Woman by Richard Matheson Read Free Book Online Page B

said. "Vox populi. Ducks copulate."
     
         "Oh, I really
don't—" David started uncomfortably.
     
         "Where does all this
fear come from?" Barbara broke in. "All this hostility?"
     
         David exhaled wearily. No
help for it, he thought.
     
         "Well," he said,
"In the beginning, from jealousy. Of woman's ability to give birth. Her
ability to menstruate."
     
         "That's one ability I
could do without," Liz said, her features tensing.
     
         "Amen," Barbara
agreed.
     
         Val started singing to Candy
with the tune of "Putting On The Ritz." "Puttin'on the rag,
do-ah, do-ah, do-ah."
     
         "Val. Enough" Liz said.
     
         Val hung his head in mock
sorrow, sobbing quietly. David noticed how uncomfortable Ganine looked. He considered
suggesting to her, that perhaps she'd rather leave than stay.
     
         "Go on, David," Barbara said, almost
ordering him.
     
         "Very well," David
conceded. "Because of this jealousy, man isolated birth and menstruation
with taboos and rituals designed to handicap women. They couldn't approach
food. Couldn't approach weapons, animals. And, of course, couldn't eat with
their husbands, couldn't socialize with them. In some cases, couldn't even
speak their husband's names aloud. Or any male relative's names."
     
         Val's voice went falsetto.
"Me bleed, og," he said answering with a guttural tone. "You
goddamn shut mouth, woman!"
     
         Liz gave her brother a weary
look and spoke. "Then the double standard is based entirely on men's fear
of women," she said.
     
         David gestured in agreement.
     
         "They know we can
out-perform them sexually so they've handed us this crap about it being
acceptable for men to fool around but not women. What men really fear about feminism is woman's
demand for sexual freedom."
     
         Val looked at her with a
contrived expression of lust. "I don't fear it," he told her, "I
just wanna get in on it." He bared his teeth in a maniacal grin. "How
about a little incest, kid? Always did wanna get you in the sack. Well, not
when I was eight. Though come to think of it—"
     
         "Will you please stop?" Liz asked him, still more
affectionately chiding than critical.
     
         "Don't knock it if you
haven't tried it," Val said. He looked at Candy. "Tell everyone about
your Uncle Waldo, sweetie."
     
         Candy looked genuinely
uncomfortable. "Val, please," she murmured.
     
          "David?" Barbara said in a tight voice. "Ignore the idiot and keep on
talking."
     
         "Well, now, dearie,
keep in mind that hubby is the head scribe on the Country
Boy and I'm the star with power," Val finished in a threatening voice. . .
     
         Barbara closed her eyes as
though to shut away the sight of him. "Doctor Harper?" she said.
     
         David was about to cut it
all off, stand and insist that they leave. Instead, he went on speaking.
"While it's true that men have always been afraid that women wouldn't be
faithful to them, being natural born polygamists, they projected their feelings
onto women. According to Proverbs—"
     
         "My favorite
book," Val said.
     
         '"—the mouth of the
womb' is never satisfied," David finished, ignoring Val.
     
         "How about a little
mouth-to-mouth resuscitation?" Val said to Candy.
     
         Liz paid no attention to
him, saying, "I'll tell you what the problem is. Men have always felt
their potency threatened by women."
     
         Val postured like a queen on
his chair. "Well, that's a lot of poo-poo," he said archly.
     
         Liz pointed at him, smiling
thinly. "Right on, brother dear," she told him. "You think it's a joke but it's the truth.
The increase in homosexuality is taking place because men are fleeing women.
Fleeing masculinity."
     
         "Who can blame
them?" Max said with a thin, scornful smile.
     
         "Thinking of joining
them,