U.S.A_ - John Dos Passos [22]
"This is my young assistant, ma'am," said Doc Bing-ham, with a noble gesture. "Fenian, this is Mrs. Kovach."
"You must be hungry. We're having supper right away."
The last of the sun lit up a kitchen range that was crowded with saucepans and stewpots. Fragrant steam rose in little jets from round wel polished lids. As she spoke Mrs. Kovach leaned over so that her big blue behind with starched apronstrings tied in a bow above it stood up straight in the air, opened the oven door and pul ed out a great pan of cornmuffins that she dumped into a dish on the dining table already set next the window. Their warm toasted smoke fil ed the kitchen. Fainy felt his mouth watering. Doc Bingham was rubbing his hands and
-50-rol ing his eyes. They sat down, and the two blue-eyed smearyfaced children were sat down and started gobbling silently, and Mrs. Kovach heaped their plates with stewed tomatoes, mashed potatoes, beef stew and limabeans with pork. She poured them out coffee and then said with moist eyes, as she sat down herself:
"I love to see men eat."
Her face took on a crushed pansy look that made Fainy turn away his eyes when he found himself looking at it. After supper she sat listening with a pleased, frightened expression while Doc Bingham talked and talked, now and then stopping to lean back and blow a smoke ring at the lamp.
"While not myself a Lutheran as you might say, ma'am, I myself have always admired, nay, revered, the great figure of Martin Luther as one of the lightbringers of mankind. Were it not for him we would be stil groveling under the dread domination of the Pope of Rome."
"They'l never get into this country; land sakes, it gives me the creeps to think of it."
"Not while there's a drop of red blood in the veins of freeborn Protestants . . . but the way to fight darkness, ma'am, is with light. Light comes from education, reading of books and studies . . ."
"Land sakes, it gives me a headache to read most books, an' I don't get much time, to tel the truth. My husband, he reads books he gets from the Department of Agricul-ture. He tried to make me read one once, on raisin' poul-try, but I couldn't make much sense out of it. His folks they come from the old country . . . I guess people feels different over there."
"It must be difficult being married to a foreigner like that."
"Sometimes I don't know how I stand it; course he was awful goodlookin' when I married him . . . I never could resist a goodlookin' man."
-51-Doc Bingham leaned further across the table. His eyes rol ed as if they were going to drop out.
"I never could resist a goodlooking lady." Mrs. Kovach sighed deeply. Fainy got up and went out. He'd been trying to get in a word about getting paid, but what was the use? Outside it was chil y; the stars were bright above the roofs of the barns and outhouses. From the chickencoop came an occa-sional sleepy cluck or the rustle of feathers as a hen lost her balance on her perch. He walked up and down the barnyard cursing Doc Bingham and kicking at an occa-sional clod of manure. Later he looked into the lamplit kitchen. Doc Bingham had his arm around Mrs. Kovach's waist and was declaim-ing verses, making big gestures with his free hand:
. . . These things to hear
Would Desdemona seriously incline
But still the house affairs would draw her hence Which ever as she could with haste dispatch
She'd come again and with a greedy ear . . .
Fainy shook his fist at the window. "Goddam your hide, I want my money," he said aloud. Then he went for a walk down the road. When he came back he was sleepy and chil y. The kitchen was empty and the lamp was
turned down low. He didn't know where to go to sleep, so he settled down to warm himself in a chair beside the fire. His head began to nod and he fel asleep. A tremendous thump on the floor above and a woman's shrieks woke him. His first thought was that Doc Bing-ham was robbing and murdering the woman. But immediately he heard another voice cursing and shouting in broken English. He had half gotten up from the chair, when Doc Bingham