SUPPERBURGER
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your age, in the thirties, everyone was so much more drab. At least
the boys were.
P. There are lots of kids these days.
MRS. S. I never saw them for so many years. All so lovely.
I like the word lovely. I know kids do not usually say words like
that. Old ladies use it a lot. I wonder if Mrs. Supperburger is turning
into an old lady. That means Supperburger is old too, though men
usually do not get old as soon. They die sooner though. That is why
there are a lot of old ladies living by themselves on the
hill.
I often
think I wiII give it all up when I find I cannot keep my stomach
flat anymore. I wonder if I will have much hair on my stomach. A
lot of blond people do not, but then Italians do. I think Supper–
burger has German ancestry. He used to be blond, and he does not
have much hair on
his
stomach. The knob on the music room door
just turned. He has finished composing, I guess, and he is coming in.
S. Good afternoon, Patrick. Ruth ... Patrick ... I have finished
my Ninth Symphony.
Now
it
is after dinner, and we are sitting around the table with
coffee cups and peaches and special fruit-peeling knives to peel
them. The announcement about the Ninth Symphony was very ex–
citing and got us
all
celebrating. Mrs. Supperburger carried out the
tea and came back with a bottle of champagne, and we all made
toasts. That was when Louis came up, shown in by Matty, the maid.
Supperburger welcomed
him
in a fatherly sort of way and introduced
me as Patrick Polo, but I cannot remember what he said Louis's
last name was. Supperburger is very good at making people feel easy
and at home right away. Maybe it is because he is a little shy himself
but not so shy as not to know what to say or not to keep saying
things when everyone else is awkwardly pausing. It is a good thing
because Louis does not seem to say much. So far he has only said
hello and a few other things like yes and no and that he likes college
a lot. In a way it is nice to hear a college kid not talk so much. Mrs.
Supperburger told Louis right away about the Symphony and gave
him
a glass of champagne, though I noticed he did not drink it
all.
Then Supperburger said how it was a four-way celebration,
not just because there were four people but because ftrstly it was
