ASLEEP A A"INC
35
He came out of the clouds.
Mark Bradley is nobody, look at him, he's never even slept with
his girl.
The truck was ready now, full of fancy things for the fancy
people and bread-and-bean stuff for the rest. Mark sat down again.
He should have gone in and helped at the counter but he felt tired
already: there are so many jokes when a boy is about to be married.
The postmaster whistles love tunes from his little cage, his assistant,
aged forty, pats the bun that lies like a baby mouse at the back of her
neck and breathes rapidly, thinking of love. Even old Jed Hurlbut is
able to shuffle off his imminent ruin, and wink. Mark, it seems, is the
only one that cannot catch the spirit of his .own love affair. He sits
deep back in the shadow of canned goods and bites his nails. Watches
the hub-bub as through the wrong end of a telescope and wishes, yes,
almost, that he were dead. But that is a shameful thought. It is better
to think of killing someone else, like Jake.
That
picture brings a certain
feeling of freedom: the face grows and grows, is spread all over be–
tween you and the sky, leering,
comes
closer so that your lungs ache,
closer, until you are staring straight into the voluminous fat folds of
his neck: then suddenly, plop! you are free. You have killed it. There
is nothing there.
"Oh Padre! What an old sinner you are!"
He heard the minister laugh. Come out of the clouds.
"Yes sir! I think people like you ought to be exterminated.... "
"Oh!" Mrs. Aldington shrieked in outrage, one arm raised and a
coy twist in her eye. Does she use nothing but.... Mrs. Aldington was
one of the best members of the Episcopal Church and had done more
than anyone, Father Williams had said, to raise money for the organ
fund. Through the back of the truck Mark saw the minister leaning
on the window of her well-polished car. His chubbiness and inverted
collar gave him the look of a big pet animal, as if there might be a
chain clipped on at the back of his neck, but he was a great success.
He had fine robust features and the reputation of being splendid with
old ladies as well as middle-aged. "Well I
will
say
this,"
said Mrs.
Aldington.
"If
I were
dictator.
... "
"Oh go on with your dictators! People like you.... "
"Now Padre!"
As
Father Williams turned away they noticed Mark, waved, and
Mrs. Aldington called out in a shrill commanding key-he had heard
that voice often while mowing her lawn-"Your new house is sweet!
Just as sweet as it can be!"
Mark smiled.
"He's got a fine girl too," Father Williams said.
