The Young in One Another's Arms by Rule Jane;

Author:Rule, Jane;
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Open Road Media

CHAPTER NINE

“I suppose he’s always been morose,” Ruth said, “only I had other people to pay attention to.”

She was sitting with Clara, who was in her own chair now, developing a habit of being upright against the assault of young people who would not tolerate her withdrawal from their lives.

“If he doesn’t like it, couldn’t you get him a room somewhere? He’d probably be better off.”

“I’ve suggested it. He pays no attention.”

“Is he eating properly?”

“Oh, yes,” Ruth sighed, “and carries on with his whole routine as if nothing had changed, and it hasn’t, really.”

“It’s you who needs to get used to it,” Clara said.

“I wonder if I will.”

“Tom and the others wish you wouldn’t.”

“They have a marvelous sense of choice, don’t they?”

“It’s not a bad thing to have,” Clara said.

“Neither is a million dollars or two arms …” Ruth winced at the sound of self-pity in her voice. “The fact is, I’m bored. It’s not as if Willard were hanging around my neck all day. It’s the first time in my life I’ve ever had any choice about what to do with myself, and I don’t know what to do. I read. I walk in the park. I take up as much of your time as I dare. The only real complaint I have about Willard is that he doesn’t take up enough of my time. Isn’t it silly?”

“Have you met any of the other people in the building?”

“Of course, and we all say good morning. Maybe people who use the elevator get better acquainted. But I don’t really want acquaintances.”

“You want something useful to do.”

“Yes, but a job seems silly, even if I could get one.”

“Mavis says you keep refusing invitations to the farmhouse.”

“Well, I’ve seen it. They seem to think I should go out there once a week. I don’t really want a routine like Willard’s.”

“Yes,” Clara said, smiling, “that’s what they do to me, and I resented it, but now, you know, if Boy doesn’t stop in a couple of times a week to watch television, I miss him, and I get impatient for Mavis to come back to read another chapter. I’m just as involved in Gladdy’s students as I ever was. As for Tom, well, Tom’s Tom. Even Stew and Joanie have been by.”

“They always did visit you. With me, they learned to talk to my back, and they don’t really know what to do with me as a guest in their living room, even if I did know what to do with them, which I don’t.”

“What are you going to do with the money?”

“I don’t know. It’s a funny thing. I can’t seem to think about that until the house is gone, as if it weren’t really theirs and the money weren’t really mine until they tear it down. It’s like collecting life insurance before somebody’s dead.”

“How soon is that going to be?”

“Not long, sometime this week. Oh, I’m not going to go watch them pull it down, but I just need to know it’s gone.

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