THE
EDUCATION OF
A QUEEN
675
I
was
the only one of us to see it and she recalls a nude female
fJgUre of some kind. He was still at his job when I came home
from
school, and I ran eagerly across the street to call on Aggie,
with
whom I hadn't played for at least two months. We retired to
the ping-pong table in the depths of her basement, and I let her
win game after game-anything to avoid going home. At six o'clock
her mother, in a rare good humor, invited me to stay for supper,
and I eagerly accepted after sending Aggie back across the street
to ask permission of Mother.
At seven-thirty Aggie and I wandered upstairs to her bedroom
"to read library books" (Aggie read the comics). Meanwhile,
Joshua cleaned himself up, put on his
other
suit, wrapped the
I
precious box in tissue dug up somewhere by Mother, and de–
parted to seek out Vasiliki in her cashier's box, longer than a
. coffin but not much wider. He hadn't called for a date, but he
told Mother it didn't matter for he knew her schedule. Mother
said he was perfectly at ease.
I am sure it never occurred to Joshua that Vasiliki might
laugh; worse yet, might disapprove, be afraid. Why should it?
We had adopted and protected him, surrounding him like a wall
with
our family, our love, our broad shoulders. My mother accepted
his
boxes as an honor and showed them to all her friends-not
because she understood or even liked them, but because she loved
Joshua. He can hardly be blamed for not knowing all this.
At eight o'clock my father went off to a professional meeting,
and at eight-thirty while I was still buried in
The Red Fairy Book
in
Aggie's bedroom, two policemen called at our house and de–
manded to see the "pornography" in the basement. It was a great
pity
my father wasn't at home then. Though he seldom handled
criminal cases, he was known and respected down at City Hall,
and I dare say that with a phone call he could have sent them
away, at least temporarily. As it was, they put a large number of
"exhibits" in the police-car and drove away, shaking their heads
over "the crazy guy."
My mother finally managed to teach my father at his meet–
ing,
and he went rampaging over to the police station, bailed out
Joshua, and brought him home. He did not think, however, to
