We Think the World of You by J.R. Ackerley

Author:J.R. Ackerley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New York Review Books
Published: 2012-10-31T04:00:00+00:00

And 12 o’clock Thursday was the very time I had taken her back. No wonder Millie had thought it cause and effect! What a good thing I had not received the letter first—if she believed I had not. But the genuineness of my denial had impressed her I felt sure. A barge passed silently down the river across my window, as though drawn by an invisible thread. . . . How quiet the flat was, unbearable. . . . I trailed aimlessly back to the kitchen and trod on the carrot again. With a sudden howl of rage and pain I picked it up and hurled it into the dustbin. Bloody cheek, treating me like that! And after all I’d done for them! Stupid people, ignorant and obstinate, daring to assert themselves against me! Anyone would think I’d been trying to steal the blessed dog. Tom was at the bottom of it, of course. “Tom won’t like it when he finds her gone.” What a pity I hadn’t taken her back Tuesday. Millie had been on my side then. Now she wasn’t. Tom had fussed her up. “False pretenses”—he’d put the phrase into her head I was sure. “What did I tell yer? ’E don’t mean to bring ’er back. ’E took ’er under false pretenses. You didn’t ought to ’ave let ’er go, mate. You won’t never see a ’air of ’er no more. ’E ’ad ’is eye on ’er from the start.” I could hear him saying it. “Val’able bitch”—but no, they couldn’t have thought! It was too monstrous! Johnny had offered me the dog in the first place, and had sanctioned my taking her out since. What did it matter to them if I took her for a walk or a week? She wasn’t their dog anyway, and—Millie must know it—Johnny would be delighted for me to have her for as long as I wished, especially considering. . . . But of course he didn’t know! They’d lied to him, or Tom had! And Millie had let the lie pass! “There wasn’t no call to worry the boy.” But that wasn’t the reason at all; it was to save Tom’s ugly mug. “If you and Tom goes on taking her out,” Millie had quoted in that earlier letter. Yes, that was it! He’d promised to take her out and then been too idle to do so, but he’d pretended he was doing so all the same! How disgraceful! How wicked! And he’d had the impertinence to call Megan “sly.” And honest Millie had connived at the lie! But she’d been ashamed! She’d gone as red as a turkey cock! What a crew! So Johnny had no notion what was happening to his wretched dog! But he’d know when Megan saw him and gave him my message. Today was Thursday; she’d probably been already. Well, we would see. . . . Meanwhile what was I to say to Millie? For Evie’s sake I had better be careful. Indeed yes, what a pity I hadn’t taken her back on Tuesday.

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