14
PARTISAN REVIEW
almost fallen on
his
neck in the lower hall. Outside in the broad
streets behind the trees rusty with fall, the waving flags and the
bunting ·showed up bright and candystriped under the gray blustery
sky. Down at the end of the street there must have been a parade
or something because a marching band was playing "Over There".
In the French candy store on Connecticut Avenue it was warm
and smelt of chocolate and baking cake. The fat lady behind the
counter gave Glenn the icecream and the salted nuts in a little fancy
pink carton tied with ribbons at the top and first thing he knew he'd
bought a plaster turkey with little tiny gum-drops in it for seventy–
five cents out of his own money. That sort of thing helped to garnish
the table, the fat lady agreed in her wheedling French accent. When
he got home he ran up the three steep flights of the back stairs and
broke breathles5 into the apartment through the back kitchen door.
Dad was in his shirtsleeves mashing the potatoes and saying Ada
he couldn't help feeling bad about the thought of our boy in a uniform
strutting around lording it over those miserable defeated Germans.
"I'm afraid he'll never be good for anything again." Mother was
whispering she could only feel thankful that he was safe. Yes indeed
Dad said, when he caught sight of Glenn, in a loud false voice that
made nothing seem fun any more, it was a real Thanksgiving day
for the Spotswood family all right wasn't it my boy; and then he
said for him to help his mother beat the potatoes because he had to
change his clothes because the family would soon be coming and
it would never do for them to find him like this, they had a poor
enough opinion of him as it was. And Glenn set to beating the mashed
potatoes with all his might with a big fork while Mother poured in a
little milk from a cup. She'd put the mashed potatoes on the stove
in a double boiler to keep hot.
My they looked good he'd said, he was so hungry he could
eat an elephant, and Mother told him to run along now and brush
his hair and wash his hands because they'd soon be there and to tell
his father to come and open the oysters.
He'd hardly gotten into his bedroom when the bell rang and
he ran to the door and there they were, Uncle Glenn and Aunt
Harriet and Lorna. Aunt Harriet and Lorna smelt of perfume and
furs and Uncle Glenn smelt of bay rum like a barbershop. They had
so many coats and mufflers and furs to hang up that Glenn was
still in the coatcloset when cousin Jane and Miss Jenks arrived
in
tweedy outofdoorslooking overcoats, and everybody was crying out
about my dear what a wonderful Thanksgiving it was and the news
about Tyler, imagine his coming back an officer and going to the
Army of Occupation and maybe he'd have a career in the regular
