246
PARTISAN REVIEW
he gets the cup of juice which Mrs. Coogan gives him, Jenny is glad
for his sake .
"I am so happyJohnny Lewis got his juice!" Jenny cries .
Poor Mrs . Coogan. The child is such a puzzle.
"I don ' t care for the swimming," Jenny tells her, even though
Mrs . Coogan doesn't take her little group swimming. She takes them
for a walk. Down to the corner, where the school bus carrying the
older children goes by .
"Perhaps you'll like it when you get a little older, when you get
a little better at it, " Mrs . Coogan says.
Jenny shakes her head. She thinks of all the nakedness , milling
and bobbing and bumping against her in the flat, warm, dark water.
She says this aloud.
'
"Oh my dear," Mrs. Coogan says.
"I don't understand about the swimming," Jenny says.
Jenny's father picks her up at four. In the car , he always has a
present for her. Today it is a watch .
It
is only a toy watch , but it has
moving parts and the manufacturer states that if it is not abused it
will keep fairly reasonable time.
Mrs . Coogan says toJenny's father, " All children fib a little . It 's
their nature . Their lives are incompatible with the limits imposed
upon their experience ."
Jenny feels no real insecurity while Mrs. Coogan speaks, but she
is a little anxious. She is with a man . She doesn ' t smell very good.
Outside other men are striking the locked door with sticks .
"Lena," they call . "Lena."
Jenny's father frowns at Mrs . Coogan. He does not wish to be
aware that Jenny lies . To him, it is a terrible risk of oneself to
lie .
It
risks control, peace , self-knowledge , even , perhaps, the proper
acceptance of love. He is a thoughtful, reasonable man . He loves his
only child . He wills her safe passage through the world. He does not
wish to acknowledge that lying gives a beat and structure
to
Jenny 's
life that the truth has not yet justified . Jenny 's imagination depresses
him. He senses an ultimatum in it.
Jenny runs to the car. Her father is not with her. He is behind
her. Suddenly the child realizes this and whips around
to
catch him
with her eyes. Once again, she succeeds .
Jenny 's mother is in the front seat , checking over her grocery list .
(
