Thursday, February 4, 2010 - I'm used to being on boatsA friend of mine had a... |
| I'm used to being on boatsA friend of mine had a sailboat on Long Island, and in the summer I used to go out with him a lotI enjoyed it thoroughly He thought of the Sound and the pale dunes that surrounded it"It was beautiful thereYou know you can't beat America for beautiful country
"You can say that again, brother," Gallagher snorted suddenly
It was just his way of talking, Goldstein decidedHe didn't mean any harm"Did you ever go out on boats, Gallagher?" he asked mildly
Gallagher raised himself on an elbow"Aaah, I went canoeing once in a while out on the Charles, past West RoxburyUsed to go with my wife He said it first, and then thought about itHis omega mens watch fake face altered for an instant, assumed a numb stricken cast
"Oh, I'm sorry," Goldstein breathed Gallagher felt some irritation at getting sympathy from a Jew"Forget it," he added, a little meaninglesslyBut he was becoming tender again, dissolving in a bath of self-pity and pleasant gentle sorrow"Look," he said abruptly, "you got a kid, ain't ya?"
Goldstein nodded"Oh, yes," he answered eagerly"My boy is three years old nowWait, I'll show you a picture of him With some effort, he rolled over on the cot and withdrew his wallet from his back pocket"This isn't a good picture of him," Goldstein apologized, "he's really one of the handsomest children you could omega ladies watch imagineWe've got a big picture at home of him that we had a professional photographer take, and honestly you couldn't beat it
Gallagher stared at the pictureyeah, he's a cute kid, all right He was a little bewildered, uncomfortable with the praise that welled clumsily out of his mouthHe looked at the picture again, seeing it really for the first time, and he sighedIn the one letter he had written home since Mary died he had asked for a picture of his childHe had been waiting with increasing impatience for it ever since, and it had become an important need in his lifeHe would idle away many dull inactive hours daydreaming about his child, wondering what it looked rolex gmt master likeAlthough he had not been told, he assumed it was a boy"That's a real cute kid," he said in a rough voiceHe fingered the side of the cot for a momentSurmounting his embarrassment, he blurted, "Hey, what is it like, havin' a kid?"
Goldstein debated for a moment, as if to give the definitive answer He had been about to say "nochis "But there's a lot of heartaches in it tooYou worry about them a lot, and of course there are the economic difficulties Gallagher nodded his head in agreement
Goldstein went on talkingHe had some constraint, for Gallagher was the man he had hated most in the platoonThe warmth and friendliness he felt toward him now were tiffany jewelry us perplexingGoldstein was self-conscious when he saw himself as a Jew talking to a Gentile; then every action, every word, was dictated to a great extent by his desire to make a good impressionAlthough he was gratified when people liked him, part of his satisfaction came from the idea that they were liking a JewAnd so he tried to say only the things that would please Gallagher
Yet in talking about his family, Goldstein experienced once more an automatic sense of loss and longingWistful images of the beatitudes of married life drifted in his headHe remembered a night when his wife and he had giggled together in the darkness and listened to the quaint pompous snoring of their louis vuitton bag sale bab |
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