Cape Fear Read Online Free PDF Page A

barn. The cylinder on the screen door sighed.
    “Hello, Dad,” Sam said. “Hello, Son. Hello, Andy. Hi, Mr. Bowden. What are you boys up to? Why, we’re on our way to the barn, Dad. Fine. Run along, boys.”
    Nancy, listening raptly to the voice on the other end of the line, had kicked her right sandal off. With her bare toes she was absently trying to work the latch on the cupboard under the counter. Carol had opened the wall oven and she was looking in at whatever was in there, her expression dubious and unfriendly. Carol was a good but emotional cook. She talked to the ingredients and the utensils. When something did not work out, it was not her fault. It was an act of deliberate rebellion. The darn beets decided to boil dry. The stupid chicken wouldn’t relax.
    Sam freshened his tall drink and took it over to the trestle table. He spread out the evening paper, but before he started to read he took a look around the kitchen. Carol had had a strong hand in the design. There was a lot of stainless steel. It was a big room. It took in the original kitchen, pantry and storeroom. A center island, with sink and burners, divided the work area from the eating area. The cupboards and cabinets were of dark pine. A big window looked out at the wooded hill behind the barn. Graduated copper pots hung against a pine wall. There was a small fieldstone fireplace near the trestle table. Sam had not been impressed at first. He had not felt comfortable in the room. Too magaziney, he had said. Too coppery quaint. But now he liked itvery much, and it was the most used room in the house. The rather severe dining room, with its white woodwork and walls of Williamsburg blue, soon became reserved for state occasions. The trestle table seated five comfortably.
    When Nancy hung up and retrieved her sandal, Sam said, “Hear you have some competition, Nance.”
    “What? Oh,
that
! Mother told you. She’s an utterly rancid little thing. All frilly and with the cutetht little lithp and dreat big boo eyes. We all suspect she’s trying out for Alice in Wonderland. The boys were positively clotted around her. A monstrous sight. Nauseous. And poor old Pike. He has absolutely no conversation, so all he could do was circle around her, bunching all his muscles. I’m in no sweat.”
    “Now there is an enchantingly feminine expression.”
    “Everybody says that,” she said pityingly. “I’ve simply got to study. Really.”
    “What comes up tomorrow, dear?” Carol asked.
    “History exam.”
    “Will you want any help?” Sam asked.
    “Maybe on dates, later. I despise learning all those flabby old dates.”
    He looked at the doorway through which she had gone. Such a precious and precarious age. Half child and half woman. And when she was all woman, she was going to be extraordinarily lovely. And that would create its own special set of problems.
    Just as he was finishing the paper, having saved Pogo for last, he heard Carol dialing. “Hello, Liz? Carol. Is our middle child being reasonably civilized? … They are? Good. Your Mike is a perfect angel when he’s here. I guess they all tend to react that way … Could I, please? Thanks, Liz … Jamie? Dear, I don’t want you and Mike to goof off on the studying. You hear?… All right, dear. No elbows on the table, no audible chomping, and home by nine-thirty. Goodbye, honey.”
    She hung up and turned and gave Sam a guilty glance. “I know it’s stupid. But I started worrying. And it’s so easy to phone.”
    “I’m glad you did.”
    “If I keep this up we’re all going to turn neurotic.”
    “I think it’s a good idea to keep a closer check on them.”
    “Would you please call Bucky and send Andy home, dear?”
    At nine o’clock, after seeing that Bucky was bedded down, Sam went down the hallway to his daughter’s room. There was a fresh stack of records on her changer and the music was turned low. Nancy was at her desk, book and notebook open. She wore her pink terry-cloth