Four Quarters Volume 6 Article 1 Number 2 Four Quarters: January 1957 Vol. VI No. 2

1-1957 Four Quarters: January 1957 Vol. VI, No. 2

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Quarters

Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth Page 1 A Story by Hortense Cupo

A Voice of Dust, of One Beloved Page 6 A Poem by Howard A. Wiley 'OH Open House Page 7 A Poem by Marion Schoeberlein e Music, When Voices Die Page 8 A Story by Hatton Burke

Alchemist's Kitchen Page 14 OR The A Poem by Stephen Morris Morning Remembered Page 15 A Poem by Brother D. Adelbert, F.S.C,

A Later Prophet Page 16 A Poem by Samuel M. Sargent

The Critic Page 17 A Vignette by Robert A. Wiggins

Priest-Poet Page 19 A Poem by Joseph Joel Keith

The Other Side of the Coin Page 20 A Story by George Garrett Nocturne • Back Cover I A Poem by Stephen Morris er • Block Print by Carl Merschel

i January, 1957

1 vol. VIj no. 2 • fifty cents Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2010 with funding from Lyrasis IVIembers and Sloan Foundation

http://www.archive.org/details/fourquarters91unse

Sharper Than a Serpent s Tanth

e Hortense Cupo

leatKer on tKe front seat of She threw a quick, surreptitious THEtke car seemed to suck into glance over at her husband and she itself tke blue gabardine of saw his straight, clean-cut profile Anne's slacks, and she moved over etched against the window at his closer to the window in an effort to side. She smiled bitterly. When release herself from the uncomfort- they were first married, David used able sensation. She hated riding in to call her every day from the office cars unless she herself were driving, just to hear the sound of her voice. and it irritated her especially to Now^ it seemed incredible that they v/atch the steady cautiousness w^ith had ever been in love, and she re- which David handled the wheel. called the feeling as if it were an Impatiently, she pressed one flat red old physical injury^something re- sandal against the floor of the car mote and no longer a part of herself. as if to make it move more swiftly Charlie fell back suddenly against down the highway. the back of the seat, his small body She turned her blond head to tired from the strain of pushing for- look down at Charhe and, as usual, ward, and she could smell the sharp, the sight of her child made all the clean fragrance of the hair lotion tenderness rush to the surface of her which the barber had used. Almost body and explode in warm, comfort- too casually she dropped her arm ing ripples. His small form was over his shoulder, and when he thrust forward on the seat between didn't move, she pressed him lightly David and herself, and his restless, to her. inquisitive eyes scanned the road 'Are you cool enough, darling? ahead and to the side with a curi- Or would you like to sit here next ously mature intentness. His mouth to the window?" she asked him, and was open a little and she could just the answer was an impatient, dis- see the edges of his sharp baby teeth interested shake of his head. glinting over his lower lip, and he Tliere was silence for a time while reminded her suddenly of a squirrel. Charlie's eyes stared dreamily at the Yesterday he had had his hair cut, bright red and gray orderliness of and she wanted frantically to bend the dashboard; then he looked up over and kiss the back of his neck at Anne, lifting his stiff brov^Ti where the hair fuzzed upward into lashes until they brushed his eye- the thick darkness on top. She lids. "Mommy, what will you buy " would have if she hadn't been afraid for me today? of a childish rebuke from him in Delightedly, she smiled down at front of David. him, and with a complacent smile Four Quarters looked over at David. "You just handed them across to him. She wait and see, darling. It will be watched as he awkwardly pulled something especially nice." out one of the cigarettes and lit it. She always bought him some spe- Once she would have lit it for him, cial httle present when she went but now she took an almost sadistic anywhere, and sometimes they pleasure in watching him do it him- would make a small game out of it. self. She wondered absently whether She would pretend that she had for- he took out other women and gotten it, and then Charlie would whether they lit his cigarettes for jump on her lap and search dili- him. One of their first quarrels had gently in her purse or under her started over a woman he had been pillow until he found it. Then he too attentive to at a party, but since would squeal triumphantly and that time the quarrels had mounted throw his thin arms around her and mounted until they were like neck, his sweet, warm breath blov/- an invisible hill of bitterness be- ing cozily in her ear. She was glad tween them. " that this corner of their lives be- "Mommy, are we almost there? longed to her and Charlie alone. Charlie's head leaned impatiently "But what will it be. Mommy? against her arm. I want to know." Charlie's per- "It \von't be long now, darling—' sistent voice broke through the web although, I must say, your father of her thoughts. is taking all his time." She gave his shoulder a little She waited for the anger to wash squeeze. "If I tell you. Daddy will over David, and she was satisfied know, and that will spoil every- when he said, "Do you want us all thing." to be killed just so you can get there " There was a frow^n on David's ten minutes earlier? face, and she knew^ that she had She ignored him. "Charlie, do hurt him again. She laughed deep you remember vi'hat Mommy told " down in her throat, silently and you to look for today? exultantly, because she knew that The child's eyes lighted and his he couldn't reach them here in this voice vs^as proud. "A big white little sphere where they conspired building with lots of trees and a together. He had his work to com- riding stable on the other side of pensate for the failure of their mar- the street." riage, but she had her love for The pride swelled inside of her. Charlie—a love v^^hich was like a "David, isn't it wonderful that door shutting the insecurity outside. Charlie has such a good memory? David's voice reached her. "Would Mrs. Jefferson told me that he's one you hand me my cigarettes from the of the fastest readers in the first compartment?" group. She says he has an excellent Abruptly, she snapped open the attention span, compartment and removed the shiny "All kids have good memories, redness of a pack of cigarettes and Anne," he answered abruptly. She Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth knew that he didn't hke extravagant ten miles out of his way just to buy praise in Charhe's presence hut she her a piece of china she had ad- didn't care. There were times when mired. she feh as if she alone were respon- In hve minutes, David was back sible for her son's existence. David with the fishing lines and bait, and was totally lacking in understand- he held the boat carefully while ing of the boy. they stepped in. As they pulled When they arrived at the park, away, she watched the strong, mus- Gharhe nudged her in his impa- cular movement of David's arms tience to get out of the car. Snding under his sport shirt as he rowed out, he jumped to the ground and expertly down the lake, and even ran off ahead of them, his short legs more intently she v^^atched her son in their tan shorts leaping down the looking at David. Her imagination path. David's voice called after him, pictured him admiring his father's stern and parental. skill, and she called out loudly. "Charlie, come back and wait for "Charlie, you'd better sit back us. You'll get lost if you run too far here next to me. You might get ahead." splashed up there." "He'll be all right, " Anne told "I won't get splashed. I want to him, sharpness edging her voice. sit here." His voice was a mixture "You're too strict with him." She of scorn and stubbornness. w^as secretly pleased when Charlie "It's more comfortable back here came back to them, a stormy petu- on the pillow," she coaxed in des- lant look on his face. He was angry peration. vv^ith David for spoiling his fun. "I'm all right, Mom." Charlie's She felt like bending down and kiss- tone was dangerously close to that ing him, but she took him instead annoyance which she knew so well. by the hand and they swnng to- She felt defeated. When Charlie gether down the walk, David trail- used that tone with her, she felt as ing a little behind them. if a knife were twisting in her breast. They were near the lake now and Distractedly, she picked at the green they could see the red brick bridge flecks of paint which were peeling arching prettily, like a woman's eye- off the edge of the boat. Somehow, brow, from one shore to the other. the childish rebuke made her hate Charlie screeched loudly when he David even more--as if he were re- saw it. "Let's go out in the boat- sponsible for Charlie's curtness. She " please. wondered suspiciously if David tried "Sure thing, son. Maybe I can to turn her child against her when hire a couple of fishing lines and they were alone together. some bait so we can fish awhile." Leaning over the side of the boat, "Boy, Oh BoyI" Charlie jumped Charlie called excitedly. "Mom, up and down eagerly, and Anne look at the fish down there. See thought bitterly of the time on their them! See them!" honeymoon when David had gone She was slightly pacified by his Four Quarters

attention to her. "Why yes, darling. 'But I want it. I don't want to They're very pretty, aren't they?" throw it back in." His mouth They were pulhng in closer to clamped together obstinately. He the other shore now, and they could turned to Anne. "Mommy, I want " see the lacy reflection of the willow the fish. Make him give it to me. trees swaying about lazily in the She was smug with elation. green water. Out in the middle of "David, give it to him. After all,

" the lake the sun burned a bright he's only a child. gold spot in the clearness. David David's brows met in a dark, stopped rowing and hfted the oars troubled line, and she knew that he into the boat. was angry again. "It isn't that I

"I think this is a pretty good don't want him to have it, Anne. spot." But there's a lav^^ about young fish." David handed his son the smaller The muscles in his jaw were mov- of the two lines and helped him to ing agitatedly. "Besides, you know bait it. He snowed him how to hold it's not good for him to have every- it in the water, and then he threw thing he wants." his own line out skillfully into the She looked at him archly. "Since lake. There was no talking for a when have you ever given him any- long time, the rustle of the breeze in thing he really vi^ants." the willows and the faint slap of "That's not fair, Anne." the water against the sides of the Her laughter was short and boat the only sounds near them. brittle. "You're a fine one to be

" Every no\v and then, the quicksilver talking about fairness. sparkle of a fish flashed through the He threw his cigarette into the water and Charlie would suppress w^ater and it made a faint sputtering an excited squeal. sound before it died. "I don't want

Suddenly, she started as she saw to discuss it any further." David pull in his line. A small, She brushed the loose tendrils of spiny object vsiggled for a moment hair back from her forehead and in the air and then dropped to the turned to Charlie. "Don't worry, bottom of the boat, where it flapped honey. If Daddy won't let you have about in struggle. She pulled her the old fish, vv^e'll stop in the pet feet away from the small, ugly fish. shop on the vs^ay home and buy you Charlie bent over to touch the some." fish wonderingly w^ith his fingers. W^ithout a word, David dropped "Daddy, can I have it? Can I have the small fish into the bottom of the it?" There was a tremble in his boat and reached for the oars. voice. Swiftly, he rowed down the lake, David smiled at him calmly and past the picnic area where the cries bent to loosen the hook from the of the children pierced the air, past fish's mouth. "It's only a baby, the rows of green benches where the

Charlie. We'll throw it back in so mothers sat with their baby car- it can grow into a big whopper." riages like still statues. W^hen he Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth was half-way to the dock, he spoke. lump over his left eye. Anne tried

"I don't think it's a good day for to pull him against her, but she could fishing. The sun's too hot." feel his palms pushing her away It was just hke David to end their with wild impatience. Short, muffled quarrel with pohte words about the sobs shook his thin voice now as he weather. Charhe had stopped his pulled away from her. weeping now^ and was holding the "Daddy, Daddy, hold me." discarded fish tightly in his fist, but She sat back unbelievingly on her it no longer struggled for life. She heels in the grass, and for a moment was glad this had happened, for now a numb dizziness covered her. He Charlie would know^ who really was calling David and not her. She loved him. She thought she could bent toward him again, certain that detect the childish hatred with she had not heard clearly. She tried which he looked at David from time to snatch him to her, but David was to time. reaching over and swooping him When they reached the shore, the effortlessly into his big arms. Then three of them climbed out^David he began to walk over toward the first with the fishing lines, and Anne car. holding tightly to Charlie's hand. "You're all right. Son. Just stop As they walked down the path lead- crying and I'll make the lump go ing from the boathouse, Charlie away." He had spoken to her in broke away from her grasp and be- that same tone when they had first gan to run, his small body tumbling been married, she recalled with a forward without coordination. Anne sick feeling. saw, with horror, his small bony Charlie's sobs were softer now, knees buckling under him and his and the tears lightly twinkled on head hitting the dirt. She shrieked his stiff eyelashes like raindrops, and and ran toward him, her sandals shone in small w^et pools on his furiously disturbing the dry earth, cheeks. Tightly his thin arms hung and out of the corner of her eye she around David's neck. At the toe of could see David running too. her red sandal, the dead fish lay, Simultaneously they arrived at got from the grass Charlie's side and together they forgotten. She up bent over him. He was weeping and walked over to the car, the knife angrily and rubbing a small red twisting savagely in her breast. A Voice of Dust, of Dne Belaved

9 Howard A. Wiley

Here already? And no sKouIdered scythe or faceless cowl or trailing cloak of black?

Just tfiis drenching pain and blackening dread, en? And breath-throttling clutch of unseen hands

upon my heart . . . Thus I've waited. Now one agonizing wrench and then^-

No going back. Never.

1 know^.

I know. What a long long word: never. The other side of forever.

So . . .

But you annihilate in me one better memory than most men know.

She was . . . she was . . . Ah well even living tongues would stammer to enunciate that quiet incandescence

that bittersweetly fire

that . . . A Voice of Dust, of One Beloved

AK, were death as painful as the muteness of a mind that has been touched by her and cannot sing as sweetly as that touch—' were death as painful, men would have found a way to stay your hand.

I grieve, fellow, not for me. but that what she was dies unspoken

in this clay . . .

O Marion Schoeberlein

Now I must let spring and God come in. All the doorbells ring with Him and love. Flowers run their race with artistry.

I hurt from winter having stayed so long. And my dreams have been iglooed in until Now the pink and blue shell of springtime

Breaks around me ... I hatch the egg . . . My heart is at last an open house again! Music, When Voices Die

• Hatton Burke

MRS. FERGUSON was sit- her eyes a moment. They were just ting behind the desk in the little narrow slits, made smaller by lobby when I walked in. puffs of fat.

The place was otherwise empty, and "W^hat's the matter?" I asked. the shabby overstuffed furniture "Lena and I have a date to go to gaped at me in the dim hght. I dinner and then to do some danc- bhnked my eyes because I had been ing." outside walking in the late after- "Lena ain't going,'" said Mrs. noon sun. Ferguson. "Besides, how you gonna "I got a new customer today," do any dancing with your game said Mrs. Ferguson. She sounded leg?"" She still had that yellow scornful, but I felt good and pre- malice in her eyes. tended not to notice. "The weather"s clear,"" I ex- "That's good," I said. "Is that plained. "It doesn"t bother me so who's making all that stir coming much in good weather. See." I from upstairs?" walked up and dow^n the length of

" "No stir. Just talk. the lobby, and I was careful to limp "All right, talk. There's some a little but not too much. I came music on somewhere, too, isn't back and stood in front of the there?" counter. "Of course not," she said. "I alv^^ays thought you w^as faking "What's wrong with you, Leon?" that game leg," she said. "I don't "Nothing. I just hear some music. believe you got no wound in Korea." My hearing's supersonic." "You're like everybody else." I "Don't flash your fancy words at spoke as angrily as I could. "We go me," she said. and lie in mud, fight, kill, and are "Or maybe it's just that I'm feel- wounded. And what do we get? ing so good today." I stopped and After a day at home it's all gone listened a minute. I could hear the like a puff of smoke in high wind." sound of voices in what seemed to "I don't know," she replied be anxious conversation, but run- calmly. After a moment she added, ning through it was music, too. "I think the people of this town "Where's Lena?" I asked after have been pretty good to you since a moment. you got back. You've got away with "She's upstairs and she's gonna a whole lot more than an ordinary stay up there," said Mrs. Ferguson. young fellow could have done." She looked at me strangely, a glint "Good to me!" I kept up the of malice in her eyes. I looked at scoffing, movie talk, "I haven't even 8 Music, When Voices Die

.' been able to get a job. Nobody people stationed . . understands me." "Tell it to the sheriff. He's up-

" She looked at me a long time, stairs, she added. "This one means like and I could see she was getting business. She ain't a whiner madder and madder. I was glad I my Lena." had made her mad. It made me feel "Lena and me's supposed to go

" better than ever. I was surprised out, I said. "I can dance all right she didn't explode with some angry when the weather's clear."

" language, but she just said, soft and "Take your v^ife, she said sar- mouse-hke, "You're quite a killer castically. "I'll just go up and tell with the girls, aren't you, Mr. Leon her you're here. Her and the sheriff." Tracy? " Her down-turned lips be- She looked like a little boy who had trayed the scorn which didn't show^ just won all the marbles. She in her voice. struggled up out of her chair and "I have my points," I said, not started toward the stairway.

" without pride. "Wait a minute, I said. The "Yes," she said. "My new cus- music was in my ears again. It ' tomer's interested in your points. settled down to a sharp high note

I felt httle animals turning somer- sounded on a scratchy violin, and sault in my stomach. She opened it kept on and on. "I'll go up myself up the book she used for a register, and save you the bother." Mrs. and with her finger pointing at the Ferguson just grunted and sat down last name, she shoved the book again. I was so excited I almost for- the across the counter so I could see it. got to limp when I walked up

I stared at the name: steps. Mrs. Leon Tracy At the top of the stairway I could 2201 Lauderdale hear the conversation plainer. The Louisville, Kentucky door to the sun parlor was almost "Lauderdale's a pretty name for closed, muting the sound. As I a street." walked down the carpeted hallway, "You ought to know," she said. I could hear Margaret's voice all " "Did Lena see this? right, but she wasn't saying much^- and "Of course Lena saw it. Do you just sandwiching in a "yes" " and think I want my daughter going "no like punctuation here around with a married man? Why, there. The sheriff was doing most if I I oughta have you arrested, leading of the talking. I felt as had my my poor Lena on the way you have." hand on the volume button of a "There must be some mistake," radio, because each step I took made of I stammered. the voices louder. Fragments "Mistake!" she said. "You was what Mr. Thompson was saying stationed up there for about a year came in spurts between the music,

". . . . once . . . . scrapes before they sent you over, wasn't . lots of you?" the man wasn't hurt much ... of "Yes, sure, but there's lots of course there was the money, and lO Four Quarters

that gets serious . . . but we man- at our wedding. aged to smooth it over. His leg, you "Am I supposed to turn hand- " know. springs? " I asked. "And why don't Then Margaret, in a soft voice, you turn off that damned radio?"

"I don't know anything about it. I walked over to the radio on the All I got was a letter from the army table by the window, reached down saying he was in the hospital, and and tried to turn the control button later a letter saying he had been to the left, but it wouldn't budge. discharged. I haven't heard from I went back and stood in front of " him in more than six months. Margaret's chair. Her eyes were

Mr. Thompson said something I cloudy, doubtful. couldn't get, then louder, "We "Hello, Margaret," I said. I didn't hke to be too hard on him. reached down and took her hand Rehabihtation and all that, you and pulled her up. She was soft know^. But I thought ..." and kittenish, but a little frightened

He cut off short as I pushed open and jumpy too. She looked up at the door and hmped in. I didn't me appealingly. Suddenly I took look directly at Margaret, but I her into my arms and kissed her. could see her anyway, looking small I felt her struggle a little at first, and frightened in the big chair. then her arms were around my neck,

"What's all the ruckus? " I asked one hand running gently through Mr. Thompson. my hair. I felt as if I couldn't hold ' No ruckus, son," he said in a her close enough. smooth voice that sounded silvery "Leon, Leon, " she whispered like his hair and calmly gray hke finally, and her voice was little and his eyes. "Don't you know this choking. She looked like a fright- young lady, Leon?" ened wren. I let her go, and she sat I turned to Margaret. Her face down again. was white and her eyes troubled, "Was that better, sheriff? " I but she still had that outdoor fresh- asked, smiling. ness about her, with her slightly "You haven't written," said Mar- rumpled, short brown hair. She w^as garet, her voice stronger but still prettier than ever. trembling. "I didn't know. Your

Don't you even recognize me, leg . . . why didn't you let me " Leon? " she asked in a voice that know? was weak and strong at the same "Listen at that, sheriff, " I said. time. "Just like a wife to start nagging."

"Sure," I said to the sheriff. "It's "Maybe I'll leave you two alone my wife, Margaret. Hello, Mar- for awhile, " said the sheriff, getting garet." up. "I'll be downstairs in the lobby." Mr. Thompson seemed ruffled. When he was gone, Margaret "Here, look at these pictures she's turned her big innocent eyes toward been showing me," he said. 1 me. looked. They were the pictures taken "Leon, I've been worried sick. "

Music, When Voices Die 11

"Forget it," I said. "Life's too "Thank you, " said Margaret. snort. I didn t want to come back "You've been very kind." She and be a bother to you. Combat's looked hke a small hurt animal no joke, and a bad wound even less which had been caught in a trap so." It sounded pretty good to me. and couldn't get out. "But you're my husband. You "You can tell Lena," I whispered should have told me. The doctor to Mrs. Ferguson. She just shot a just said you were hospitahzed; he mahgnant glance at me without say-

" didn't say you were wounded. ing anything.

"Let's not get gloomy," I said. Outside, the sun had gone down

"Tell you what. Let's go out and and it was almost dark. get something to eat and then we "This time of day is a bastard, can talk." I said, sighing.

I could see she was reluctant. She "What?" she said, surprised and fidgeted a bit and then said faintly, uncertain. "Well ... all right. Is there a place "A bastard, " I repeated. "Not nearby?" day and not night. Just first-dark "Couple of blocks. Soft lights, and illegitimate." good food. And we can have a drink "Oh," she said. She forced a there too." httle mirthless laugh. She seemed She got out her compact and be- shocked, and I figured she needed gan to powder her face and softening up with a little fine talk, straighten her hair. so I said, "You know^that part of

" "Are you sure you're all right? the day when a mysterious glow she asked. "I mean, can you walk falls over everything and the world that far?" stands still, hanging suspended be- "Oh, sure. My leg's lots better. tween a something and a nothing. It w^as a nasty wound, but it doesn't "Yes, yes," she said hurriedly, as

' bother me very much in clear if she wanted to stop me. It s weather." beautiful."

When we started down the steps, I took her arm as we walked along I could hear Mrs. Ferguson and Mr. the deserted street. I could sense Thompson talking in the lobby, but the alert tenseness of her small body. they stopped when they heard us. She had an assurance and deter- They both looked up at us as we mination in her step which didn't came down, both with very solemn show much anywhere else. faces. People in the restaurant stared at "We're going out to eat," I said. us. They knew me but had never "Somewhere we can have a private seen her before. I felt proud because talk." Margaret was so good looking. We "That's ftne," said Mr. Thomp- found a corner booth where the light son. "I'll come back over after was not so bright. I conferred with supper in case you want to talk to the waiter, and he went away. Soon me any more, Mrs. Tracy." he returned with two drinks, and we '

la Four Quarters ordered food. "And make tomorrow vault back- As we drank, Margaret spread ward over a star to yesterday? " I her hands out on the table and said, said. "All right, now. Let's get down to "What?" business." Her voice was strong and "And make the strong man tame " determined, as if the drink had given his feral soul? her courage. "No, that's not what you said.

"First," I said, "I want to know What is it, Leon? Is something why you called the sherin. vs^ong? " Her voice was perplexed,

"Well, it seemed the logical thing tremulous. " to do. I know nobody here, and the "No, Margaret. Forget it. sheriff in a small town knows every- "Forget it? I can't possibly forget body." it." "You didn't intend to have me "And the spider, laughing, weaves arrested?" her web," I said. "Of course not. Should I?" She "W^e're getting nowhere, " she sat still for a moment; then with a said with a tone of finality. worried shrug and shghtly out- The waiter brought our food and stretched hands she said, simply, we ate in silence. I noticed that "Why, Leon?" Margaret was only nibbling. "This is a nice httle town. Life little I began to laugh. " After a is easy, and I'm almost anonymous. It was first just a chuckle, but it got "But you can't do that." going and I couldn't get it stopped. "I've done it. Because you see It got pretty loud, so that people it's not the same. It won't ever be were looking at us. the same again." "What on earth? " said Margaret. "Have you forgotten all about " "What's the matter, Leon? us? " she asked wistfully. I choked it down a little and said, "Yes, I have tried," I said. "Nothing. It's just sort of funny, "Then try to remember," she " all of this. whispered. "Funny! " She was indignant. "No," I said. "I had an illusion "It's anything but funny to me. You once a long time ago. Now it's have a curious sense of humor. gone, and any substitute for it would it's only us, " I said after be cheap." "Oh, not I could control my voice. "It's just "You're talking in circles." people in general. Haven t you ever "No. The past can be poisonous noticed how they make so much fuss and thoughts become sick." I liked over so many little things? the way the words seemed to be turning themselves on my tongue. "Little things, indeed." Her voice "Leon," she said urgently, "go was incredulous. back home with me. W^e could "Little ceremonies for everything," make out beautifully." I could see I said. the tears starting in her eyes. "Like marriage," she said. "

Music, When Voices Die 15

"That is not wKat I meant at all. the big chairs. I thought I heard

I spoke dramatically. footsteps dying away on the stair- .?" "Then, what . . way. Lena," I whis- "No, no. Absolutely no more "That would be pered to Margaret. questions," I said. "Lets have a "Did you have a good talk?" little silence. It's the most beautiful pleasantly. of music." asked Mr. Thompson "Very nice," said Margaret. "But We had the moment of silence, I'm rather tired. If you don't mind, but her glare across the table shut I think I'll go upstairs." out the comfort of it. After a bit, "Of course. You must be very she pushed back her chair. tired," said Mr. Thompson. "I'm going," she said. "You can "You go right ahead, honey," come or stay as you like." She added Mrs. Ferguson. "Can I get picked up her purse and gloves with " you anything? that tone of finality which only a "No . . . No, thank you. Good peremptory woman with purse and night. And thank you again, Mr. gloves can have. Thompson. I paid the check and followed her "I'll walk upstairs with you," I out. W^e walked in silence. A hazy said. She frowned, and I noticed pall of moonlight hung over the that Mrs. Ferguson and the sheriff empty street, and our footsteps in looked at one another in a strange hollow cadence were like somber way, but nobody said anything. drumbeats in a vast white marble When we got to the top of the hall. I felt a thrill of terror at the I took her hand. patterns on the pavement of sharp steps sliced black and white; they un- "I don't think I'll go any farther. dulated with our movements, re- Margaret," I said. "I'm sorry it shaped themselves into the figures couldn't have been different." She of wild animals. Suddenly the music looked at me long and tearfully, her flooded in upon me again, but now hazel eyes clouded to a darker silently, looking it was in the low high wail of a shade. We stood dirge. into each other's eyes. length, in a I took Margaret's arm. She tried "Leon," she said at Before I to draw away at first, but when I deep, husky whisper. began to limp more emphatically realized what either of us was doing, kiss- and to whimper gently in her ear, she was in my arms, and I was back she no longer protested. I slipped ing her again. The music came my arm around her waist and we with the tenderness of her kisses-^ of sweetness. walked all the way back without deep sweeping sounds saying a w^ord. "A melody," I thought fleetingly, played in tune. The light of the lobby as we en- "that's sweetly tered was blinding. Mrs. Ferguson Finally she pushed me gently and Mr. Thompson were sitting in away, and I could see that she was 14 Four Quarters

crying desperately. I stood with my was on his feet and moving as I hands resting on her shoulders. I sped through the lobby. lifted my hand and smoothed her The sharp mist of moonlight hit hair, then touched her cheek hghtly. my face with a sting and I ran with It was damp, and the color had furious speed. My only thought was risen in her face until her cheeks to escape. The street was still empty were abnormally red. Her face was with a pale-moon, terrifying empti- soft and pleading, and our eyes were ness, and weird, leaping animal deep in each other's. My mind w^as shadows played dangerously about off to far tomorrows. I hfted a hand my feet. I moved from side to side, tentatively from her cheek, and sud- trying to escape their protruding denly I drew my arm back and arms. I heard the beat of footsteps struck her sharply across the face. behind me, getting closer. I dodged She gasped in surprised horror, then and jumped, tried to gain speed. began a low, crescendoing wail, as, In an instant of inspiration, I with the other hand, I struck the dashed around a corner into the other side of her face. Strength and safety of splotchy blackness, but in anger surged through my body. It terror I felt the headlong impact of must have been only an instant later cold stone, felt the stealthy, shadow- that something seemed to snap in veiled arms encircling my body. I me, and I heard her screaming, a fell sprawling to the pavement as high moaning terrified screech. I the rapid fire of drumbeats, echoing turned and ran down the stairs and and re-echoing, grew^ loud and deaf- out the front door. Mr. Thompson ening in my ears.

The Alchemist's Eitchen

• Stephen Morris

Vapors choke breath, gagging the lung and heart's dream, Leaden torpor leaching the broth and kettle.

Bang goes wonder! . . . strangling all the blackness. Gold boils plume, bursting. On the death of a friend's father

9 Brother D. Adelbert, F. S. C.

I saw iKe evening failing,

I saw the darkness falling, The twihght fading Upon the tower wall, Upon the mountain.

Upon the oak I saw The darkness thicken. The blackness waken Upon the wall.

I saw^ the dark night falung Across the doorway. Across the table; Upon the hand The twihght faihng.

Then I remembered the bursting Of the doors of morning. The whirhng of quail. The confusion of squirrels, The sudden dawning:

Remembered the broken Stone of the tomb. The stunned guards. The bright footprints In the garden.

This again I saw. Seeing the daylight fade. Watching the darkness fall.

15 A Later Prophet

• Samuel M. Sargent

TKe Word came to Kim: Write no propKecy.

TKe time is past. The world has gone beyond amenity.

And time spins fast.

So now extol tKe Lord, and laud His ways

Unto tke end.

But Ke thought: W^Kat can I say in His praise?

Can I extend

TKe migKty paeans tKat Kave come like tKunder

Out of tKe ages?

TKat ring and ecKo witK a growing w^onder

From Hebrew sages?

WKat could I add to David? Haggai?

To JoKn or Paul? To Daniel? JeremiaK? MalacKi?

TKey said it all;

TKey and tKe otKers. WKo can add to CKrist?

WTiat words are tKere ?

And tKen a voice came: So mucK Kas sufficed

For your first prayer.

16 The Critic

• Robert A. Wiggins

SINGLE hooded lamp burned woman moved into the room and in tKe room. It sat on a table sat down in the shadowy chair. She A where a young man was crossed her legs and smoothed her writing, and poured its incandescence nightgown across her knees. She downward on a cluttered array of watched the figure sitting at the papers, pencils, ashtray and ciga- table. He apparently had not heard rettes. The light spilled over the her entrance, for he continued strug- edge of the table to illuminate a gling with the pencil on paper. small case of books nearby. Most After a time the girl rose and of the volumes shrank in tattered swayed across the room to stand be- modesty back into the shadovs^ hind the man. She placed her hand depths of the shelves, but here and on his shoulder and slowly moved there a bold jacket stood forth to it up to ruffle the hair at the back reflect the light. The yellow rays of his head. "Joe," she said again, weakened as they reached the cor- "it's awfully late, and you've got to ners of the room; and a bulging sofa get up early to go to work." and overstuffed chair huddled Joe continued writing. After per- against the walls away from the haps a minute had passed, he light. gathered the sheets of paper together, The man leaned forward, his head arranging them in order. He turned resting on his left hand, elbow around to the girl. "Here, read this. propped on the table, and continued Tell me what you think. " He rose scrawhng a pencil across the sheet and gave the papers to her. She of paper before him. From time to looked into his face as she took them; time he looked up from the page to then she sank into his chair and

the blank wall as though it were began reading. Joe lit a cigarette several yards away and mirrored and untied his already loosened tie. some action he was reporting. Occa- He replaced a book in the case and sionally he changed the routine to then paced back and forth across drop a pencil, light a cigarette, and, the room, puffing on his cigarette, after blowing a roll of smoke across and waited for the girl to finish the table, plunge back into his reading. writing. She finally looked up from the A voice from the doorway to an- sheet of paper. "It's very nice," she other room intruded on the silence. announced.

"Joe," it softly called, "it's very late. The man halted his pacing. Don't you think you'd better come "Nice? " he questioned. "I hadn't to bed?" A dark-haired young thought of it as nice. I want to 17 "

Four Quarters

Icnow Kow you feel when you finisli. to go away for a while to work WKat are you thinking about? Has this out' She was silent for a it done something to you? Has it time; then she spoke softly: 'I made you start thinking about a lot do know that I would not have of things you don't usually think you change from what you are. about? I would not have you any other

As the man spoke, the girl gazed way. If you think it necessary in w^onder at his wild gestures, aware to go now, I shall not object only that she had not pleased him. any more. She looked back at the papers in her hands and slowly shuffled them. The girl covered her mouth with "That part where the fellow leaves," her hand and watched him read. she said, "I don't think the girl His hand nervously fluttered aw^ay would act that way. Not if she from clicking the corner of the pages really loved him. When he tells with a fingernail to brush his brow^n her he has to go, if she really loved hair in a backward motion. The him she wouldn't let him go like tiny wrinkles by his mouth disap- that. Not if she really loved him." peared and reappeared with the "But that's not important, " said movement of his lips. The vertical the man. "That's just what hap- furrows between his eyebrows deep- pened. He had to go in order to ened as he squinted to read his own find himself, and the girl understood. handvv^riting. When he finished she She knew it had to be that way. rose from the chair. She never would have him be any "Now^ you see the idea," he stated other way. He couldn't stay on her rather than asked. "You can't put terms, and she'd end by hating him it any plainer than that. You can't if he did." He took the papers out just say it to somebody. You've got of the girl's hands. "Listen to this," to make them feel it. You see what " he said and began to read from one I'm driving at? of the pages: "Yes, dear, " she answered. "It seems so simple when you explain

"\^irginia turned to face him, it that way. I should have seen it

smiling wistfully. 'If you really before. I guess I'm not very sharp " loved me you would stay. 1 tonight, but I'm tired. It's late. tnink it dreadfully cruel of you She looked at him a moment and to treat me so.' Love,' he an- then went into the other room.

swered, 'is not love if it makes Joe crushed his cigarette out. He demands of the beloved.' 'So stared through the blank wall over now you are accusing me of the table and unconsciously toyed being selfish.' '1 do not accuse,' with the papers, evenly tapping their he said; 'I'm only nou7 begin- bottom edges on the table before ning to see that we make con- finally letting them slip out of his trary demands, and 1 don't think hands to rest. He remained thought-

this very auspicious. I'll have fully in this attitude for a time. At The Critic 19 last Ke picked up the page he Kad reappeared in the doorway. She read aloud and stared at it. Sud- said, "I still think if 1 was that girl denly, as though moved to action, I wouldn't do what she did." he exhaled heavily in a sigh, care- Joe looked toward her but did not fully rearranged the pages, and speak. placed them in a folder. From the She continued: "It's late, dear. bookcase he thoughtfully selected You'd better come to bed." several volumes and piled them on Joe slowly fumbled for the switch the table, and then he stood silently on the lamp. "Yes, it's late," he looking about the room until the girl echoed in a low voice.

Priesl-PoBl

A poem for Raymond Roseliep

® Joseph Joel Keith

His way is sandaled. Field and hill are where he journeys.

Halfway, still,

he nods and pauses by a vine climbing a dead tree: His virgin shrine!

High in the silence, losing light, he sees more clearly by bluest night.

Though form goes slowly down in cool air, spirit goes warmly up heaven's stair. The Other Side of the Coin

George Garrett

DURING tKe war I performed base vv^as undergoing a prolonged a single and unrecorded act earthquake. of heroism. It was on a mild That's how far the war was, the evening at our airfield on Cape real war, from us. It was always Bonn, and the occasion was tKe fire elsewhere, and the only guns I that burned up our supply tent. I heard fired in earnest were those of stood in the quiet crowd watching, the British antiaircraft outfit at- and I felt a kind of relaxed nostalgia, tached to us, popping away with thinking about all those boots, socks, ineffectual smoke puffs at single, typewriters, messkits, printed forms, high-flying Jerry reconnaissance what-have-you, which were being planes. As far as I know, they never transformed into a w^arm rosy glow. hit one. I ought to add modestly

Then somehow I found out there that I came near to sustaining was whiskey in that tent, and the wounds only once, and that w^as in whole complexion of the scene the course of an argument with a changed. It appears that, drawing native cab-driver in Tunis which on unknown reserves of strength, I resulted from the amazing liberties fought off several M.P.'s, dashed his meter took with the rate of ex- into the flapping inferno, and res- change. A burly, red-haired Scotch cued a case of Scotch. I am told captain who knew some Arabic that the crowd cheered when I was rescued me in the nick of time. seen triumphantly emerging from At the time of the fire, the war the fire. A British major is said to was in Sicily and we were in North have suggested that I be awarded Africa sitting on a dusty, sun-glazed the O.B.E. The fact is, I don't re- airfield. We were in the backwash member this incident clearly, and of it. The war was across the Medi- I was prepared afterward to plead terranean, and every day our pilots temporary insanity. The thought of went to it and came back to us (all all that glorious whiskey being lost the lucky ones), not to make it any forever must have hit my mind with nearer to us, but only to prove how the impact of a tragic crisis. I don't far away it was from us. We were remember anything about it or separate from the pilots. They were about the international party which young and their laws, the secret, followed this escapade. I do, how- inner code which kept them func- ever, even now have a clear and tioning, were mysterious to us. Oh, wincing recollection of the following we were all friendly enough, all morning when I aw^oke in a slit right, but secretly we regarded them trench quite certain that the whole with envy and wonder. In our rou- 20 The Other Side of the Coin ai tinC'—the everyday, everlasting pat- "Cap'n Pierce, I am giving Austin tern of life on the base, which was, to you. I wash my hands of it. I after all, designed solely to keep absolutely will not . . . them in the air^—they were as out of "Excuse me. Colonel, but what place as angels. do you mean, you're giving me So it was difficult to handle a Austin?" case hke Austin. He would have "Stop pecking that damn type- been trouble anywhere, but in our writer," he roared at the corporal. situation the difficulty was doubled. "Go over to the mess tent and get And the whole thing was dumped a cup of coffee." unceremoniously into my lap. I was He turned on me. in the tent working on intelligence "How the hell do you get any reports, trying, amid the inane clat- work done?" ter of my corporal's typewriter, to The corporal gave me a brief piti- reduce the pilots' interrogation ful look, not imploring so much as records to intelligible and innocent expressing his mock indignation at figures so that somewhere far back, being spoken to so rudely and even behind us, somebody who abruptly, and retreated from the ought to know could tell at a glance tent. what was going on. I was just con- "All right, Pierce," (he was shift- templating the prospect of smashing ing gears) "you've got a right to the typewriter into many shiny complain. I come here and order pieces and retiring to my own tent you to play mother superior to the with a bottle when the CO. ducked biggest headache in the squadron. his head into the tent. He had a Sure, you've got a right to bitch. long sad face like a springer spaniel. But that's all. You can complain "Cap'n Pierce," he said, "I w^ant all you damn well please and your to have a little talk with you." voice will fall on deaf ears and a because I knew it was going to be bad heart of Tennessee marble, news. He never referred to my you've got him now and he's off my mediocre rank or even mentioned mind and I intend never to have my surname unless things were very another thought regarding Lieu- live." dark. Somehow I managed to catch tenant Austin as long as I ." the eye of my unregenerate corporal "Colonel, would you mind . . and convey the idea that we should "You mean you don't know about at rise, and w^e assumed a rough ap- Lieutenant Austin?" He looked proximation of attention. me with a convincing pose of dis- "As you were," he said and belief. pulled a chair up to my table. "That is exactly the case.' outburst of He still hadn't relaxed a single I could see that an eyelash. He looked very West Point some sort was in the offing, and I (which he was), or perhaps Sand- steadied myself for whatever it was hurst. We were all very British by going to be. that time. "As far as I am concerned," I 22 Four Quarters said, "Lieutenant Austin is only the night before. A couple of G.L's name of a flier wKo joined our outfit with a truck picked him up. Some- a montfi or so ago and has since body had a bottle, and they all got flown something like^--" (I rum- nicely plastered. Whereupon Lieu- maged aimlessly through the stacks tenant Austin suggested that they of papers. Official papers have a drive a few miles out of their way kind of sedative effect in v^^artime to a place he knew^ of where there by impressing one with the irre- was plenty of good, cheap wine. ducible sense of one's total unim- They settled down for the evening, portance in the overall scheme. In a and then it appeared that in the way it's like thinking about as- early-morning confusion Austin tronomical time. You feel smaller sneaked out and drove off in the and less urgent. I hoped it would truck, drove it at incredible speed have this effect on the Colonel.) for a few miles until, missing a turn,

"Twelve," he said. "He's flown he put it into a ditch. The truck twelve missions for us and there's was ruined beyond repair, and Aus- nothing wrong there. He's O.K. as tin wasn't even scratched. long as he's in the airplane. It's I got the story from a downcast when he's down here with us that lieutenant of the Engineers. It was the trouble starts." his truck. I told him we'd see what "Sorry, Colonel; if he's got prob- we could do about the truck, that lems, they're a mystery to me. I'm it v^^ould be a shame if, under these afraid I'll have to admit to complete emergency conditions, we had to ignorance." lose a valuable pilot and he had to He stamped his feet on the lose a couple of drivers just because ground, stood up, grabbed the small of an accident. I talked about re- of his back, and let go with the placement difficulties, the dangers climactic outburst. It turned out to of combat flying, and how a little be laughter, wild, resonant, and, I thing like this could be worked out thought at the time, maniacal laugh- with a minimum of strain and pain ter. for all concerned if we were level- "Well, I declare you will. Yes headed, etc. After I got him feeling sir, before long I stand here to tell a little happier about the war, I sent " you you'll know^ that man well. for Lieutenant Austin.

And, as his laughter dwindled I wasn't really prepared for him. into a mild fit of coughing, he I had planned what to do with the stepped out of the tent into the wayward flier. He was probably brilliant African sunlight. I saw working off a case of nerves, I him turn in the hazy brightness and thought, so I'd just put him in his wave a kind of benediction as he place with a stern military lecture disappeared. and a few undirected threats. I A couple of days later I met guessed he'd be tough and I planned Lieutenant Austin. It seems that he to beat him to the punch. I decided had been hitchhiking to town the to keep him waiting to see me until The Other Side of the Coin 23

" he got good and worried. I told my own. W^ould you like one, sir? corporal that I'd be over at the Sig- He smiled nicely and offered the nal Tent and that when the culprit pack to me.

arrived he was to tell him that I was "Never mind," I said, "just never busy and to invite him to sit down, mind." while the corporal walked a half He was the most exasperatingly

a mile to get me. The corporal was polite anarchist I have ever met. amused. "W^hat did you want to see me " "Captain," he said, examining about, Cap'n? me with condescending slcepticism, "Guess." "why the Hollywood production?" "Something about my operations

" "Never mind," I said. "You just report?

do what I told you." "Listen, Austin, you know damn "I personally don't think this kind well why you're here. Now what of deception is effective." I want to hear is how^ you happened

I ignored him. When he came to wreck a truck last night. It better to get me at the Signal Tent, I told be good because you're in trouble." him to take a walk along the flight "Oh," he said, "the truck." line, and to take his time. I didn't I was treated to an outlandishly want him to witness the denoue- improbable narrative. He had gone ment. for a walk because he liked walking When I entered my tent, a short, in the evenings and he liked to look plumpish, sandy-haired boy who at the stars. Two very nice soldiers looked a few days past sixteen stood had stopped their truck and offered up and smiled. He looked as harm- him a ride and, though he wasn't less as a rag doll. planning to go anywhere, he de- "Did you want to see me, Cap'n cided he wouldn't hurt their feel- Pierce?" ings, so he went. He had this bottle, I was trying to regroup my as- you see, which he was saving for tonished forces to make a stand. I his twenty-first birthday next month, did my best to look Sandhurst. but since they'd been so hospitable "You are Lieutenant Austin, I he thought he'd open it up then and " presume. there. These boys hadn't had any What followed was silence. At fun for a long time; so he decided a loss, I decided to shuffle papers, to treat them to a nightcap at a so I sat down at my desk. He sat little place he'd heard of. So, they down and lit a cigarette. went. While the G.I.'s were in the "Did anyone tell you that you men's room, he got to thinking about could sit down?" the possibilities of a vehicle becom-

"No sir, you're the only one here, ing airborne: I mean seriously. He'd and you didn't." read somewhere that a racing driver "Did / tell you that you might had become airborne at a certain " smoke? speed, and he just wondered. There

"No sir, I just lit one up on my was a marvelous piece of straight 24 Four Quarters

road, and ke tKought he'd just bor- "I'm just mildly curious." row tKe truck for five minutes and "Well, " I said, "we can't very run a little experiment. The trouble well afford to throw the book at him was that in the dark his depth per- right now, can we?" ception got confused and a curve "No." came up sooner than he had ex- "And he wouldn't be much help pected. He was certainly sorry if to anybody if we transferred him to he had caused everybody a lot of the infantry." trouble. He apologized. "No, I'm afraid he wouldn't be I was awestruck. Any officer who at home in an infantry platoon." heard a story hke that would have "All right, Joe." I said. "I'll tell thrown the book at him. But you what I think. I think he's a somehow he seemed just innocent singularly innocent and misunder- enough, just bhssfully ignorant stood young man, in short, a baby— enough, to be telhng the truth. Not and just as irresponsible." that the truth made any difference. "I can show you an impressive The point was, clearly, that we hst of misdemeanors, starting state- couldn't afford to lose a pilot just side and continuing right up to last because of some escapade. I sum- night's httle adventure."

moned up my resources and tried "Maybe, but I think after last in a quiet way to indicate the gravity night's show and. " I added pom- of his offense and to make it plain pously, "our talk this morning, he's that if anything even remotely hke going to improve." it happened again, something very "Bet me?" had would happen to him. He Then he got very stern. nodded pleasantly and promised to "That kid will never learn. He stay out of trouble. doesn't belong in this outfit. Either

"Just one thing more. Lieutenant," he's too dumb, and I'll grant you I said as he stood up to go, "how that possibihty, or else he's just too did you get out of that wreck with- damn slick for his own good." out a scratch?" "I know the Army, Larry," he

"Well, sir, when I saw the truck said. "And I know what one man was going for the ditch, I just closed like this can do to a good outfit. my eyes and bailed out." Before long we'll have the whole squadron, and I mean the fliers, in The Colonel made a point of sit- the psycho ward. Those guys are ting by me at the noon mess. He made up of nothing but a switch- was unusually conversational. I board of trained reflexes, and when waited for what was coming. they pop, they go out like skyrockets. "By the way, Larry," he said, I don't want to see my outfit go to "what did you decide to do about pieces just because one guy. one Austin?" little rosy-cheeked, snotty pilot has "I thought you had clean hands a lot of loose ball bearings where and a heart of stone." he ought to have brains." The Other Side of the Coin 23

"He's dumb, " I said. "He's just "It must be wbiskey, Cap'n," be as dumb as the day God made bim." said. "He seems to be okay wben "Hub!" tbe Colonel snorted. be's sober, but be just can't bandle

" "Well, in any case, I consider bim alcobob He's just bke an Indian. a corrupting influence." I continued to see Austin, and "Wby don't you turn bim over to every time be appeared, smibng, as tbe Cbaplain, tben? He's tbe soul- bappy and naive as if tbe world redeemer." bad been made tbat minute, I was Tben be started to relax. He was convinced tbat be was only tbe vic- bound to after all tbat. tim of a remarkable series of acci-

"Wbat are you going to do about dents. In a way I began to bke bim,

getting a truck for tbose engineers to sympathize witb bim because it " before we all go to jail? seemed to me tbat we were all liv-

"Got any ideas?" I asked. ing strangely in wbat was not mucb

" "Tbat's your problem. more tban a series of disconnected adventures. On tbe otber band, to In wartime tbings bke tbat can be truthful, I envied him too, be- be done, and witb tbe belp of my cause I thought be had possession corporal, only too glad to participate of something which tbe rest of us in an unofficial adventure, I got tbe had lost somewhere. I'm not sure truck for tbe engineers. But I was what it was, unless (to make a wrong about Austin, or at least guess) it was a kind of innate ability partly MTong. He kept flying for us to see himself and the wide world and be was a good fber. He even without taking either very seriously. managed to get a couple of Jerries Things might have gone along over Sicily, but on tbe ground be this way indefinitely if something stayed in trouble. Tbere was a week- hadn't happened which changed tbe end in Tunis and some sort of brawl picture. What happened was that involving a Frencb colonel and a Austin's incomprehensible antics few naval officers. Luckily, one of began to take a larger share of his our fliers got bim away from tbe activity. He started to cut up while scene of tbe crime before tbe real be was flying. At first it was the trouble, tbe international situation, usual thing, the little buzzing runs bad a cbance to develop. And tbere over tbe field to scatter tbe ground were otber tbings. He sbot some crews wben be returned from a mis- goats witb bis forty- five wbile be sion, or going out of bis way to scare was out for a jeep ride. We paid Arabs and rear-echelon drivers. I tbe Arabs tbree times wbat tbey thought it was because tbe war was were wortb, and w^e were very stern finally beginning to touch his witb bim; but it was beginning to nerves, and I thought it might also appear bopeless. I called in anotber be tbe influence of tbe otber fliers. fber, wbo turned out to be as baffled For a while I managed to argue tbe as tbe rest of us. Colonel into tbat point of view. 26 Four Quarters

Then the fliers themselves started gets a rest. Maybe the boy's crazy, to complain, and they went to the I don't know. I'm almost forty now^,

Colonel about it. and I've forgotten what the world "All right, Cap'n Pierce," he looked like at twenty. I do know it said, "I've had enough of that man. would have seemed like a damned Now we're going to get him out, crazy world if I had to do the things " " and quick. these kids are doing.

" "How? "W^hen you get out of the service, "I \von't just transfer him from you ought to run for Congress." he the outfit. That would he the easy said. "You've got the mouth for it." way, but it wouldn't satisfy me." "Look, I know how^ you feel and "What do you mean?" I asked. I know we can't keep him much I was worried about that word longer. But don't let me hear you ." satisfy. talking about laying for him. . "Your baby has caused too much "That's what I'm doing," he said. trouble for too long. It's beginning "I'm laying for him, laying a big to get on my nerves. It won't make trap for him. And I just want you me happy any more to let him walk to go on as you have been, encour- out of here the way he came in my age the s.o.b., lead him into it." office that first time^smiling." I stood up to go. " "So, I'll tell you the truth, Larry, "Joe, it's going to be a long war. he said evenly, "I'm laying for him. Try and keep your head. Don't let The next time he pulls an eight-ball a little thing like this ruin you." trick—and he's bound to—I'll break "Don't you understand? him in little pieces. I'll send him He looked pleading, as if he were back to the States in handcuffs if I about to cry. get a chance." "He is ruining me. He's ruining "You're beginning to sound a my outfit. I can't quit thinking little pathological, Joe," I said as about that insolent—call it what nicely as I could. you want to—I'll call it lack of con- "Don't forget. Pierce, you're in cern. The whole w^orld is going to this thing yourself. He's your baby." pieces, and he's not interested. It "Are you trying to scare me?" doesn't even bother him." He relaxed for a moment and al- "You ought to take a rest,' I said. most smiled. I was tense, expecting "Get out of here! " he shouted. " anything. We were all nervous and "Get the hell out of here. unpredictable in those days. I walked back to the tent feeling "Larry, don't say a thing like that. pretty bad. We had been good We're friends. I just w^ant you to friends for a long time, since the know how^ I feel about it." States, and that seemed like years "As long as you're being honest, ago. I sat down and tried to do

I'll tell you what / feel. I agree something with the intelligence re- with you. Something has to be ports. It must have showed. done, maybe a transfer. Maybe he "Got some troubles, Cap'n? " the The Other Side of the Coin 27 corporal said, looking over the top perfectly innocent rejoinder to my of his typew^riter. tactless groping, but it was, none-

I thought of Austin, far off, lonely theless, satirical. I decided there in the beautiful Sicilian sky, was something very cold inside him. hunched in the cockpit of his almost a cold, hard unbreakable core that obsolete P-40, a small incredible I hadn't noticed before, which human being who looked like a maybe, hadn't been there before. doll. He would be studying the sky "What happened to you, Aus- around him and the deft line of the tin?" horizon. He would have just enough "Nothing ever happens to me. gas to get him back from his mis- So I gave it to him straight. I sion. He was over there where the told him he was running out of gas. war was. He must be very careful; he had

I decided it was only fair to let enemies. He just nodded. He didn t Austin in on what was about to ask me, as I almost hoped he would, happen to him. When he got back, to be more specific. He didn't even

I called him into my own tent. He seem to be grateful. When I got had just come off the flight line, through, he started out of the tent and I thought it would be good to onto the darkening field. face him right away, even before "Wait a minute, " I called. "Good " he was interrogated. I may have luck, Lieutenant. been wrong, but I thought if I "Same to you," he said.

forced it on him right then, while

he was still half in the air, awkward Three days later we had the goods and unsteady on the ground, that on him. There had been an accident

maybe I could reach him. He walked on the road and a fight. Austin in and sat down casually. crashed his jeep into another one, "Got a smoke?" he asked. and two enlisted men were hurt. to I gave him a cigarette and studied Somehow, as usual, he managed him. He was cool and smiling and escape injury. The accident was alm^ost neat looking. He was neither followed by a fight with some flushed with an overwhelming bur- M.P.'s, and he got away. We didn't den of excitement nor worn out, even find out about it until after- exasperated, sleep-walking. noon the next day, and by that time "Ho^v was it?" he was away on a mission. The "What?" Colonel showed no signs of jubila- "How was Sicily?" tion. He simply ordered me to meet "Lovely," he said. "I'm going Austin when he came in from the back for a vacation after the vv^ar." flight and let him know that he was "Flak?" now about to atone for all his sins.

"Cap'n, I save all that for the "You can take the chaplain with interrogation. you if you want to," he said dryly. to do. I kept looking at him, trying to It was a hard thing to have get at the truth. His remark was a I didn't want to see him. I couldn't 28 Four Quarters

be sure just Kow much I was re- but we couldn't do anytbing about sponsible for what bad bappened, it. We were low on gas, and I bad " and I wanted tbe tbing to just take tbe wbole fligbt to bring bome.

" care of itself. Still, tbere was tbe "Did Austin bail out? otber side of tbe coin. I felt some- "No sir," be said. "He never bad bow tbe lightness of tbe wbole a cbance." tbing, tbat I ougbt to be tbe one to "Wby didn't you radio back?" deal tbe blow. I was baffled but "I wanted to see you first."

not displeased at my own sense of By tbe time I got back to tbe tent, rebef tbat it was all going to be over. it was already dark. Tbe first stars I went down to tbe fligbt bne to were out, and everybody on tbe meet bim. It was a bot dusk, and field, I guess, knew wbat bad bap-

tbe last red sun gbnted on tbe planes pened. I didn't botber to report to as tbey came in one by one and tbe Colonel. It was his problem taxied down tbe runway, tbe wbeels now. But tbat wasn't true eitber.

tbrowing up bttle plumes of dust, I wanted it to be bis problem, but

to tbeir appointed places. I could I tbink it belonged to botb of us. see tbe pilots struggbng out of tbeir Wben I came in, tbe corporal was narrow cockpits and tben coming filing some of tbe papers tbat bad along tbe runway silently. been lying around on my desk for a "I guess you're looking for Austin, long time. Cap'n." "I decided to sbape tbings up, I looked at a very tired beutenant Cap'n." wbo was walking slowly tow^ard me. "All rigbt." Yes. I went over and looked at a map "Well, be got bis today." we bad tacked up on a bulletin "Dead?" board. It was a big map of tbe "On tbe way back be broke for- tbeater, Tbe Mediterranean was mation and started stooging around. different sbades of blue, very blue I said, 'Wbat tbe bell are you and clean in contrast to tbe sand doing?' and be said, 'Wbat's it to color of Nortb Africa. I kept look- you? I'm going back and look at a ing at tbe map. I knew tbat tbe Sicilian sunset.' After tbat, be must corporal going to say sometbing bave switcbed off bis set. I couldn't was get to bim. We circled back and if I gave bim a cbance, and I didn't we saw some Jerry lop's come in want to listen to bim, or anybody, on bim all of a sudden. We saw it. for a wbile. (T^ Nocturne

• Stephen Morris

Light from this sky Splinters to die. None can know why. Lid the eye. Choke the cry.

Wine from this press

Is powerless To dam or bless Such duress Of sadness.

Flesh of this weave, Knit for the reeve, Ravels at eve.

Warps fail cleave. Old wives grieve.

Fume of this grain From poppied plain, Sickens the brain. As lights strain Through the rain.

Rays from this pearl

Never will twirl Star, or whirl Cones as curl

From one girl.

Tune from this shell At passing bell

Shivered and fell: A love knell,

III or well. Contributors

"C^OUR QUARTERS is pleased to welcome to its pages the following new ^ contributors: HORTENSE CUPO of Staten Island, New York; SAMUEL M. SARGENT of Vista, Missouri; ROBERT A. WIGGINS, a member of the Department of English at the University of California; and GEORGE GARRETT of Princeton, New Jersey. HOWARD A. WILEY and STEPHEN MORRIS, both Philadelphia newspapermen, have been represented in FOUR QUARTERS on several occasions, as has MARION SCHOEBERLEIN, whose poetry has also appeared in Good Housekeeping, Poetry Magazine, and Ladies' Home Journal. HATTON BURKE, a former member of the La Salle College faculty and last year's chairman of FOUR QUARTERS' editorial board, is now chairman of the English Department at Pensacola Junior College. BROTHER D. ADELBERT, a member of the La Salle College English Department, has had two of his poems included in the recently published Beginnings: Prose and Verse, an anthology of new Catholic writers. JOSEPH JOEL KEITH, whose tribute to Father Roseliep, a former contribu- tor to FOUR QUARTERS, appears in this issue, has written for many journals, including Harper's Magazine, Saturday Review, America, and Spirit. Once again FOUR QUARTERS is indebted to CARL MERSCHEL for the block print on the inside front cover.

Editor, Charles V. Kelly Associate Editor, John S. Penny

Managing Editor, Francis J. Nathans Business Manager, Brother Edward Patrick, F.S.C. Circulation Manager, John A. Guischard

Editorial Associates: Brother D. Matthew, Chairman

Brother D. Adelbert, F.S.C, Austin J. App, Richard P. Boudreau, C. Richard Cleary, Joseph F. Flubacher, Brother E. Joseph, F.S.C, Brother F. Joseph, F.S.C, Claude

F. Koch, Dennis J. McCarthy, Robert McDonough, John F. McGlynn, Joseph L.

MoRAN, E. Russell Naughton, Brother G. Robert, F.S.C, Daniel J. Rodden

Circulation Secretary: Richard P. Coulson Typographic Cover Design by Joseph MirUzer

Manuscripts and other correspondence should be addressed to The Editor, FOUR QUARTERS, La Salle College, Philadelphia 41, Pa. Manuscripts should be typed double- spaced and should be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Annual Sub- scription: Two Dollars. Copyright, 1957, by La Salle College