Gone to the Forest: A Novel Read Online Free PDF

believe that his father can be serious
     about this girl and yet. And yet he is sitting here in this way, with his son, and he is
     telling him that he finds the girl pretty. He shakes his head. His father smiles and
     looks amused.
    “No? Come, Thomas. You must admit that she is pretty.”
    He shrugs again.
    “For a country boy you have high standards.”
    The old man pauses. Is watching him.
    “Mrs. Wallace hoped you might take a fancy to the girl.”
    His father, still watching him. The realization dawns on Tom. The girl is
     intended for him. That was the purpose ofthe visit. The meaning of
     the looks that passed between the Wallaces and his father. He does not easily believe
     it—he approaches the idea cautiously, because it is not often that the father
     thinks of the son.
    But what does he think of the girl? The thought of her returns abruptly
     and he does not know what he thinks. He thinks of her pale skin and her small sharp
     teeth and before he knows it the girl is settling inside his mind. Turning and making a
     home for herself there. He shakes his head.
    “Soon you will be running the farm.”
    Tom looks up. His father has never said this, he has never put it into
     words. The promise has been understood but never actually stated. The date never
     articulated in terms such as soon. But now the old man has
     spoken the words and the difference is palpable, the difference is clear as daylight.
     Tom clears his throat. He tries to smile. He would like to thank his father but knows it
     would not be the thing. His father continues. More gently.
    “You will. And when you do, a woman—”
    He pauses, as if in consideration of his own past. He makes a minor
     correction.
    “—a woman, of the right kind, will be a great help.”
    He wonders if his father believes that the girl is a woman of the right
     kind. A woman of the right kind, for a certain kind of thing. The thought of the girl
     returns to him like a flood and she kicks inside his brain.
    “I told Mrs. Wallace that I thought you were not opposed to the
     idea.”
    He pauses.
    “I thought that she liked you. Did you not?”
    It has been decided. He hears the decision in his father’s voice. It
     is almost a comfort. For a second he thought his father was asking. The idea of the girl
     and the idea of his choice—a choice, the choice of a woman—had spread
     through his body like a rash. Now the idea is gone and his body is restored to health.
     He nods and considers the slope of land running to the river. Soon to be his.
    “Take her fishing.”
    A courting amongst the dorado—a terrible thought. Tom is now an
     excellent fisherman. On a good day he can outfish his father. He is slow and
     obstinate—good qualities in a fisherman. Whereas his father sees the sport as a
     contest of wills, a question of winning and domination. He is too easily drawn in. Tom
     only wants to capture the fish and bring it home and eat it.
    It hardly matters. He is a good fisherman but he is still terrified of the
     fish. Everything about the animal is foreign to him. The gaping mouth and the razor
     sharp teeth—sharper than the teeth of any other animal, sharp in a way that has
     nothing to do with the necessities of the civilized world. The scales are so bright gold
     that he is sometimes blinded by the color of the fish, as in the brightness of the
     sun.
    He will take her fishing. He will woo her on the river. His father has
     chosen. The old man watches him and then stands up and strides away. He does not say
     anything further. Tom sits and listens to the sound of his feet on the lawn. The lawnis empty and he hears the old man’s steps longer than is
     natural. It is oppressive but there is a comfort in it. Tom does not like to be
     alone.
    H E TAKES THE girl fishing and a week
     later they are engaged. He does not know how the engagement happens. One minute they are
     fishing and the next Mr. Wallace and Mrs. Wallace are standing with his father on the