Michael Malone - Weebly

ight: Beanie would be home before he got back. That
was the only thing that made sense. And perhaps Otto
was right, perhaps he should tell her about his checkup,
that he might be slightly hypertensive, might be putting a
strain on his heart. Maybe he should share the
worrisome things with Beanie. Perhaps she was right,
that he should not hold himself in so much. Yes, Beanie
would be home when he got there, and he would tell
her he was afraid to die. But if she had left him, if she
wanted to be released from their marriage? Then he
would not tell her; for out of charity she would stay,
even against her desires.
While, for three decades, Winslow Abernathy had
not probed to discover just what his wife's desires might
be, he would never—should they be made explicit—
bribe her to deny them.
A line was forming beside the first swan down in the
public garden; a sailor and his girl were in front, waiting,
in no hurry. On leave in his officer's uniform, over thirty
years ago, Winslow had sat in such a boat, perhaps in
that same boat, and had rewritten Beanie's French
composition so that she could eventually graduate from