The Laughing Matter by William Saroyan Read Free Book Online Page A

that.”
    The three women watched the locomotive pump and go, the small boy waving to the man and the girl.
    â€œEverybody cry sometime or other,” Susie said when the locomotive was out of sight and the man and the girl had walked down the tracks after it. “They hold it back, thenthey let it go. You just doan say the name any time you go sit or stand somewhere. You, too, Peggy.”
    â€œWhat do I care what his name is?” Peggy said.
    She was always a little on the defensive because, even though she was blonde and had the better figure, most of the men who came to the place, especially the interesting ones, chose Toy, and she got the Mexicans, the half-breeds, the Filipinos, the Negroes, all the ones who were like dumb animals. She’d never had one who’d cried. They were men at least, she thought.
    â€œNow, you both go along to Doc Rocha’s,” Susie said. “You got a hour. Go bathe now, dress up, I see you back here about noon. They’ll be those working boys coming in during lunch hour.”

Chapter 12
    Every time Dade Nazarenus planned to leave his home on the vineyard in Clovis he telephoned his brother Evan and urged him to pick up his family and stay in the house during his absence.
    Once before, early in December, Evan had wanted to go, but Swan had come down with the flu. By the time she’d been better it was almost Christmas, so they didn’t go because they wanted to spend Christmas in their own home.
    It wasn’t much of a house, a Veteran Loan proposition, $500 down, $72 a month against a mortgage of $10,950,payable in twenty years, or 240 months. Fifteen of the 240 months had gone by. It was
theirs
, though. At any rate, they liked to think it was. The house was detached, but the neighbors were near and the yard was small. Still, it wasn’t bad. It wouldn’t do for a large family, though, and that was what Evan believed they would become.
    His salary at the university was enough to meet the payments on the house, buy groceries, and pay the bills of plain living.
    They couldn’t afford a car. When the offer came from the University of Nebraska for Evan to go there for eight weeks during the summer, he talked it over with Swan, accepted the offer, planning on his return to make a down payment on a new Chevrolet. He brought home $900. He was about to buy the car when Swan suggested they wait a while longer, or pay cash for a secondhand car. The matter had rested there, and early in August, only a few days after Evan’s return from Nebraska, Dade telephoned and made the invitation again.
    â€œI’ve had a woman come in and get the place ready,” he said. “I’ve put the key in the mail. You’ll get it this afternoon. I’ve got the icebox full of stuff, and the deep freezer. You’ll find all kinds of meat in there. The figs are ripe on the tree. They get ripe by the hour. I’d like to see all of you, but I won’t be able to just now. Come down and stay as long as you like. I’ve got to go to San Francisco. It’s for a week at least, possibly two. It may be three. When do you have to be back at the university?”
    â€œI’ve got a month,” Evan said, “but we wouldn’t stay that long.”
    â€œCome on down and decide when you get here how longyou want to stay. I know Swan and the kids are going to have fun. It’s very hot.”
    â€œCan’t you stop here on your way to San Francisco?”
    â€œI’m flying up,” Dade said. “My car’s being overhauled. The boy will bring it to the house in three or four days. When he does, take Swan and the kids for a picnic. There are some nice places around.”
    â€œWe’ll take the train in the morning,” Evan said. “Wish you were going to be there, though. The kids ought to know their father’s brother.”
    â€œWe’ll make it sometime,” Dade said. “Christmas maybe.”
    In