Mothers and Daughters
- Автор: Хантер Эван
- Год: 1961
- Язык: английский
- Год: Simon and Schuster
- Жанр: Современная русская и зарубежная проза
Электронная книга - «Mothers and Daughters». Краткое содержание книги:
“Call me Matthew,” he said angrily. “And don’t ever say that again!”
“Which?”
“The little-boy baloney. There’s nothing infuriates a man more.”
“I’ll remember.”
“Okay, remember.”
“Why are you angry?”
“Because I think you’re playing games.”
“No, I’m not,” she said seriously.
“Then what are you doing?”
“Not playing games. Anything but that. I’m trying to be perfectly honest with you because I like you and want to be your friend.”
“So you ask me to hop into bed.”
“I didn’t ask you that, Matthew. I’m sorry. Perhaps I overestimated you.”
“Yeah, perhaps you did. It sounded very much to me like—”
“Damn it, keep still a moment!”
“Listen, don’t tell me—”
“Keep still!”
“I don’t like to be told—”
“Neither do I!” Julia snapped.
They were silent.
“Boy, we get along just fine, don’t we?” Matthew said.
“We do. And we will.”
“What do you want from me?”
“Nothing.”
“That’s a lie, Julia.”
“All right, then. Everything.”
“I can’t give you that.”
“Only a fool would expect it,” Julia said.
“I thought we weren’t going to play games.”
“We’re not. We’re talking.”
“Very small talk.”
“You’re not very perceptive, are you?” Julia asked.
“You’re pretty insulting, aren’t you?” Matthew asked.
“I only insult people I like.”
“Better to be your enemy, then.”
“No. Better to be my friend.”
“Oh, the hell with it,” Matthew said, and again the patio was silent.
“Do you know why we’re fighting?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because now I want to kiss you.”
“That’s right,” Julia said.
“Is that your point?”
“That’s exactly my point.”
“Okay.” He nodded. He approached her awkwardly, clumsily cupped her chin in his hand. He lowered his mouth. “I’m going to,” he said.
“Please.”
Their lips met. Her mouth was very soft. She kissed well.
“All right?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said grudgingly.
“Did you enjoy kissing me?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, and I enjoyed you.” She paused. “Do you want to touch me now?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I like kissing my wife better than I like kissing you,” Matthew said, surprised when the words found voice.
“Yes, that’s good,” Julia said. She smiled. “Would you give me a cigarette now?”
He shook one free from the package and lighted it for her. She smiled at him over the match.
“I feel a little foolish,” he said.
“No, please,” she said, “you mustn’t. Besides, I don’t expect this to happen again, do you?”
“No. I honestly don’t.”
“But I’m glad it happened here and now. I’m glad it’s done.”
“I am, too.”
“And are we friends now?” she asked.
“I guess so. It’s been a hell of a long way around the mulberry bush, but I guess so.”
They laughed in the darkness.
“Listen,” he said.
“Yes?”
“You’re an exciting woman.”
“Am I?”
“Yes. So don’t... I don’t ever want to start anything, Julia.”
“Neither do I.”
“So don’t ever—”
“I won’t.”
“Okay.”
They were silent.
“Because I’m only human,” Matthew said.
“Yes, we all are. But if...” She stopped and shook her head. “No, I won’t say it.”
“Say it.”
“No.”
“You’re starting wrong, Julia.”
“Of course, forgive me. I was going to say, if you ever need me, come to me. I didn’t want to say it because... I didn’t want you to think...”
“That’s not what I’m thinking.”
“Good, then.”
“Well,” he, said, and he sighed. “I feel pretty good.”
“So do I.” She paused. “Someone inside said you were a lawyer. Are you a good lawyer?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me what it’s like.”
“What can I tell you?”
“You seem like a lawyer,” Julia said.
“How do lawyers seem?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Legal and...” She shrugged.
“Say it. Pompous.”
“You’re not at all pompous.”
“I’m not?” Matthew said.
“Certainly not. Whatever gave you that idea?”
“I don’t know. I guess I feel a little stuffy sometimes. No, not that. I guess I feel I should be a little stuffy. There’s a difference.”
“Why should you want to be stuffy?”
“Because I’m a lawyer, and a husband, and a father, and sometimes I don’t feel like any of the three.”
“How do you feel?”
“Sometimes?”
“Yes.”
“Like seventeen,” Matthew said. “Sometimes my kids will have their friends over to play, and I’ll look at them and wonder why any parents in their right minds would entrust the safety of their children to me, an imitation father who is only seventeen years old.”
“I see. And how old do you feel right now?”
“Are you going to tell me you’re forty-eight again?”
“No, never again. We’re past that now, aren’t we?”
“Yes, we are.”
“So tell me how you feel now.”
“With you?”
“Yes. With me.”
“I feel like your son,” Matthew said.
He went to see her for the first time a week later. It was a Saturday, and he was driving into town to do some errands when he passed the Regan house and suddenly decided to stop. He pulled the car to the curb, got out, and walked to the front door. At first, there was no answer. He rang again.
“Just a moment,” Julia called from somewhere inside.
He waited on the front step feeling somewhat foolish. The events at the party seemed like such a long time ago, seemed almost unreal. He wondered what he would say to her now, wondered if their so-called friendship had not been the result of his alcoholic haze.
She was wearing a robe when she answered the door. Her hair was in curlers. He could see them under the scarf she had hastily thrown over her head.
“Matthew,” she said. “How nice! Come in!”
He followed her into the house.
“I was just making some coffee,” she said. “Will you join me?”
“Yes, thank you. I’d like some.”
They went into the kitchen. She poured the coffee and then turned on the radio to see what the weather would be like. There was something very natural and very familiar about the scene, Julia sitting at the table in her robe and curlers, Matthew in dungarees and a woolen sports shirt, the radio behind them giving the news and weather. He felt totally relaxed and comfortable as he sipped his coffee. They began chatting later, easily, without innuendo, without guile. Before he realized it, he was telling her about Kate and the difficulties they were experiencing with the adoption.
“Ordinarily, it might have been a routine thing, although adoption laws are the most confusing in the world. With Kate, it’s become more complicated because two states are involved, Minnesota and Connecticut.”
“I see,” Julia said.
“We had to make application in Minnesota, you understand. And the law there states that any person who’s resided in the state for more than a year may apply for adoption. Naturally, we can’t establish residency in Minnesota. But happily, the law says this provision may be waived by the court. Well, we applied for the waiver, and it was refused, so we appealed, and the waiver was finally granted, but that was only the beginning.”