bless you, I’ve done it often enough.’ Listless Jeannine pushes her chair back from the table. ‘You haven’t finished,’ observes Mrs Dadier, mildly surprised. We have to get out of here. ‘Well, I don’t – I want to find Bro,’ says Jeannine, edging out, ‘I’ll see you,’ and she’s gone. Mrs Dadier doesn’t smile when there’s nobody there. Mother and daughter wear the same face at times like that – calm and deathly tired – Jeannine idly pulling the heads off weeds at the side of the path with an abstract viciousness completely unconnected with anything going on in her head. Mrs Dadier finishes the dishes and sighs. That’s done. Always to do again. Jeannine comes to the path around the lake, the great vacation feature of the community, and starts round it, but there seems to be nobody nearby. She had hoped she would find her brother, who was always her favorite.

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.