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Chapters (51)
  1. Introduction by Michael Bronski
  2. BEGINNING
  3. II
  4. III
  5. IV
  6. V
  7. VI
  8. VII
  9. VIII
  10. IX
  11. X
  12. XI
  13. XII
  14. XIII
  15. MIDDLE
  16. II
  17. III
  18. IV
  19. V
  20. VI
  21. VII
  22. VIII
  23. IX
  24. X
  25. XI
  26. XII
  27. XIII
  28. XIV
  29. XV
  30. XVI
  31. XVII
  32. XVIII
  33. XIX
  34. XX
  35. END
  36. II
  37. III
  38. IV
  39. V
  40. VI
  41. VII
  42. VIII
  43. IX
  44. X
  45. XI
  46. XII
  47. XIII
  48. XIV
  49. XV
  50. XVI
  51. About the Author

“I’m afraid,” Grandin said, “it isn’t quite as easy as that—just wanting to.” It was his first knowledge that Billie “wrote,” something which he himself, having too much respect for the five or six great novels of the world, wouldn’t dream of attempting. He strove to avoid his wife’s eyes, and the eyes of the Haumans still more; he began for the first time to regret the whole happy day. But Billie herself took the problem out of his hands by announcing, importantly:

“You mustn’t hurry these things, Cliff. They take time. Besides, I haven’t definitely made up my mind yet whether I want to be an author or a chemist.”

Hauman’s enthusiasm was deflated. “Well gee, honey, I didn’t think there’d be any harm in asking, as long as we’ve got your professor right here. It’s a chance in a million to find out, isn’t it, if you’re on the right track?”

But Billie’s attention had been caught by something in the room. “Look at that over there, will you.” Her undisguised nod indicated the young man sitting with his mother, fixing their party with fascinated concentration. “Did you ever see anything like that one?” Her smile was unabashed contempt. “Blindfolded you could tell he’s 4-­F—and why.”

Hauman followed her nod, then immediately brought his glance back again. “Gee this potato salad is good, though. Sometime you ought to try the potato salad I make. My daddy loves it—says it’s the best he ever ate.”

His tact had been so swift that it was not tact at all. Far from diverting attention from what Billie had pointed out, he had unconsciously emphasized it; though he did manage to get the subject changed and the allusion (which for some reason he had found so inept) forgotten or passed over.

Crude though her remark had been, Billie was at least honest to her instincts; but her husband was embarrassed. The reason was not flattering. Young people did not mention such things in the presence of their elders. It was one more example of the age difference between them, one more reminder that Grandin was old enough to be his father. Or did Hauman’s refusal to acknowledge what indeed was obvious to them all spring from his natural decency and clean speech? Again and again he had observed the Captain’s avoidance of the least off-­color word. It was not prudery or priggishness; on the other hand, maybe it was just that. In any case, he could not but admire that healthy clean-­mindedness which automatically forced Hauman to change the subject, when almost any other man of Grandin’s acquaintance would, in like circumstance, have given instant utterance to the obvious and the vulgar.

XI

XI