The Second Coming
use. âDid you and sheâ?â
âHardly.â
âDoes hardly mean yes or no?â
âWhy do you ask?â
âCould you be my father?â
âHardly.â
âRemind me to look up hardly.â
âOkay.â
âHow do you know youâre not my father?â
âIf I were, I wouldnât be here.â
âThen why is it I seem to have known you before I knew you. We are different but also the same.â
âI know. I donât know.â
âThen why does it seem I am not only I but also you?â
âI donât know.â
âCould I have known you in another life? Kelso believes in that.â
âI donât think so.â
âThen why is it that I live this life as if it were a dream and as if any minute I might wake up and find myself in my real life?â
âI donât know.â
âDoesnât that mean that I had a real life once and that I might have again?â
âI donât know. Could I tell you what I want to tell you?â
âAll right.â He thought: She says all right the same odd non-signifying way as Jane Ace in Easy Aces.
âBecause your mother and I are old friends, among other reasons, she has asked me if I will be your legal guardianâGod, I hate this beard, I meant to ask you to buy me a razor.â
âI bought one.â
âYou did? Why?â
âIt pleases me to please you. It is also joyful.â
âI see. Your mother does not know that you are here and she doesnât know that I know you.â
âLegal guardian. What is there to guard?â
âYour real and personal property.â
âMy property. I own fifty-eight dollars and fifty-three cents.â
âYour real estate. This property and the island you inherited. They are quite valuable. Your parents believe it is in your interest to be declared legally incompetent and for me to be appointed your guardian since the court will not appoint them.â
âWhat do you believe?â
âIn my opinion you are not incompetent in the legal sense or the medical sense. I think you are quite capable of taking care of your own affairs.â
âArenât you a lawyer?â
âYes.â
âWhat is your preference in this matter?â
âIâd as soon not be your guardian, though Iâd be glad to help you any way I can. However, if your parents can get your doctor to go along they can probably succeed in having the court declare you legally incompetent. In that case, you might be better off having me as your guardian than, say, your aunt.â
âOh my stars yes,â she said, using Aunt Graceâs expression. âTell me this please.â
âAll right.â
âAre my parents out to screw me?â
âWhat an expression.â
âThatâs Kelsoâs.â I can talk like anybody but me, she thought. âHer parents never came to see her. Mine came twiceâuntil Miss Sally died. Kelso said my parents are out to screw me.â
âWell, I wouldnât put it that way.â
âHow would you put it?â
âThat your parents are not out to screw you. Perhaps they are trying to help you. They have a right to be concerned. And they can be a big help to you. Anyhow, you think about it and tell me later.â
âAll right.â
âThere is something else I want to tell you. About me.â
âAll right.â
âItâs what I learned in the cave and what I am going to do.â
But he fell silent and turned away to watch the raindrops.
âWhat did you learn?â
He turned back. Their foreheads touched. Their bodies made a diamond. âAs you can see, I donât know much. You are always asking questions to which I have no answers. By the way, did you always ask so many questions?â
When he began to talk she found that she could not hear his words for listening to the way he said them. She cast about for his drift. Was he saying the words for the words themselves, for what they meant, or for what they could do to her? There was something about the way he talked that reminded her of her own rehearsed sentences. Was she a jury he was addressing? Though he hardly touched her, his words seemed to flow across all parts of her body. Were they meant to? A pleasure she had never known before bloomed deep in her body. Was this a way of making love?
He was using words like âmy shameful
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