FICTION
Thalia Selz
THE MONK WHO LOVED LITTLE GIRLS
Athos wasn't born Athos at all. His parents were a
couple of vaudeville troupers named Sally Sparks and Archie
Anderson. She played the ingenue, the Irish maid, the blushing
bride and the slattern wife. He was a song-and-dance man who
could juggle and do trick roping like Will Rogers; he played
blackface, cowboy, and dumb Swede, as well as the male counter–
parts to his wife's roles. For a while when he was three Athos
really thought his parents' first names were Bridget and Paddy.
Because the baby was born in Hartford, Connecticut, dur–
ing a brief stopover between shows, they named him Hartford,
but he didn't stay there long enough to pick up anything but his
name. By the time he was nine years old he had been in twenty–
one schools.
They were playing in Denver when Hartford stopped
speaking. One day in class when he was concentrating on his
civics lesson with one part of his mind and pretending to be Mr.
Aladdin in
Rebecca of Sunny brook Farm
with the other part of
his mind, Miss Taylor asked him how many officials the State of
Colorado had duly elected
to
serve in the United States Senate
and the House of Representatives . .. Please.
"Two senators and five congressmen, ma'am," one part of
Hartford's mind stated loudly, but the other part of his mind
spoke louder still: "My darling little girl Rebecca, when you
grow up or I grow down we are both going
to
marry each other
and live happily ever after.
In
Hartford, Connecticut-not in
Denver. "
"Hartford?" said Miss Taylor.
Hartford realized he had not yet answered Miss Taylor, who
was large and impressive, whose voice was
basso profundo,
who
had a delicate mustache and hairs growing out of her chin, who
hennaed her hair except for the roots which were somehow al–
ways green like grass under melting red snow, and who was
dying of cancer though neither she nor Hartford knew it yet
