16
PARTISAN REVIEW
hang the Kaiser and burn Berlin to the ground, teach 'em a lesson,
that was all they understood.
·
Two wrongs didn't make a right; Dad was speaking his care–
fully pronounced words from the end of the table, when Lorna began
to kick up a row because she'd found an oystercrab
in
her oyster.
Uncle Glenn roared that she must eat it and Glenn said he thought
they were cute and Lorna screeched that they were horrid and
Glenn said nothing in Nature was horrid, they were just cute little
pink crabs that lived in the oysters. Lorna dared him and double–
dared him to eat it and poked it across the table at him on her spoon.
The tiny crab crawled a little on his tongue but he crunched it up
and swallowed
it.
Then Lorna kicked him
in
the shins under the table
and said now she thought he was horrid.
Uncle Glenn got red
in
the face laughing and · spilt cocktail
sauce on
his
chin gulping down his oysters so that it looked like
he'd cut himself shaving. He said he didn't think the younger gen–
eration appreciated oysters, so he distributed Lorna's oysters among
the grownups and Glenn lost some of his oysters too though he liked
them fine. When Uncle Glenn had eaten his last oyster, he pushed back
his chair a little and Aunt Harriet made him wipe the cocktail sauce
off his chin and he declared that nothing
in
the world could beat a
Potomac oyster. But now that we'd won the war the Huns would
have to pay for it, he said looking straight at Dad. Mother and
Cousin Jane were fluttering around taking away the plates.
Dad got that cornered look on his face. He took off his glasses
and rubbed his grey bulging eyes and leaned forward across his plate
before he spoke. He hoped that those really responsible for the war
would be made to pay for it instead of the poor people of Germany
who were its first victims, he said, his voice trembling a little; he had
confidence that the President . . . Cousin Jane came to the door
and said in her businesslike way that Herbert must come help
them with the turkey, they were afraid they'd drop it; it was
so
heavy and wasn't little Glenn coming to act as head waiter so that
his poor mother could sit down and entertain her guests a little.
When Glenn was through passing the vegetable with a napkin
on his arm like a real waiter, he sat down and began to eat.
Oh,
she hoped the turkey wasn't dry, Mother kept saying as she watched
Dad shakily carving. Everybody was eating the turkey and saying
how good the stuffing was and please pass the cranberry sauce or
the piccalilli and it wasn't until the second helping had gone around
that Uncle Glenn started to argue with Dad some more. Of course
Uncle Glenn said, he was for backing the President, but he thought
the leniency shown to conscientious objectors and disloyal
element!
