Appointment in Samarra - John O'Hara [85]
Die, dear? Are you pregnant? Are you, dear? You could be wrong, you know. It might just be the strain, Christmas. She got up and sat beside Caroline. Come here, dear. Tell me about it. Mother wants to hear all about it.
Caroline wants to cry, said Caroline, and laughed. Oh, this is serious. Dear, don t. Have you missed the second period, dear?
Yes. Someone was in our seats. Oh, Mother, please. I m not pregnant. That s not it.
Are you sure, dear?
I m positive. Mother, please don t worry about that. That s not it at all. It isn’t that. I guess I don t want to talk about it, said Caroline. I ll tell you what s the matter. I might as well. I m through with Julian. I want to go away and get a divorce and never hear his name again for a long time. We can go to France, can t we? Can t we?
Well, I suppose so. This year we ought to be a little more careful, Mr. Chadwick says and Carter. Carter isn’t very optimistic. But we could if we had to, go to Europe I mean. Seven. Twenty-five. Hundred and. Oh, we could go. You wouldn’t want to buy many things, would you, dear?
I don t want to buy anything. I want a divorce. I want to stop being with Julian English and this life. All I am is tired. It s nothing more than that. I m just tired and fed up. I m all washed up and I want to go away. I want to sleep here tonight and all other nights. I want to forget Julian and I want to talk to somebody and go away. I want to talk to somebody with an English accent or I don t know. I m sorry.
This is serious. Tell me all about it if you want to. Of course if you d rather not.
I m not making much sense, am I?
Did you have a quarrel? Oh, you must have, of course.
No. Strangely enough, we didn t. Not what you d call a quarrel. That is, we didn’t have any scene or anything. It isn’t as easy as that. That could be fixed, I guess.
Well, what then? Julian isn’t in love with someone else, is he? I can t somehow I can t believe that. I don t profess to know much about Julian, or any men, for that matter, but if Julian s in love with someone else, then I m no judge at all. If it s just another woman temporarily, dear, don t wreck your life on that account, I beg of you. Don t wreck your whole life. Men are different from us women. An unscrupulous woman can make a man
Period.
What, dear?
Nothing.
Well, as I was saying, dear, please listen. A woman without any scruples and it might be someone we know. I don t know a thing about this other woman, but there are unscrupulous women in every strata of life.
Mother?
Yes, dear.
Mother, what did you do with all the old records?
What old records, dear? Do you mean the Victrola records? Those?
Yes. What did you do with them?
Oh, don t you remember? I gave them to the Y.M.C.A. camp three years ago. You said at the time you didn’t want them, only a few. You took some.
Oh, so I did.
If there s any special one you want we could send for it. Mr. Peters would be glad to get it I m sure. He wants me to buy an autophonic and trade this one in, this Victrola. But I d never use an autophonic. I never use this one.
Orthophonic, Mother.
Orthophonic? It sounded like autophonic. Are you sure? Mr. Peters, I was sure he said autophonic. Oh, Caroline, see?
What, Maman?
See? It s all over, isn’t it? Your bad spell. Here we are, having one of our discussions about words. You and Julian. You didn’t leave any foolish notes, did you, dear?
Oh, God no. I never thought to. Mother, do you really think I came running to you with a silly five-minute quarrel?
Well, after all, you’re not upset any more, are you?
Do you really think I m not?
Yes. I do. I really think the worst of it has passed, gone. Your father and I had our quarrels, too.
When he died you said you never quarreled.
I never said that. At least, I never tried to give the impression that we didn’t have our differences. That would be untrue. All high-strung people, people in love, they always have their differences. As a matter of