Read Online The Age of Hope by David Bergen - Free Book Online

husband Paul was an accountant who disliked travel. He made bird feeders and end tables in his woodshop in the evenings while Emily went to poetry readings in Winnipeg.
    It was Emily who had handed her a brochure for the Book of the Month Club, saying, “You’ve got to expand your reading beyond romances.” Hope decided to read Lolita and Dr. Zhivago and Lady Chatterley’s Lover. She wouldn’t normally have chosen books such as these, but they came highly recommended by the book club. Lolita was a stretch for her. She thought that the characters were mad and off balance and she couldn’t identify with any of them and she found the general language of the novel very fancy. She thought that the author wasn’t as funny as he thought he might be. She knew that she was missing many of the subtleties of the story and didn’t understand the young girl, who was called Dolores, and various other things. Even though she couldn’t relate to the characters, she had a perverse desire to keep reading, and when she was done she felt that the world of this particular novel was cheerless. Lady Chatterley’s Lover she read very quickly and then she tore the book up and threw it in the garbage. Roy shouldn’t know about a book like that. The one time he had perused it, when they were climbing into bed one night, he had asked in his bemused tone, “Who is the lady’s lover?” She had snatched the book from him and said that it wasn’t for him. He’d get ideas. Dr. Zhivago was more her type of story. She felt no guilt reading it in bed beside Roy, who usually fell asleep within three minutes of settling down beside her.
    The girls, like the mothers, became immediate friends. After school, Angela came over and the two girls spent hours in Judith’s room, the door closed, plotting whatever it was that nine-year-olds plot. One day, Hope baked cookies with Conner and Penny, and she carried up a plate to the girls. She paused at the bedroom door and was about to knock when she heard Angela say, “On the bum.” Her voice was quite strident, almost shrill. Hope waited, thought she should enter, and then became frightened that the girls might be undressed, or that she would catch them in some sexual position. Again, Angela said the word “bum” and then there was the sound of a slap and a giggle, and then another slap. Hope set the plate down on the floor, knocked twice, and called out, “Girls, I’ve left you some cookies. They’re fresh and waiting right here by the door.” And she walked back downstairs.
    Conner and Penny had finished most of the remaining cookies. Conner’s hands were full of chocolate and he was washing himself at the kitchen sink, spraying water everywhere. His hair stuck up. His pants were too short. Penny was swinging her bare legs at the table. She was humming to herself. Hope was mystified. She didn’t know how a child made the leap from this kitchen scene to the spanking incident she had just overheard.
    That night she tucked in Judith, brushed back her bangs, and asked how her day had been.
    “Okay.”
    “Did you have fun with Angela?”
    “Yeah. It was okay.”
    “What did you do?”
    “Nothing.”
    “Did you like the cookies?”
    “Yeah.”
    “It would be good to include some other friends sometimes, don’t you think? Sherry or Carolyn.”
    “They’re boring.”
    “Sometimes it’s good to open up your world.” She moved her hands out as if the world were indeed the small space they were sharing.
    “Well, you just see Mrs. Shroeder a lot. Don’t you?”
    Hope laughed and said, “I guess that’s sort of true, isn’t it? I’m a hypocrite.” She paused and then said, “When you play with Angela, sweetie, you keep your clothes on, yes?”
    Judith turned over and away from her mother.
    Hope patted her shoulder. “I love you.”
    “Me too.”
    “Good night,” Hope whispered.
    “Night.”
    She decided to talk to Emily about the games the girls were playing. They had gone to the