The Man of the House by Stephen McCauley

Author:Stephen McCauley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

In addition to the cookies, which I didn’t have the heart to look at, and the beer, two more bottles of which she drank in the next hour, Agnes had brought with her a copy of as much of the manuscript of our mother’s cookbook as she’d typed out. “I’d appreciate it if you could pass it on to Louise,” she said. “As a writer, she might have some suggestions.” She took a sip of her beer and laughed self-consciously. “Who knows, maybe she’ll want to show it to her editor.”

“Don’t count on it, Mom,” Barbara said. Instead of going to the car to take her nap, she’d fallen asleep on the floor, with Otis on her chest. Every few minutes, she woke to criticize something Agnes had said.

“I’ll give it to her next time I see her. It’s possible she’ll drop by this afternoon.”

At this, Agnes seemed to grow distraught. She began to pluck at her jersey, as if she were picking lint from it. The prospect of having to face Louise, a celebrity author in her eyes, though one whose books she couldn’t remember, was too much for her. She was pretty, sitting there with the sunlight slanting across her face and making her shorn hair look smart and shiny. If she’d been an actress playing a waif, she would have been charming right then, maybe even beautiful. But she wasn’t acting, and her emotions were gnawing at her so obviously that, instead of pulling me in, the sight of her made me want to look away. I went and lowered the match-stick blinds, then sat next to her. “Don’t worry about Louise,” I said. “She’s as insecure as the rest of us. And about. . . Dad,” I started. She glanced up from her jersey, let her hand drop onto the wooden arm of the sofa, and began to run her fingers over one of the cigarette burns.

But I wasn’t ready to confide in her yet, and because I couldn’t think of anything else to offer, I asked if she’d like another beer.

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