I Come as a Theif Read Online Free PDF Page B

now, was one of the sharpest customers' men on Wall Street. Dad, this is the public. Public, this is Dad.' And then we could cut in your voice saying: 'The Public be damned.'"
    "You wouldn't do that, Tony?" George asked in alarm. "That wouldn't be the thing at all, you know."
    "Well, you'll never be sure I won't unless you watch. Tomorrow night at nine."
    "Oh, that's bad luck. That's the time I watch the Ethna Pollock hour."
    "Do you mean to tell me, Dad, that you wouldn't skip Ethna one night to hear
me?
"
    "Well, the trouble is you don't get all the jokes in her program unless you keep up."
    "I want you to hear me, Dad. I need your criticism."
    "Very well, Tony, if you put it that way. Only you'll have to tell your mother to remind me. My memory's getting fearfully bad. I should forget my own head if it wasn't screwed on."
    George's eyes kept reverting to the screen. It was not only that he didn't want to hear Tony in the future; he didn't want to hear him then.
    "Look, Dad. I know it must be sad to grow old and feel that all your faculties aren't what they used to be. And I suppose you must have moments of feeling that you haven't accomplished all the things in life you wanted to. But the point is that all that any of us have, old or young, is
now.
It's just as important for you to be happy at seventy-eight as it is for Eric to be happy at twelve. I'd like to be closer to you. I'd like to understand you better." He paused. "I love you, Dad."
    "Well, Tony, it's very nice of you to say that. You've always been a good boy. And a good son. Your mother's forever making a great point of that."
    "You don't see it. I want to be a good son to
you.
"
    "You are, Tony. You are. And now if you don't mind, I should like to go back to my baseball game. Can't watch and talk, you know."
    Dorothy Lowder came hurrying into the living room. "Tony, darling, if I'd known you were coming this early, I'd have been home. How much of you have I missed?"
    She took him over to the sofa by the fireplace where they always talked, leaving George to his game. She never lowered her voice when she talked about her husband, depending on his deafness.
    "Doctor Foster tells me he shouldn't be left alone even for a few minutes," she complained. "He says the next attack may come any time. I'll have to get a day nurse or be chained to this apartment. Oh, Tony, how am I going to pay for it all?"
    "Dip into capital."
    "But I'm dipping."
    "Dip more. Submerge yourself."
    "But is it fair to you and Philip and Susan? After all, it was
my
father's money. He would never have wanted it all spent on George."
    "Grandpa Daly didn't anticipate the high cost of medicine today. You have to be damn near a millionaire to afford a decently comfortable death."
    "How can you make so light of these terrible things?"
    "What should I do? Weep? Cheer up, Ma. You'll get through."
    "No one cares the way you do, Tony. No one comes in so faithfully."
    "I thought Susan came in regularly."
    "Exactly! Regularly. I feel myself being checked off. And as for Philip, of course, he only comes when he wants money."
    "Like me."
    "Like you, darling? What on earth are you talking about? You never ask me for anything."
    "I've been waiting." Tony watched her carefully, as suspicion began to creep into her eyes, suspicion rapidly followed by fear. "I have a proposition to put to you. Supposing you were to advance me a sum—a very large sum—against my ultimate share of your estate?"
    "How large?"
    "Well, say fifty thousand dollars."
    "Tony Lowder! Tell me you're joking."
    "Now, hold on, Ma. I would agree to pay you ten percent on that for your lifetime. That's twice what you're getting on it now."
    "But where would
you
get that kind of return?"
    "That's my affair."
    "And what would my security be?"
    "Me! Won't you gamble on me, Ma?"
    "I'll do no such thing. I won't gamble on anything or anybody." Dorothy Lowder clutched her fists to her breast as if she anticipated his forcing them open to release