Heart Troubles by Stephen; Birmingham Read Free Book Online Page B

it?”
    â€œWell, most of it. I thought it was—very interesting.”
    â€œYou may not be ready for Baudelaire,” he said with a little smile. “I have another book for you—a very special book that I picked out for you in my library this morning.”
    â€œBut how would I get it back to you? Well, I could mail it, I guess.”
    Mr. Fiedler hitched his chair over closer to her. “If you promise to come back next summer, I may let you keep it,” he said.
    About half an hour later Dolores was saying, “Freddie’s different because he’s funny. He’s the only boy I’ve met who could say funny things, things that I really wanted to laugh at, and he’s the only person that I’ve met who hasn’t wanted to take me seriously.”
    â€œIncluding me?” said Mr. Fiedler.
    Dolores looked up from where she lay, on her stomach on the terrace with her chin in her hands, her half-filled glass in front of her. “Of course not including you,” she said. “You’re different, too. You’re a friend, and—well, a special kind of friend.”
    He leaned toward her, his glass pressed between his hands. “Special? In what way?”
    â€œWell …” She drew a vague pattern on the stone with her index finger. “I don’t know.” She paused. “I guess it’s because you treat me like an equal. Like an adult. My parents have never thought of treating me like an adult. Why, you even offer me a drink—even though I don’t drink! And you offer me cigarettes. And besides, you’re very interesting to talk to.”
    â€œPerhaps I see the woman you’re capable of being.”
    â€œYes. But you know, it’s funny,” she said. “And I don’t mean funny. But I wonder.”
    â€œWhat do you wonder?”
    â€œWell, it seems so unusual that a person like you—a great intellectual, really—should have given up jobs at some of the most famous girls’ schools in the country, even Burneyside—and come way up here to Maine to live, to this dinky town, miles from everywhere, and live year round.…”
    â€œWhat do you know about Burneyside?” he said.
    â€œNothing—except that you taught there, didn’t you? And—”
    â€œNext thing,” he said, raising his glass to his lips, “you’re going to tell me you suspect I was dismissed from my job at Burneyside.”
    â€œNo, I don’t mean that,” she said. “But—well, it does seem strange.”
    â€œI pursue my researches up here,” he said a little crossly. “In peace.”
    â€œI know, I know. But don’t you ever miss—”
    â€œNever,” he said. He took a swallow of his drink.
    â€œDo you know something?” he said quickly. “A little bird has just whispered something in my ear. A little bird tells me that somebody has been talking to you about me, somebody in town, saying such things as—”
    â€œOh, don’t be silly! I just meant—”
    â€œSaying that I live off a rich, sick wife? Hmm? Things like that? Am I right? Did my little bird tell me true, because this little town is notorious, my pet, for—”
    â€œNo, no. I’ve never talked to anybody about you, except—”
    â€œAha!” he said, leaning forward again. “Except whom?”
    â€œWell, except Freddie, of course.”
    â€œI see.”
    â€œBut Freddie’s never said anything about you. You see, I think Freddie’s a rather special kind of person, too. I think you’d like him if you got to know him. He’s very witty. Do you know he’s the only person who can keep me laughing all the time? Not just because he says funny things, but the way he says them, you know, that’s so funny?” She put it as a question and then laughed. “I guess I don’t know what I mean,” she said, “but you