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Show 25-3 Father rose and poked the fire. John now went to stand at the windows where Mother had stood a moment before. It seemed from where I sat that they could not stay long in that circle, as if the heat of their words drove them back as surely as did the heat from the fire. Mother rested her hands on the back of the loveseat. She spoke quietly but distinctly. "My brother deserves more than a stone monument. I can't give him more, you can't," she turned to Mr. Glade, "and you can't, Reverend Bingham. We can't give him more and I won't settle for this. As if the debt is paid. And we can all forget." "But you see, we won't forget. That is the whole point. The statue will remind us constantly of the bravery of all of them." Reverend Bingham was speaking quickly and using his hands a great deal. "Then when we look at the monument we will remember." "Remember what?" My father spoke for the first time. "What will be on the monument?" "Oh, I don't know. We haven't worked out the details yet." The minister sounded a bit cross now. "Do you have those sketches, Nevil?" "No, they're at the shop. But, Doctor, you know the Civil War memorial in the park? Like that. Only up-to-date." "I see." Father spoke quietly. "And on the Civil War statue we have two soldiers, looking very much alive. As alive as granite can be. And we are to remember the dead with a statue of the living?" "What are you ..." Mr. Glade set his cup down with a clatter. "Isn't that the usual way, Doctor?" Reverend Bingham spoke very quietly now, as if to match Father's stillness. "Yes, but while I share my wife's feelings that such memorials do little to honor the dead, I also feel they are dishonest." |