A Beautiful Truth Read Online Free PDF

prevailed and Looee later loved his bedroom and bed.
    He hung around Judy’s neck or back throughout the day watching everything she did. He slept a lot, but wouldn’t sleep unless she lay near, and Judy cursed the noisy floorboards whenever she snuck away. His screams when he awoke had a visceral effect on her—she had no choice but to drop whatever she was doing because it felt like either the world was ending or his noises would make it end.
    Sometimes he played on his own, but never beyond the bounds of whatever room Judy was in and not for very long. He was a toddler with the agility of an acrobat, so his play was usually spectacular.
    She had to think of him constantly—that’s what occurred to her over the years as she looked back; that’s what soon made him more than a pet. He wasn’t self-sufficient, he always needed company—not just the presence of bodies, but society; he neededthe emotional engagement of others. There was no denying him. You could step over Murphy on your way to doing other things or tell him to shush if he was barking. With Looee you simply couldn’t ignore him, and if he was complaining about something it would have to be addressed with just as much care as with a child. When Judy first used the vacuum cleaner, Looee screamed and leapt onto her face. She had to turn it off, show him how the power button worked and how the hose sucked up dirt. He was in a heightened emotional state whenever it came out of the closet, but he was soon able to turn it on, pull it around the house and vacuum in his own way.
    The truth was that Walt and Judy woke up most mornings with the happy suspicion that something today would be new.
    Despite her tiredness there was a new sense of vitality in Judy, and as much as she sometimes yearned for peace she couldn’t imagine returning to their old routines or waking up to days without these fresh concerns.
    You look rosier in the cheek said Walt. Let me kiss that.
    There was a loss of spontaneity in their lives but it was more of a shift than a loss. They couldn’t decide out of the blue to drive to Stowe for dinner or make love on the couch with that surprise of skin and heart. Looee had an especially uncanny knack for knowing when they were getting close to each other, sensing the change of energy between their bodies like a blind man knows that a flower is red. He added a different range of surprises to their life.
    Looee wasn’t keen on going outside at first, but he ventured onto the verandah. He was so attached to Judy that she was never worried about him going far. When it was really warm the following year she let him roam without clothes. She held his hands above his head and stood behind him, trying to teach him to walk upright—assuming that he would one day walk on twos despite his armsseeming longer than his legs. They walked hand in hand to the old apple tree which had just lost its bloom. He sat down and picked up some dry blossoms, smelled them, scattered them, made a soft noise and handed some blossoms to Judy.
    Thank you Looee.
    She didn’t know that he had ridden his mother’s back when she had climbed trees and he didn’t remember himself, but one day he looked up the apple tree and climbed it.
    He went to the top and she told him to come down. She tapped on a branch that was just above her head. He came down and hung from the branch and she couldn’t believe how strong and dexterous his limbs had become.
    There was a long period of keeping to themselves, making adjustments, enjoying the fact that sometimes family is society enough.
    He understood a lot of what they said, and they were regularly surprised. They sensed how he learned, and taught him the names of body parts. The three would sit on the couch, and Judy would say where’s daddy’s nose. Looee would point to Walt’s nose. Where’s daddy’s eyes. Where’s Looee’s belly.
    Sometimes he stared off in space and sometimes he pointed to his own eyes when Judy asked him to