The Most Dangerous Animal of All Read Online Free PDF

gone well in the marriage for a few years, until Earl’s brother Austin Haygood Best died in 1931, and his wife, Betty Wilmoth Best, died in 1933, both having contracted consumption from the sanatorium where Betty worked. The couple left behind four children—Louise, Mildred, Aileen, and Geraldine (“Bits”). Mildred was sent to live with Earl’s sister Nan. Aileen and the youngest child, Bits, went to live with Earl’s sister Estelle. Gertrude, at Earl’s insistence, unwillingly took in Louise, who was fourteen.
    My grandfather didn’t make a lot of money, and my grandmother had to stretch every nickel now that they had another mouth to feed. While moving from college town to college town had seemed exciting at first, being tied down with no money and a child did not fit in with Gertrude’s plans. “Why can’t Nan raise Louise?” Gertrude complained.
    Earl, who attended the College of Charleston, looked up from a paper he was writing and sighed. “Because she can only afford to raise one,” he explained again.
    “But it’s not right. Mildred is always saying that the Best family split them up like a litter of kittens. Sisters need to be together.”
    “Well, maybe we should bring Mildred here,” Earl said, watching Gertrude’s reaction with smiling eyes.
    She shut up and stomped out of the room.
    Earl laughed as he went back to his writing. Sometimes his spoiled bride begged to be put in her place.
    For the next year, Gertrude suffered in relative silence, fearful that Earl would get the notion that raising all the girls together was the right thing to do. But she wasn’t nice to her niece. Earl, who had grown up without a father, was a strict disciplinarian, because he was determined to raise Louise right. As the years passed, Louise came to hate her aunt and resent her uncle for letting his wife treat her like the orphan she was.
    Toward the end of 1933, Gertrude missed her monthly cycle and feared she might be pregnant. She and Earl were living in Wilmore, Kentucky, while Earl studied at the Asbury Theological Seminary, on his way to earning another certification that hopefully would bring more income into the family.
    “How will we support two children?” Gertrude whined after sharing her news with Earl, hoping this would force him to send the girl away.
    “We’ll manage just like we do with one,” Earl reassured her.
    Gertrude decided she wanted a girl—a girl of her own. Maybe when Earl held his own daughter, he would realize that the other one didn’t belong. She began sewing dresses for the baby from yards of lace and cloth, never once entertaining the idea that her baby could be a boy. That just wouldn’t do.
    On July 14, 1934, Gertrude gave birth to a son, Earl Van Best Jr. Earl decided to call him Van.
    When the midwife tried to place my father in Gertrude’s arms, her cheeks turned red and tears streamed from her eyes.
    “Look, dear. He’s a fine, healthy boy,” Earl cajoled, trying to get Gertrude to hold her son.
    Gertrude wouldn’t look at him. “Take him away,” she insisted, turning over in her bed to face the wall.
    Earl didn’t understand. Mothers were supposed to love their children.
    A few days later, Gertrude was still in bed when her husband brought the baby to her again.
    “I’m not well,” she said when Earl moved toward her with the child in his arms.
    “Just look at him,” Earl begged. “Hold him for just a minute. He’s a sweet fellow.”
    “No. Leave me alone. I don’t want it.”
    Every day for weeks, Earl brought the baby to her, and every day, she refused to hold him. Finally he could take it no more. He was tired of washing diapers, feeding his son every four hours, listening to him cry for the comfort of a mother’s arms, doing all the things Gertrude should be doing. Enough was enough.
    “Get up,” he ordered after another sleepless night. “Get out of that bed and take care of your child like a good Christian mother. I will not allow you to