Mr. Bridge_ A Novel - Evan S. Connell [23]
Next morning after breakfast the family gathered in the living room to open presents. For a while the business envelopes hung unnoticed among the peppermint candy canes, the tinsel, and the sparkling ornaments. But then Carolyn discovered them, saw that one had her name, and tore it open. She unfolded the certificate avidly, not certain what it was but sensing that it was valuable.
“Oh, goodness! My word!” Mrs. Bridge cried when she opened her envelope. “This is Christmas!”
Douglas looked skeptically at the certificate he had gotten.
“It’s ten shares of stock in the Kansas City Power & Light Company,” Ruth told him. “Thank you, Daddy.”
“You’re welcome,” he answered, laughing. “But it appears to me as if it came from Santa Claus.”
“That’s right!” Mrs. Bridge said, pointing to the back of the envelope. “Well, thank you, Mr. Santa!”
“Thank you,” Carolyn said. She was reading everything printed on the certificate.
“Thanks,” Douglas said. He was more impressed by the baseball glove and the hockey stick.
“Don’t lose these,” Mr. Bridge said, wagging his index finger in mock anger. “They’re worth quite a bit of money. I’ll put them in my safe-deposit box for you.”
“Oh, yes, please,” Mrs. Bridge said, and handed him her certificate.
Ruth handed him the one she had received.
Douglas shrugged and gave back the one he had gotten.
“I want to keep mine,” said Carolyn.
“If you want to, you can. It’s your privilege,” he said. “But if you lose it we will have to go through a considerable amount of red tape to have another certificate issued.”
“All right, here,” she said after thinking the matter over.
“I certainly do wish to thank you,” Harriet said.
“You’re most welcome, Harriet,” he said. “Would you like me to hold yours, or can you take care of it?”
“Well, if it is not too much of a problem, I would appreciate you keeping mine in the safe deposit also.”
“I’ll be glad to,” he said, and reached for it. “Any time you want it, let me know.”
While the rest of the packages were being opened he sat holding the five certificates firmly in both hands. He did not want them to get misplaced so that they might be burned in the fireplace with the tissue paper and empty boxes when the room was cleaned up. A few minutes later he carried them upstairs and put them once more in the manila envelope, which he zipped into the briefcase.
26 Paper Hat
New Year’s Eve the Montgomerys gave a party. Mr. Bridge did not want to attend. He disliked New Year’s Eve, and after listening to football games on the radio all afternoon he wanted nothing more than to spend the evening in bed reading travel brochures and a mystery novel he had gotten for Christmas. However, they were obligated to go because they had turned down a previous invitation from the Montgomerys, and the invitation to this had been sent so far in advance that another rejection would be embarrassing.
The party was exactly what he had feared it would be. Just before midnight the butler broke open boxes of confetti, streamers, paper hats, horns, whistles, and other noisemakers. Mr. Bridge got behind the piano where he sipped a glass of champagne and hoped he would not be noticed until the worst of it was over, but his wife found him.
Gaily she cried, “Don’t be an old stick-in-the-mud! Tonight you’re going to put on a paper hat and enjoy yourself!”
“I will not wear a paper hat,” he said. “That’s final.”
“Oh, goodness, we all feel silly,” she replied, adjusting the peppermint-red hat she had chosen, “but everybody’s wearing one.”
“I am not everybody,” he said.
“You certainly aren’t,” she said. “But can’t you make an exception on New Year’s Eve?”
“No,” said Mr. Bridge.
27 Purple Crayon
If Carolyn proved to be