368
JONATHAN STRONG
is
a dignified sort of woman, not short or dumpy at all. Her hair
is
almost gray, but she seems pretty young still. Her clothes are usually
soft colors and flowery, which
is
nice on her. She never really laughs,
but she is always smiling. In a few minutes she will be coming in
here, and then Supperburger will come out of his study. He and
his wife look good together because he
is
strong enough to make
her feel taken care of but not too strong, not to overpower her.
I wonder if he
is
a great composer. I am no judge, and I know the
ladies on Friday afternoons are no judges. They
all
applauded politely
because he is a local celebrity of sorts, but the music was strange.
It
is
hard for me to describe it because I know nothing about
music and cannot even sing, though I can dance rock and roll
pretty well. I often go to the Drum Guitar which is where they
have live rock and roll bands. But I did like his piece. In fact it
was not like any other piece I have heard, and I think it
is
beautiful
when someone can do something like no one else has. The same
goes for dressing. When I got my hat my mother did not like it
because none of the other kids wore a hat like that. My mother
is
very scared that I might be different. There was one part of the
Symphonic Suite I can still remember, though not exactly how
it
sounded. It was quiet, and two trumpets started playing melodies
to each other, most of the time not fitting together very well and
sort of twisting around, but that made the parts that did fit seem
all the more lovely. Then one got farther and farther away, and I
imagined one sailing boat slowly drifting out to sea and me standing
on the land calling to it as it became more and more cloudy with mist.
I can hear Mrs. Supperburger coming upstairs with the tea.
P. Hi, Aunt Ruth.
MRS. S. Good afternoon, Patrick. Matty said she let you in
about
half
an hour ago. I hope you haven't been bored.
P. No, I was looking at the books.
MRS. S. What is it? Oh, Swinburne. That's one of Arthur's
favorites. I wonder how you happened to pick that. No one reads him
anymore.
P. It was on the shelf right here. It's a little sad, but I like it.
MRS. S. It seems so old-fashioned to me when I read it. I re-
