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Show page 167 "Those scamps, what did they say,Ben? Ben, t e l l old Annie what they said. At Martha's trying to s t e a l our melons day and night. What did they say, Ben? Ben, t h i s is ray son's room, my own s o n ' s . You help me watch our melons, Ben." "They d o n ' t mean any harm," said Holder. "They do, Ben, yes they do1. I ' l l fix your bath." She rushed from the room, frayed, and unbalanced at the knees, In a stuffy bathroom behind her kitchen she f i l l e d an ancient tub with too-hot water. Between her bedroom and the bathroom, across a hallway, was a room which she called the s i t t i n g room, the parlor. Old Will's r o l l t o p desk was in one corner. Strangely, a dark oak dining table with heavy turned legs and tapestry-backed chairs occupied space across from the desk. Annie made the room do dual purpose. The walls were lined x^ith medieval calendars and huge deep-welled pictures. Members of the family stared from the deep frames in musty, r i g i d hauteur; they were a l l of the mustache and c o l l a r - s t a y days. Annie called Holder, then seated herself at the dining table u n t i l she heard him go past. One hand,at her side, played anxiously with a frayed piece of the worn t a p e s t r i e d chair cushion. Holder in the bathroom stood under a yellowed twenty-five watt bulb. He f e l t the stained, worn sides of the tub, undressed and sat down in the water as though he were boarding a r o l l er coaster. He was looking up into the shadows of high shelves when Annie's vein-flaked hand shot through the cracked door. Her head followed, her bloodstreaked eyes seeking him out in the dim l i g h t . "Bed, you got soap and towel? My, my, you young people |
