Four Quarters Volume 6 Article 1 Number 2 Four Quarters: January 1957 Vol
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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 Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/fourquarters Recommended Citation (1957) "Four Quarters: January 1957 Vol. VI, No. 2," Four Quarters: Vol. 6 : No. 2 , Article 1. Available at: http://digitalcommons.lasalle.edu/fourquarters/vol6/iss2/1 This Complete Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the University Publications at La Salle University Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Four Quarters by an authorized editor of La Salle University Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. tour 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.