Three Stories Read Online Free PDF

gently over Mrs. Hincher’s legs. Generally they played until 9:30 or 9:45, at which time Mrs. Hincher often said: “Shall we read a little, darling?”
    “Grand,” Hincher often said, and he would cross the room to fetch the book of Mrs. Hincher’s choice.
    Of David Copperfield , Mrs. Hincher told Mr. Hincher:
    “I love it, I’ve always loved it. How is it you’ve never read it, darling?”
    “I don’t know,” Hincher said. “Never got the time.”
    “I love it,” said Mrs. Hincher, “only I hate the Murdstones. I’ll skip all the parts about the Murdstones.”
    “Who are they?” inquired Hincher.
    “Davy’s stepfather and his sister. They’re horrible, wait and see. No, I’m going to skip the parts where the Murdstones come in.”
    Mrs. Hincher laughed deliciously.
    Hincher sat back in an easy chair drawn close to [Mrs. Hincher’s bed, and she read] David Copperfield , deleting all Murdstone passages. She read magnificently, gruffing her voice to sound like Dan Peggoty’s, debonairing it to suggest Steerforth’s, clammied it for Uriah Heep’s sake, jeep’d it for the sake of Dora. She was perfectly cast in each role.
    At midnight, usually, Mrs. Hincher stopped reading. She closed the book, and smiled at Mr. Hincher.
    “Tired?” he’d say quickly.
    “A little, darling.”
    “You go to sleep, then. That’s enough reading for tonight.”
    “Did you enjoy it?”
    “Swell book. Get under the covers, now. I’ll tuck you in.”
    Hincher slept in the guest room all during these months.
    ***
    Ruth and Carl Perkins were at Emily and Bud Edmundson’s. At first, while Bud talked, Perkins constantly rummaged a hand through a bowl of assorted nuts, singling out the pistachios. Then Carl Perkins suddenly stopped eating altogether.
    “He came here last Saturday night.
    “Emily and I had just come in from the movies. And I see Frank’s car parked in the driveway. I pulled up behind it, threw on my night lights, and went around to see what was what. Frank was sitting in his car.
    “   ‘Frank!’ I said. ‘What’re you doing here?’
    “   ‘I have to see you.’
    “   ‘Well, come on inside,’ I said.
    “We went inside. He wouldn’t let me take his overcoat from him. He said he wanted to see me alone, and so Emily went upstairs. And Frank and I sat down in the living room. He still didn’t take off his coat.
    “   ‘I drove up to your place on Tuesday,’ I said to him. ‘How come your phone’s disconnected? Why wouldn’t the maid let me in? What’s going on, anyway?’
    “What the hell. I’m his partner. I had a right to ask where he’d been when he hadn’t showed up for work all week. Know what I mean?
    “Frank sat there as though he hadn’t really come to say anything to me. It was more as though he’d come to stare at the piano. He looked like hell. I think the reason he didn’t take off his coat was because he didn’t have any jacket on underneath. I could see, anyway, that he didn’t have any necktie on.
    “   ‘Is something wrong with Paula?’ I said. ‘Did you head some bad news about her sister or something?’
    “   ‘She doesn’t have any sister,’ Frank said.
    “   ‘Wuddaya mean?’ I said. ‘That’s who she’s visiting isn’t it? Her sister’s dying, isn’t she? I mean she’s pretty sick, isn’t she?’
    “Frank shook his head. ‘No,’ he says, ‘Paula’s home all the time. She’s been home in bed to have a baby. She didn’t want to walk around and get run over when she was going to have a baby. So she stayed home in bed.’
    “   ‘How long has she been in bed?’ I asked him.
    “   ‘I don’t know,’ Frank said. ‘Ten months.’
    “   ‘She’s been gone over a year,’ I told him.
    “   ‘I tell you she didn’t go anyplace,’ Frank said. ‘She’s been out of bed two months. She’s been in her room. With the door locked.’
    “   ‘With the door locked!’ I said. ‘Did she have the