Man, Woman and Child Read Online Free PDF

way?"
    They were now in their bedroom. The rest of the household was already fast asleep.
    "He wouldn't let me help him unpack. He insisted on doing it by himself," she said, and then added, "Was I cold to him?"
    "No. How did you feel?"
    "How do you think?"
    "You were wonderful," said Bob, and reached out for her hand. She moved away.
    "He took that little airline bag to bed with him.

    Must have all his earthly treasures in it." There was distance in her voice.
    ''Guess so/' said Bob, and wondered what a little boy of nine might carry with him as his consolation.
    His eyes followed her as she went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. She emerged a few minutes later in her nightgown and bathrobe. Bob had lately gotten the disconcerting feeling that she was uneasy about undressing in front of him.
    She sat down on the bed and started to adjust the alarm clock. (What for—wasn't this vacation?) He wanted to reach over and embrace her, but the gap of sheets and pillows separating them seemed much too wide to bridge.
    ''Sheila, I love you."
    Her back to him, she kept playing with the clock.
    "Sheila?"
    Now she turned.
    "He's got your mouth," she said.
    "Does he?"
    "I'm surprised you didn't notice.*'
    Sheila slipped her robe off and burrowed under the covers. She lay silent for a moment, and then turned and said:
    "She must have had brown eyes."
    "I really don't remember."
    Sheila looked at him, and with a melancholy smile said, "Come on, Bob."
    Then she took her pillow and curled herself around it in the comer of the bed.
    "Good night," she said.
    He leaned across and kissed her on the cheek. She did not stir. He put his arm around her. She did not respond. He had vaguely hoped if they made love it would somehow make things better. He now saw that they were much too far apart for that.
    He turned over on his side and picked up the

    American Journal of Statistics. Better than a sleeping pill. He idly leafed through a particularly unoriginal piece on stochastic processes, and thought, Christ, I've said this stuff a million times. And then he realized that he himself was the author. It's still boring, he thought. I should've asked Sheila to tighten it up.
    ''Bob?" Her voice startled him.
    "Yes, honey?"
    He turned toward her. There was such pain on her face. And yet somehow she looked younger and so vulnerable.
    "What exactly did I do—or rather not do?"
    "Huh?"
    "I mean, you never really told me why you did
    "What?" He knew damn well, but wanted to buy time.
    "What exactly was wrong with me that you had to have an affair?"
    Damn, thought Bob. Why doesn't she understand that it was—what? Weakness? Chance? What could he say to mollify her?
    "Sheila, nothing was wrong with you. . . ."
    "With us, then. I thought we were happy."
    "We were. We are." He said the last words with as much hope as conviction.
    "We were," she said, and turned away again. To sleep.
    Oh, God, thought Bob, this isn't fair. I can't even remember why it happened.

    JLiEY, Beckavith, there's some fantastic stuff at the mixer."
    'Tm studying, Bernie."
    ''On a Saturday night with two hundred Vassar lovehes gracing our campus?"
    "I've got midterms next week."
    ''So does everybody. That's why you need a piece of ass to loosen up."
    Robert Alan Beckwith, Yale '59, put his math book down on the table and sat up on the moth-eaten couch of the Branford College suite he shared with Bernie Ackerman.
    "Bernie, you talk like you get laid every weekend."
    "I'm trying, Beckwith. At least you'll grant me that."
    "Sure. You get an E for Effort—and a V for Virgin. Ackerman, you're pathetic."
    "At least I take my swings. Bob. I try to score."
    "But, Bern, you're batting zero. And I am too. But at least I don't make an asshole of myself. Besides, I came to Yale to get an education."
    Bernie eved his roommate.
    "Listen, schmuck, this mixer's free of charge.
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    Doesn't that imply that Yale considers getting laid to be a part of the educational experience?"
    "Bernie, I know