Parnassus on Wheels Christopher Morley (no david read aloud txt) š
- Author: Christopher Morley
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Now, Andrew, here are some directions for you:
Donāt forget to feed the chickens twice a day, and collect all the eggs. Thereās a nest behind the wood pile, and some of the Wyandottes have been laying under the ice house.
Donāt let Rosie touch grandmotherās blue china, because sheāll break it as sure as fate if she lays her big, thick Swedish fingers on it.
Donāt forget your warmer underwear. The nights are getting chilly.
I forgot to put the cover on the sewing machine. Please do that for me or itāll get all dusty.
Donāt let the cat run loose in the house at night: he always breaks something.
Send your socks and anything else that needs darning over to Mrs. McNally, she can do it for you.
Donāt forget to feed the pigs.
Donāt forget to mend the weathervane on the barn.
Donāt forget to send that barrel of apples over to the cider mill or you wonāt have any cider to drink when Mr. Decameron comes up to see us later in the fall.
Just to make ten commandments, Iāll add one more: You might phone to Mrs. Collins that the Dorcas will have to meet at someone elseās house next week, because I donāt know just when Iāll get back. I may be away a fortnight more. This is my first holiday in a long time and Iām going to chew it before I swallow it.
The Professor (Mr. Mifflin, I mean) has gone back to Brooklyn to work on his book. Iām sorry you and he had to mix it up on the high road like a couple of hooligans. Heās a nice little man and youād like him if you got to know him.
Iām spending Sunday in Bath: tomorrow Iām going on toward Hastings. Iāve sold five dollarsā worth of books this morning even if it is Sunday.
Your affte sister
Helen McGill.
P.S. Donāt forget to clean the separator after using it, or itāll get in a fearful state.
After writing to Andrew I thought I would send a message to the Professor. I had already written him a long letter in my mind, but somehow when I began putting it on paper a sort of awkwardness came over me. I didnāt know just how to begin. I thought how much more fun it would be if he were there himself and I could listen to him talk. And then, while I was writing the first few sentences, some of the drummers came back into the room.
āThought youād like to see a Sunday paper,ā said one of them.
I picked up the newspaper with a word of thanks and ran an eye over the headlines. The ugly black letters stood up before me, and my heart gave a great contraction. I felt my fingertips turn cold.
Disastrous wreck on the Shore Line
Express runs into open switch
Ten lives lost, and more than a score injured
Failure of block signals
The letters seemed to stand up before me as large as a Malted Milk signboard. With a shuddering apprehension I read the details. Apparently the express that left Providence at four oāclock on Saturday afternoon had crashed into an open siding near Willdon about six oāclock, and collided with a string of freight empties. The baggage car had been demolished and the smoker had turned over and gone down an embankment. There were ten men killedā āā ā¦ my head swam. Was that the train the Professor had taken? Let me see. He left Woodbridge on a local train at three. He had said the day before that the express left Port Vigor at fiveā āā ā¦ If he had changed to the expressā āā ā¦
In a kind of fascinated horror my eye caught the list of the dead. I ran down the names. Thank God, no, Mifflin was not among them. Then I saw the last entry:
Unidentified Man, Middle-Aged.
What if that should be the Professor?
And I suddenly felt dizzy, and for the first time in my life I fainted.
Thank goodness, no one else was in the room. The drummers had gone outside again, and no one heard me flop off the chair. I came to in a moment, my heart whirling like a spinning top. At first I did not realize what was wrong. Then my eye fell on the newspaper again. Feverishly I reread the account, and the names of the injured, too, which I had missed before. Nowhere was there a name I knew. But the tragic words āunidentified manā danced before my eyes. Oh! if it were the Professorā āā ā¦
In a wave the truth burst upon me. I loved that little man: I loved him, I loved him. He had brought something new into my life, and his brave, quaint ways had warmed my fat old heart. For the first time, in an intolerable gush of pain, I seemed to know that my life could never again be endurable without him. And nowā āwhat was I to do?
How could I learn the truth? Certainly if he had been on the train, and had escaped from the wreck unhurt, he would have sent a message to Sabine Farm to let me know. At any rate, that was a possibility. I rushed to the telephone to call up Andrew.
Oh! the agonizing slowness of telephone connections when urgent hurry is needed! My voice shook as I said āRedfield 158 Jā to the operator. Throbbing with nervousness I waited to hear the familiar click of the receiver at the other end. I could hear the Redfield switchboard receive the call, and put in the plug to connect with
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