The Puzzled Heart Read Online Free PDF Page A

don’t fret. That is, I know you can’t help fretting, but don’t fret about our keeping in touch. Any single malt on hand?”
    Kate went to fetch it, but didn’t this time feel up toa drink for herself—a terrible symptom, but Harriet decided to ignore it. She herself took a grateful sip.
    “We’ve looked into the background of the college student who wrote that letter to the paper. Always begin with the obvious. That’s the place to begin, if not to end. He turns out to be the dutiful son of a widow who thinks every law to help women, the poor, blacks, or anyone else other than the white male holy Christians of this world is the work of the devil. Satan figures rather largely in all this. (Have you read Elaine Pagels on the subject? Well, never mind that for now.) I’m finding this private detective business wonderful, but you do have to keep to the point and your mouth shut—hard tasks for longtime talkers like me. Where was I?” Harriet held out her glass. “And don’t ask if it’s all right to drink on the job. It isn’t, but I’m considering this a friendly visit. I shall breathe heavily at the doorman as I leave, convincing him that I’ve been having a nice, boozy time.”
    Kate attempted a smile. “Go on,” she said, “about the family of the boy who wrote the letter.”
    “As I say, spiritual pride is clearly not among what that family considers sin; they know they are always right. But we found out that one of the daughters got captured by a cult, and the other one has lived a life that is, I gather, unacceptable to Mama in every possible way. However, the son is his mother’s boy. Papa, by the way, was a minister who died some years ago of a coronary. I get whispers of the fact that hissexual tastes, which ran to the young and male, were not exactly according to the book, but that has all been hushed up. It goes a certain distance, though, together with the careers of the daughters, in explaining the righteousness of the mother and son. We may get around to cultivating the mother, who is trying to start a movement, which I might join. That may not lead anywhere, but who knows? Meanwhile, your ad goes in all possible journals and papers tomorrow. We shall await results. If you get any messages or communications of any sort, bring them to your office hour.”
    “Suppose it’s not a day for my office hour?”
    “I was coming to that. Patience, Kate; do try. You’re going to get a puppy. Just sit down and listen, please. A nearly three-month-old puppy greatly in need of training, not to mention shots and all the rest of the usual attentions from a vet. We’ve found you an excellent vet, by the way, nearby. We’ve also managed to get a young man who does occasional work for us hired as a desk clerk there. People always need competent help; Ovido is very good, and speaks Spanish. There’s a dog training center upstairs from the vet. When you go there, which is always on the days when you don’t go to the university, if you have a message, leave it with Ovido. He will recognize you and take whatever it is unobtrusively, while discussing your dog’s medication. Here’s the address.”
    “And where is the dog?” Kate hardly dared ask.She realized that for the first time she felt her life to be completely out of her control. That she might have a dog foisted on her seemed as likely as anything else that had been happening.
    “The kennel will deliver the dog tonight. You will take her around to be examined by the vet after she arrives. She is paper-trained, by the way, so put some paper down in the kitchen. She does like to walk, however. She’s going to be a very big dog—she’s a Saint Bernard, in fact—weighing between a hundred and fifty and two hundred pounds, so early training is essential while you can still lift her and pull her, in short, while you’re still stronger than she is.”
    Kate looked both blank and stricken.
    “Kate dear,” Harriet said, “I’m really worried.