Read Online A Boy of Good Breeding by Miriam Toews - Free Book Online

spot, livid.
    “Ho!” Combine Jo belched out as she fell onto the couch. S.F. kind of dropped beside her and then attempted to climb off the couch, but before she could escape Combine Jo grabbed herby the shirt and said, “Not so fast, you little devil. I want to have a good look at you.”
    At this point Knute intervened. “Leave her alone, Jo. S.F., come here, sweetie.”
    “S.F., come here, sweetie,” Combine Jo mimicked, moving her head back and forth. “Jesus, Knuter, I’m not gonna kill the kid. When the hell are you gonna bury the hatchet, eh, Knute? I’ve apologized until I’m fucking blue in the face.”
    “Coffee, Jo?” Dory asked.
    “Thanks, honey.” Combine Jo sat on the couch. She was wearing giant Hush Puppies and a tent dress with tiny anchors all over it. She stared at S.F. “God, she’s an angel, Knute. She’s an angel made in heaven. Aw c’mon, let me have her. Let her sit with me for a second. Doncha want to, eh, Summer Feelin’?”
    “No.” S.F. tightened her grip on Knute’s hand. Tom was busy sweeping up the broken glass in the hallway. He asked S.F. if she would like to do a puzzle with him in the den and she nodded and flew out of the room.
    “Lookit her go. Runnin’ like the goddamn dickens. How old is she, anyway, Knuter? Five, six?”
    “Four.”
    Combine Jo sighed heavily. “I heard you two were in town, Knute. I had to come and see you. See her. You know I’ve got no way of getting to the city to see you. How was I gonna see you and S.F.?”
    “Nobody invited you.”
    At this Combine Jo slapped her thigh and barked, “Ha! You haven’t changed at all, Knute. Not one iota. Still a spark plug, you crazy kid. You and I should have a drink together some day. But, you know I like your spunk. I’ve always loved your spunk. And you know what? So did Max. Of all Max’s girlfriends you were my goddamn favourite and that’s no lie. The rest were pffhh … In fact, that’s another reason why I’m here.”
    Dory handed Combine Jo her coffee and immediately Jo spilled a few drops on her anchor dress. “Whoops. Shit.” Then Jo did it again. “I’ll be goddamned!” she said. Dory attempted a tortured smile. Knute stood a ways away with her arms folded across her chest. The thought of a drink wasn’t a bad one. But not with her. Knute looked at her and raised her eyebrows placidly in an unfriendly gesture, egging her on.
    “Max called me. Finally, the little bastard, and he’s coming home. He’s broke and tired of Europe. Who wouldn’t be? He’s coming back, Knuter. And he wants to see his goddamned daughter!”
    “Are you serious?” Marilyn muttered over the phone later that evening. “That’s what she said? Just like that?”
    “Yeah. Can you believe it?” Knute was soaking in a tub of hot water and talking to Marilyn on Tom’s new cordless phone. Tom and Dory and S.F. were all in bed together eating popcorn and watching TV. She could hear an occasional laugh track through the bathroom wall.
    “I can believe that he’s broke,” said Marilyn.
    “Some things never change,” Knute answered.
    “What are you gonna do?” she asked.
    “I don’t know. What can I do? I can’t keep him from coming back. I’m not gonna leave just because he’s coming back. And besides, he’s not a terrible person or anything, he’s just completely hopeless. I don’t know.”
    “Well, he’s an asshole, Knute. He knew you were pregnant and he took off.”
    “Well, I kind of told him to get lost.”
    “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean get lost,
get lost
like for five years. It means just fuck off for a while and don’t bug you.”
    “Yeah, but he might have figured that out himself if hewasn’t such a slave to his mother. She’s the one who told him his life would be ruined forever if he became a father and stayed in Algren.”
    “Well, that’s probably true.”
    “Thanks, Marilyn.”
    “Well, for Christ’s sake. He’d have to be a total moron to believe