Summer Morning, Summer Night

“Woman in Mellin Town—Husband came home—Found her in bed—Another man—Shot them and himself —”

While the women mingled their gasping breaths like perfumes, the men calmly carried out their direct, eye to eye, gray-frost talk of friends. “Remember Charlie Nesbitt who threw the burned mattress from the Clark Hotel at the Elk’s Convention? He died last year.” “Not old Charlie!” They stared at each other. “And here we are, still alive. Whatta you know?”

The women shuddered, clucked and laughed half-hysterically at what a world it was. They turned over several automobiles together, shook out the contents, examined them. They played detective, putting together a foully raped and dissected woman like a Chinese puzzle. After each subject they washed out their mouths with coffee and started fresh.

And finally, when the momentum died and the coffee pot was empty, they spiraled around and around to finally touch the subject to which they had been leading all through the autumn evening.

Themselves. How were they feeling?

Oh, Mrs. Hette still had her gallstones, but was bearing up.

Mrs. Spaulding was having her trouble too. She just knew she had stomach cancer. Was Mister Hette all right?

Mr. Hette’s back bothered him.

Oh, Mr. Spaulding’s back hurt him something awful, too. Some mornings he didn’t rise until nine!

Well—Mrs. Hette smiled her triumph—Mr. Hette didn’t get up until NOON!

“Of course,” Mrs. Spaulding fixed her hair. “I imagine Leonard and I’ll live to be old people. We’ve a good family record for it.”

“So have we,” said Mrs. Hette instantly.

Mrs. Spaulding ticked her fingers. “My mother died at eight-five, my father at ninety—”

“I thought you said he died at sixty-three?”

“Who?” Shrilly. “Father?” A laugh. “Ho, not him! Brisk as bacon at ninety!”

“Which one was it was an invalid from sixty on?”

“Invalid?” The blank surprise in Mrs. Spaulding’s eyes. “Oh. You must mean cousin Wilma. Third cousin Wilma...”

“Now.” Mrs. Hette moved her shoulders. “All my folks lived to be ninety. Same with Will’s. We’re liable to live a long, long time.”

“I just hope we all have our health. It ain’t no fun being old if you’re sick. You’ll be lucky if your gallstones don’t kick up.”

“I’m having them treated this month. And it’s a matter of time before Will’s back is cured. You ought to look into your cancer, also, Mrs.”

“Heavens, it isn’t cancer. Just gas, I know.”

They sat regarding each other, one eye no brighter than another, hair about the same grayness, wrinkles in like profusion; all balanced, mentally, physically. Not liking it.

“Well, it’s been nice.” Mrs. Hette got up suddenly, not looking at her hostess. “Hope when we come back to town in five years you’ll still be here.” A stiff smile.

“You just be sure you come back.” Drily.

The two men rose, smoking soft blue puffs of smoke, looking at each other with ancient soft warm eyes. They shook hands, slowly, tightly. “Well, Will?” “Well, Leo?” A hesitation. “Come back some time.” They both looked at the floor. “If I don’t see you again, well—be good.” “Same to you.”

“Lands, you’d think we were old, to hear you men talk!”

Everybody laughed. Coats were helped on, there was a hesitation and a number of farewells at the door, and some wavings when the Hette’s car finally drove off down the dark midnight street.

The walls of the living room were yellow with the nicotine given off by the talk of death. The entire house was dim, cut off from the world, all the air sucked out under great pressure. Mr. and Mrs. Spaulding walked about the parlor in a little solemn merry-go-round of emptying ash trays, clearing dishes, and turning out the lights.

Mr. Spaulding went up the stairs without a sound save a kind of old engine coughing. He was already in bed when his wife arrived, exhilarated, and got in. She lay half smiling, glowing, in the dark.

Finally, she heard him sigh.

“I feel terrible,” Leonard Spaulding said.

“Why?” she said.

“I don’t know,” he moaned. “I just don’t feel good. Depressed.”

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“You and that damned Mrs. Hette. Christ, what an evening. Will, he’s not so bad. But her and you. Christ, Christ, talk, talk!” He groaned in the dark room, all misery and ancient tiredness.

She tightened up. “We never have any one in any more.”

“We’re getting too old to have people in,” he cried, faintly. “There’s only one thing for old people to talk about, and you talked about it, by God, all evening!”

“Why, we didn’t—”

“Shut up,” he said, wearily, pleadingly, like a small withered child beside her. “I want to sleep.”

They both lay for five minutes in the dark. She turned away from him, cold, stiff, her eyelids tight clenched. And just before her anger at him seeped away and sleep flooded down all through her like a drenching of warm rain, she heard two faint far women’s voices talking one unto another, distantly, obscurely:

“My Will’s funeral was the finest the town ever had. Flowers? Thousands! I cried. People? Everyone in town!”—“Well, you should have been at Leonard’s funeral service. He looked so fine and natural, just like he was asleep. And flowers? Land! Banked around and banked around, and people!” — “Well, Will’s service was” — “They sang ‘Beautiful Isle of Somewhere.’” — “—people—” — “—flowers and—” — “—singing—”

The warm rain pattered over her. She slept.

I GOT SOMETHING YOU AIN’T GOT!

AGGIE LOU COULD hardly wait through the morning until Clarisse stopped in the house on the way home from school to lunch. Clarisse was the braided ten-year-old girl who lived next door and there was considerable rivalry between them.

Aggie Lou folded her body half out of the sunshiny window and called, “Clarisse, come up!”

“Why weren’t you in school?” cried Clarisse, perturbed that her life opponent should be bedded down and taking it easy away from the grim school life.

“Come up and find out!” replied Aggie Lou, flopping back into bed.

Clarisse came upstairs quickly, a strap of books pendulumming in one grubby fist.

Aggie Lou lay back, eyes closed, pleased with herself. “I got something you ain’t got,” she revealed.

“What?” asked Clarisse suspiciously.

“Maybe I’ll tell, maybe I won’t,” said Aggie Lou, lazily.

“I gotta go home and eat,” said Clarisse, not taken in by this strategy.

“Then you’ll never know what I got,” said Aggie Lou.

“Well, what is it?” shouted Clarisse, scowling.

“Bacteria,” announced Aggie Lou proudly.

Clarisse’s eyebrows went down. “What?”

“Bacteria. Microbes. Germs!”

“Oh, poo!” Clarisse swung her books carelessly. “Everybody’s got germs. I got germs, too. Looky.” She displayed ten fingers, equally begrubbed and the furthest state from antiseptic.