SUPPERBURGER
373
he had just finished the second movement. I remembered that was
the one with the trumpets. She said he wrote the third movement
as a sort of wedding march, and they were married on the first
day of fall. I started wondering what the last two movements were
supposed to be. Maybe the fourth was their wedding night. The
fifth was short and came to a very funny end, and I could not
imagine what it was. Anyway, it was nice to hear Mrs. Supperburger
remembering things so happily. Maybe I will want to get married
some day after all if it can still be so nice after twenty-five years.
My parents never see each other anymore, though they are supposed
to be married still because we are Catholics. I am not really a
Catholic. I know one girl on the hill who drinks a lot and sort of
sleeps around. She goes to two confessionals. In one she says she
ate meat on Friday or something small like that, and in the other
she says that she lied once! I do not go at all anymore. I would
not have time to get it all in, and I do not think it matters anyway.
Of course my mother assumes I go, and whenever I do see my father
he says something about going to church which is funny coming
from him. I have been thinking about my father off and on through
dinner. Just as we were starting, the door bell rang, and it was
Charles. She figured I might be here. She apologized for butting
in, which is unusual for her, and said a man who said he was Patrick
Polo's father had been around tonight asking the kids where I was.
She said he seemed in a state, so she did not tell him anything.
She seemed scared. I did not want to think about it. Charles was
sort of playing up the drama of the situation, and you can never
be sure with her how serious things are. She left right away saying
she just wanted to clue me in. I forgot about it immediately, because
I wanted to, but it keeps coming back to my mind, like now when
I think about my father and church. I do not think the Supper–
burgers ever go to church. Mrs. Supperburger talked all through
the main course, and now that it is dessert she is still talking but is
getting a little vague. It reminds me of the night she asked me to
\
call her Aunt Ruth. She was fuzzy and vague then too. Louie is
not saying anything, though he keeps looking at me. Supperburger
seems to be collecting his thoughts, just like me. I really like Mrs.
\ Supperburger better when she keeps quiet and sweet.
MRS. S. I really don't know why we have to have a maid,
