Falconer+-+John+Cheever

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Falconer 52 himself. He must have begged rides since he didn’t take the car.” “Excuse me,” said Farragut, quite sincerely. No sarcasm was intended. Some of the family must have said as much as they lay dying. He got into the car and headed for the beach. That’s how he remembered that he was not sixteen, because there was a new policeman in the village of Hepworth, who was the only one who might have stopped him and asked to see his license. The policeman in Hepworth had it in for the family for some reason. Farragut knew all the other policemen in the villages along that coast. When he got to Nagasakit he ran down to the beach. It was late in the season, late in the day, and there were no bathers, no lifeguards, nothing at all but a very weary swell from what was already a polluted ocean. How could he tell if it contained his father, with pearls for eyes? He walked along the crescent of the beach. The amusement park was still open. He could hear some music from there, profoundly unserious and belonging very much to the past. He examined the sand to keep from crying. There had been that year a big run on Japanese sandals and also a run on toy knights in armor. There were, left over from the summer, many dismembered knights and odd sandals mixed in the shingle. Respiratory noises came from his beloved sea. The roller coaster was still running. He could hear the clack of the cars on the rail joints and also some very loud laughter—a sound that seemed wasted on that scene. He left the beach. He crossed the road to the entrance of the amusement park. The façade marked a period in the Italian emigration. Workmen from Italy had built a wall of plaster and cement, painted it the saffrons of Rome, and decorated the wall with mermaids and scallop shells. Over the arch was Poseidon with a trident. On the other side of the wall the merrygo-round was turning. There was not a passenger on it. The loud laughter came from some people who were watching the roller coaster. There was Farragut’s father, pretending to drink from an empty bottle and pretending to contemplate suicide from every
Falconer 53 rise. This clowning was successful. His audience was rapt. Farragut went up to the razorback who ran the controls. “That’s my father,” he said, “could you land him?” The smile the razorback gave Farragut was profoundly sympathetic. When the car carrying his father stopped at the platform, Mr. Farragut saw his son, his youngest, his unwanted, his killjoy. He got out and joined Farragut, as he knew he must. “Oh, Daddy,” said Farragut, “you shouldn’t do this to me in my formative years.” Oh, Farragut, why is you an addict? In the morning Tiny brought him four large tomatoes and he was touched. They tasted grievously of summer and freedom. “I’m going to sue,” he told Tiny. “Can you get me a copy of Gilbert’s criminal code?” “I can try,” said Tiny. “Mishkin has one, but he’s renting it out at four cartons a month. You got four?” “I can get them if my wife ever comes,” said Farragut. “I’m going to sue, Tiny, but you’re not whom I’m after. I want to see Chisholm and those other two assholes eating franks and beans for four years with a spoon. And maybe I can. Will you testify?” “Sure, sure,” said Tiny. “I will if I can. I don’t like the way Chisholm gets his kicks out of watching men in withdrawal. I’ll do what I can.” “The case seems very simple to me,” said Farragut. “I was sentenced to prison by the people of the state and the nation. Medicine was prescribed for me, during my imprisonment, by three estimable members of the medical profession. This medicine was denied me by the deputy warden, a man employed by the people to supervise my penance. He then declared my predictable death throes to be an entertainment. It’s that simple.” “Well, you can try,” said Tiny. “Ten, fifteen years ago a fellow who got beat up sued and they gave him a lot of skin grafts. And when they knocked out Freddy the Killer’s teeth he sued and they gave him two new sets of teeth. He never wore them except when we had turkey. Freddy was a great basketball star, but that was long before your time. Twenty-five, twenty-four years ago we had an
Page 3 and 4: FALCONER JOHN CHEEVER
Page 5 and 6: Falconer 3 Copyright Falconer Copyr
Page 7 and 8: Falconer 5 eForeword During a writi
Page 9 and 10: Falconer 7 Falconer
Page 11 and 12: Falconer 9 but was manacled to nine
Page 13 and 14: Falconer 11 the guard. But all of t
Page 15 and 16: Falconer 13 They went up a sloping
Page 17 and 18: Falconer 15 Farragut’s first visi
Page 19 and 20: Falconer 17 “What,” she asked,
Page 21 and 22: Falconer 19 with his, deeply thrill
Page 23 and 24: Falconer 21 across his face. Her br
Page 25 and 26: Falconer 23 gamy; he thought that p
Page 27 and 28: Falconer 25 “Shall we change the
Page 29 and 30: Falconer 27 She had begun to have t
Page 31 and 32: Falconer 29 doing in Falconer. It w
Page 33 and 34: Falconer 31 class. And willingness,
Page 35 and 36: Falconer 33 churches, at some times
Page 37 and 38: Falconer 35 convicts, and there wer
Page 39 and 40: Falconer 37 It was half and half. H
Page 41 and 42: Falconer 39 outstripped the human s
Page 43 and 44: Falconer 41 planted with costly fir
Page 45 and 46: Falconer 43 avoid excitement. It se
Page 47 and 48: Falconer 45 water, wiped his ass on
Page 49 and 50: Falconer 47 Liechtenstein. His back
Page 51 and 52: Falconer 49 against the image of th
Page 53: Falconer 51 will not go to the club
Page 57 and 58: Falconer 55 twice a week. There’s
Page 59 and 60: Falconer 57 at him,” said Farragu
Page 61 and 62: Falconer 59 much a citizen. As a ta
Page 63 and 64: Falconer 61 find a church. In the p
Page 65 and 66: Falconer 63 shoulder—and I lay on
Page 67 and 68: Falconer 65 “You are not the most
Page 69 and 70: Falconer 67 took the funicular up,
Page 71 and 72: Falconer 69 Farragut was still limp
Page 73 and 74: Falconer 71 fall, Farragut stood at
Page 75 and 76: Falconer 73 forty-five-thousand-dol
Page 77 and 78: Falconer 75 won’t stuff their wiv
Page 79 and 80: Falconer 77 Now watch me smile. See
Page 81 and 82: Falconer 79 you outside the infirma
Page 83 and 84: Falconer 81 University. He would be
Page 85 and 86: Falconer 83 mileage he could expect
Page 87 and 88: Falconer 85 once, when he got off t
Page 89 and 90: Falconer 87 ice cream and coffee. A
Page 91 and 92: Falconer 89 experience of alienatio
Page 93 and 94: Falconer 91 one another doesn’t g
Page 95 and 96: Falconer 93 money was. They took Ca
Page 97 and 98: Falconer 95 anything but did I know
Page 99 and 100: Falconer 97 remembered the panic he
Page 101 and 102: Falconer 99 As the day of the cardi
Page 103 and 104: Falconer 101 Farragut got what he h
Page 105 and 106:
Falconer 103 target and out the doo
Page 107 and 108:
Falconer 105 what we might compare
Page 109 and 110:
Falconer 107 He took off his robe a
Page 111 and 112:
Falconer 109 It was an August day;
Page 113 and 114:
Falconer 111 daughter of Ling Chou
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Falconer 113 thought, immeasurable,
Page 117 and 118:
Falconer 115 “I don’t know the
Page 119 and 120:
Falconer 117 PETER, HAS ARRANGED FO
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Falconer 119 squares and put this i
Page 123 and 124:
Falconer 121 only get into the show
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Falconer 123 churches where a beref
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Falconer 125 another and the thin,
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Falconer 127 his thighs and his che
Page 131 and 132:
Falconer 129 “No, no, no,” said
Page 133 and 134:
Falconer 131 cashmere sweaters, sil
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Falconer 133 flames and a rush of s
Page 137 and 138:
Falconer 135 about your willingness
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Falconer 137 was just big enough to
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Falconer 139 Wall, or the Amana Pri
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Falconer 141 with palms. She rams t
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Falconer 143 I ain’t going to sin
Page 147 and 148:
Falconer 145 Farragut had stolen an
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Falconer 147 worse and then she sug
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Falconer 149 believe it. Like there
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Falconer 151 intended for his last
Page 155 and 156:
Falconer 153 from the back. They we
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Falconer 155 the room after a page
Page 159 and 160:
Falconer 157 there’s your piano a
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Falconer 159 before I’ll be mista
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Falconer 161 got no fear, no fear a
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Falconer 163 his grave was no more
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Falconer 165 of some stair. The bla
Page 169 and 170:
Falconer 167 At a distant corner un
Page 171 and 172:
Falconer 169 Farragut put his arms
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