The Wilmington morning star., 1947-10-25

If. He had come back to it from
the war.
She stood very still when she
heard footsteps on the path. She
didn't move until he was quite
! close to her.
"Why did you come back t.
this, SAM" To a farm wher
farm help is scarce, to \ fine
old house sadly in need of pain
and repairs, to a newspaper
that could be better .Yot
might have got a job IN toWr
and missed all this"
He put his arms around the
pickets and looked out over the
fields.
otis a funny thing, but a lot
of the fellows l talked with over
there wanted to go in business
for themselves. They wanted
something of their own to work
for. They'd had so much OF reg
imentation they wanted to be
their own bosses for a change.
This is mine 1t was my faith
er's and his fathers and so on
down the line. 1t gave them all
a good living. 1t gave my faith
err a good living until he
couldn't hire help and his health
was poor and my mother wasn't
here. l think you can say you've
had a good life when your face
changes for the better year aft
er wear. There's a portrait OF
nv mother in the hall upstairs.
Look at it. Her presence was
calming influence on every
one she knew. And she was
more beautiful when she was
old than when she was young"
"Was Teresa ever here3s'
"No. She never came. l new
er asked her. l knew she
wouldn't like it." He looked at
her. 81 can talk about her to
you. There's no mystery as to
why we didn't make a 90 OF 1t.
"Why didn't your"
Teresa and I had a mating
but not a marriage"
She said slowly, "She wanted
you for a lover but not for a
husband"
"She had no need for a hus-
band after she had a child"
Alison thought, Teresa lives
alone, it's true, but she doesn't
like it, Sam. She tries to deny
her womanhood. But a child
isn't all of a woman's life. The
child is only a part of it.
He said, "She changed after
we we're married into someone
with a motor in place OF a
heart. We had no home life.
She worked all the time. She
went from her office to the hos
pital the night Suzy was
born. I wasn't called until it
was all over. l always thought
a woman wanted the father OF
her child with her then. The
war split us apart. 1t does one
or the other. 1t has no respect
for the middle line"
1--WE always thought of hus-
band and lover as the same.
Add companion to it and you
have everything. The pity with
humans is that our children, re-
suits of only a mating, are for
so long helpless. And where
there isn't a traditional marri-
age the children are torn limb
from limb, from one parent to
the other"
After a moment he said, 81
heard what you said and I
agree with everything you say,
but I was listening to your voice
again"
He turned and looked into her
face. "There's something exotic
about you. I've been thinking
about you lately, Alison"
"What have you been think
ing, SAM"
"Not thinking. Feeling"
"Do you trust them, your
feelings?"
"More than I always trust my
thoughts. AS much as I trust
you"
"You know me very little"
"I'ye known you for four
years. That's not so little. And
when you crossed my vision
that day recently, you weren't
simply walking into Teresa's
living room. You were walking
into my life again"
81 never walked out of it. l
only took a leave of absence to
grow up 50 we could be con-
temporaries."
AS he smiled he covered her
hand with his. "You don't know
you're exotic, do your"
"I'm as close to the earth as
you are, Sam"
But now they were close TO
each other. Perhaps they would
have been closer still, so close
! she would have felt the beating