FICTION
Jerry Bumpus
THE HAPPY CONVENT
In the library Lutz found a basket containing an apple and a
jar of beans. Downstairs, the kitchen was deserted, but late that
afternoon he saw old Ockersly polishing the mirror at the far end of the
hall. When he saw Lutz in the mirror he turned and slipped away. The
next day Lutz had peaches, the gift of a figure in bronze, a naked
running boy who, midstride, lifted the basket tied with a ribbon to his
wrist at the same time he glanced over his shoulder, his mouth wide,
yelling
to
other children left far behind. Though Lutz didn't see
Ockersly that day, he felt his presence in the same subtle unsure way
one senses the mood of people in a room he is about to enter, and the
next morning as Lutz sat reading and eating some popcorn he found in
a vacated aquarium, he looked up when he realized that the slow
knocking at the back of his mind, which he had taken as part of his
crunching the popcorn, was the distant steady chock of someone
chopping wood behind the house. Looking out, he saw Cookie
working away, the curls of his Shirley Temple wig dancing as he
swung the axe.
Sometimes, usually late in the afternoon, Lutz would become
suddenly certain that Ockersly was in the next room. Standing at a
window, he would feel sure Ockersly was looking out the window next
door. And no doubt there were peepholes everywhere in the house
through which Ockersly kept an eye on what was going on : One
afternoon when Lutz felt Ockersly next door playing his game, Lutz
sneaked out and went downstairs. Ockersly was in for a surprise when
he peeked into the library and found it empty! And when Ockersly
came rushing into the kitchen with the news that Lutz had
disappeared-there Lutz would sit, chatting with Cookie. But when
Lutz reached the kitchen he stopped outside, for Ockersly was already
there, smoking a cigarette and sipping tea, while Cookie kneaded a big
