PARTISAN REVIEW
509
Mostly, he just stands there, flexing his knees a bit, looking
ahead. He is no trouble, not much, a good boy, self-sufficient and
forward-looking. I suggest that he go to the corner and see how
the weather bodes. He turns his head to see if I mean what I say,
a pained quizzical look on his face.
Nothing frets as much the spirit in my business (meditating)
as time wasting. I haven't thought a thought worth thinking since
he climbed on my lap.
Look, I say in desperation, I enjoy having you on my lap but
I
need a little time by myself and perhaps you would like some
time by yourself. He takes the hint and climbs down. "Bye bye," he
says wistfully. Two minutes later he is back.
I am in the early middle of a thought when he returns to my
lap, so I ignore him briefly which is what he is used to. He digs his
heels in as if getting ready for a long siege. "Wipe my drool,"
he says, "and I'll tell you a story." It is the most words in sequential
order I have heard him peak. I pretend not to be astounded so
as not to upset his equilibrium, wipe his drool with a yellowing hand–
kerchief.
For an infant, he tells an excellent story. I won 't recapitulate
it all for you here, but will try to limit myself to the high points.
The central figure , not unexpectedly, is a baby.
The storyteller apologizes for his choice of hero. His choice is
limited, he explains, by his tender years.
At the start the baby says good-bye to his father and goes out
into the world, seeking adventure. The father pleads with him to stay
l
another year, at least until he is toilet trained, but the baby is im–
patient. Why postpone living? The father holds philosophically that
a child should be free to make his own mistakes.
THE BABY'S ADVENTURES (a sampling)
A woman, hanging out clothes in her front yard, invites the baby
in for soup. Another time , the baby says. The woman says the soup
will get cold if the baby doesn't drink it and will not accept refusal.
It
is a thick, nearly impenetrable pea soup the woman has to offer
which in truth is not the baby's favorite. To be polite he has one
I
,
spoonful on which he gags through no fault of his own. Throwing the
bowl off the table, he gets up to go, The woman, almost as wide as
