Mr. Bridge_ A Novel - Evan S. Connell [68]
On his way back to the office he stopped at Woolf Brothers clothing store and picked out a red-plaid wool shirt which he did not like. He asked the clerk to giftwrap it, and he took it home and after dinner produced it and announced to the family that he had bought himself a present. While everybody watched, he opened the box.
There was not much reaction to the shirt. It was not grotesque. Not at all. His wife remarked that it was quite attractive and as winter was coming on it should be very practical and comfortable to wear around the house or in the yard. He had not expected this. He had thought there would be some laughter; then he himself could join in the fun and explain how he happened to buy it, all because of Dr. Sauer’s socks, so the entire business could be finished. But because nobody thought the shirt was amusing he could not make a joke of it; he was obliged to pretend he had bought the shirt because he liked it. Carolyn asked him to put it on. He did not want to, but he took it out of the box and went upstairs to the bedroom where he put it on. It scratched.
He wore his new shirt the rest of the evening while he read the Star and the Wall Street Journal and listened to the radio; and that night he hung it in the closet, knowing that every time he opened the closet door and saw the shirt he was going to be annoyed. He began to estimate how long he must leave it hanging in the closet before he could say he was tired of it and suggest giving it to the Salvation Army.
70 So Soon?
Ruth mentioned that she had seen Dr. Sauer at the Paseo football game. Mr. Bridge asked if she had spoken to him, and she said they had had a long talk after the game.
He was amused. “Did you indeed? And what have the two of you in common?”
“More than you think,” she replied in a manner he could not interpret.
“What sort of person is he?” Mrs. Bridge inquired. “I’ve never met him, though I’ve heard enough tales.”
“He reminds me of an owl,” she said. “He smokes like a stove and he’s totally out of his skull. I mean, really!” Having supplied this description, she added that she thought Dr. Sauer probably could dance very well, although she did not explain why she thought so. With a quizzical expression she turned to her father. “He said something actually sort of weird. He said I was going on a dangerous trip.”
“Pay no attention, the man is eccentric,” Mr. Bridge replied.
However, he continued to think about this remark. He was afraid he knew what it meant.
71 Juliet
The high school drama department was planning to present an abbreviated production of Romeo and Juliet during the Christmas holidays. Tryouts were soon to be held. Ruth, hopeful of getting the heroine’s role, practiced at home, wandering through the house with a tormented expression while reading aloud from Four Tragedies. Occasionally she would stop in the front hall before the mirror, fling the hair out of her eyes, catch her lower lip between her teeth, and wrinkle her brow; and after observing herself for quite a long period of time she would continue wandering and reciting.
Douglas mimicked her. She ignored him.
Carolyn went to their mother demanding that she make Ruth quit, because the performance was “too utterly sickening for words.” But Mrs. Bridge, pleased that Ruth finally had decided to take part in some school activity, refused to interfere.
Ruth sometimes passed through the kitchen wearing one of her Juliet expressions and went out the back door and toured the yard while Harriet, vastly entertained, smothered her face in her hands.
Mr. Bridge kept silent. If Ruth wanted to try out for the play, all right, or if she did not, all right. He agreed with Harriet that she looked ridiculous walking back and forth in the yard reciting Shakespeare, and probably the neighbors were talking; however, it was none of their business, and besides, it was normal for a girl of Ruth’s age to behave melodramatically.