Sunday, December 15, 2019

(Found) Text




“Encore” Encore: Attributions, Adverbs and Attitude from James Purdy’s 1957 Short Story*


Merta told her brother
Spence said, wearily attentive
she said
her brother said
she continued, anxiously stepping in front of him to detain his going
Spence said, a kind of cold expressionless tone in his voice
she repeated, almost without emotion
Spence said
she cried as though seeing something from far back of dread and ugliness
Spence said
she accused him
she returned to the only subject which interested her
she said urgently again
Spence said
she said
Spence said, the irritation growing in his manner
she said vaguely, as though it was Spence who himself had mentioned him and thus brought him to mind
he paused on the word
she said
he said irritably
she said coldly angry
he told her
he said and he put on his hat now, which she looked at, he thought, rather critically and also with a certain envy
she forced herself to say at last
he said, and then winced at his own words
he hurried on with another speech
Merta said, pretending to find humour in his words
Gibbs said, putting down some books
she said in a booming and encouraging voice whose suddenness and loudness perhaps surprised even her
he told her
Merta said, trying hard to keep the disapproval out of her voice
Gibbs said, sitting down at the far end of the room and taking our his harmonica.
she said
she smiled, closing her eyes.
he wondered
she replied laughing
Gibbs said, and while she was saying Tommyrot! Gibbs went on
Merta said
he said with sudden fire
she began, white, and her mouth gaping a little, but Gibbs started to play on the harmonica again, cutting her off
Merta said above the sound of harmonica playing
he cried
she repeated, a little embarrassment now in her voice
he asked, putting down the harmonica with impatience
she said, a touch of sophistication in her voice, as if the coffee here were unusual and exotic also
he said
she said, her bitterness returning now against her will as she stood in the kitchen
he said belligerently
she feigned sweet casualness
Spence said loudly and indifferently
he told her
she cried. Then, catching herself, she said
he suddenly turned on her, and taking the dish of jello from her hand he put it down with a bang on the oilcloth covering the tiny kitchen table
he said in his stentorian voice
she said weakly
she said eating
Gibbs snapped at her
she wondered taking her spoon out of her mouth
she countered
he said, a bit weakly, and he took out the harmonica from his pocket, looked at it, and put it down noiselessly on the oilcloth
she said gaily
he said
she told him suddenly again with passion, forgetting everything but her one feeling now, and she put out her hand to him
she said
he said
she said
she said, and she brought out her handkerchief and wiped her eyes, making them, he saw, even older and more worn with the rubbing
he said, picking up the harmonica again
she said laughing a little. Then understanding his remark more clearly as her weeping calmed herself, she said, commanding again
she said hurriedly
she said
she said
he said, bored
she said
she said, suddenly very white and facing him
she said
she hurried on as if testifying before a deaf judge
she said now as though powerless to stop, words coming out of her mouth that she usually kept and nursed for her long nights of sleeplessness and hate
she said
she cried
she told him, quieting herself with a last supreme effort
he said
she said suddenly wiping away the tears, and tensing her breast to keep more of the torrent from gathering inside herself
she said
he said, and he got up and as he did so the harmonica fell to the linoleum floor
she said tightening her mouth
he began
he began again
she said, struggling to keep the storm within her quiet, the storm that now if it broke might sweep everything within her away, might rage and rage until only dying itself could stop it
she said
she said desperately
he said, deathly pale
she suggested
she said beating her hands with the heavy veins and the fingers without rings or embellishments
she said
he said
she commanded
*first published in Lemon Hound, October 24, 2014

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