Shiloh and Other Stories - Bobbie Ann Mason [111]
A pudgy man with fat fists and thick lips sits next to her on the bench at the clinic, humming. With him is a woman in a peach-colored pants suit and with tight white curls. The man grins and points to a child across the room. “That’s my baby,” he says to Ruby. The little girl, squealing with joy, is riding up and down on her mother’s knee. The pudgy man says something unintelligible.
“He loves children,” says the white-haired woman.
“My baby,” he says, making a cradle with his arms and rocking them.
“He has to have those brain tests once a year,” says the woman to Ruby in a confidential whisper.
The man picks up a magazine and says, “This is my baby.” He hugs the magazine and rocks it in his arms. His broad smile curves like the crescent phase of the moon.
PERMISSIONS CREDITS
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:
GEAR PUBLISHING: Excerpt from “The Horizontal Bop,” words and music by Bob Seger. Copyright © 1979, 1980 by Gear Publishing. Used by permission of Gear Publishing.
PEER INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION: Excerpt from “Mellow Yellow” by Donovan Leitch. Copyright © 1966 by Donovan (Music) Limited. Administered by Peer International Corporation. International copyright secured. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Peer International Corporation.
STERLING STORM: Excerpt from “Get You Tonight” by Sterling Storm from The Humans LP Happy Hour. Copyright © 1981 by Sterling Storm. Used by permission.
WARNER BROS. PUBLICATIONS INC.: Excerpt from “Summertime Blues” by Eddie Cochran and Jerry Capehart. Copyright © 1958 (Renewed) by Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Warner Bros. Publications Inc., Miami, FL 33014.
WARNER BROS. PUBLICATIONS INC. AND CHED MUSIC CORPORATION: Excerpt from “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree” by Charlie Tobias, Lew Brown and Sam H. Stept. Copyright © 1942 by EMI Robbins Catalog Inc. Copyright © renewed, assigned to Ched Music Corporation and EMI Robbins Catalog Inc. in the USA. All rights for the World outside of the USA controlled by EMI Robbins Catalog Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Warner Bros. Publications Inc., Miami. FL 33014
WILLIAMSON MUSIC, CHERRY LANE MUSIC AND UNIVERSAL-MCA MUSIC PUBLISHERS, A DIVISION OF UNIVERSAL STUDIOS, INC.: Excerpt from “Hound Dog” by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Copyright © 1956 by Elvis Presley Music, Inc., and Lion Publishing Co., Inc. Copyright renewed and assigned to Gladys Music (Administered by Williamson Music) and Cherry Lane Music o/b/o Gladys Music (ASCAP). Rights in the US are controlled by Williamson Music and Cherry Lane Music. Rights outside of the United States are controlled by Universal-MCA Music Publishers, a division of Universal Studios, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Williamson Music, Cherry Lane Music and Universal-MCA Music Publishers, a division of Universal Studios, Inc.
THE MODERN LIBRARY EDITORIAL BOARD
Maya Angelou
•
Daniel J. Boorstin
•
A. S. Byatt
•
Caleb Carr
•
Christopher Cerf
•
Ron Chernow
•
Shelby Foote
•
Stephen Jay Gould
•
Vartan Gregorian
•
Richard Howard
•
Charles Johnson
•
Jon Krakauer
•
Edmund Morris
•
Elaine Pagels
•
John Richardson
•
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
•
Carolyn See
•
William Styron
•
Gore Vidal
FOR ROGER
ALSO BY BOBBIE ANN MASON
FICTION
In Country
Spence + Lila
Love Life
Feather Crowns
Midnight Magic
Zigzagging Down a Wild Trail
An Atomic Romance
Nancy Culpepper
NONFICTION
Nabokov’s Garden
The Girl Sleuth
Clear Springs
Elvis Presley
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
BOBBIE ANN MASON is the author of In Country, Nancy Culpepper, An Atomic Romance, and a memoir, Clear Springs. She won the PEN/Hemingway Award and has been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the American Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award, and the Pulitzer Prize. She lives in Kentucky with her husband.