Read Online Frolic of His Own by William Gaddis - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: William Gaddis
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weâre in the sunroom, maybe you can help?
It was the obstinate chair of course, âa little safety lock down here Oscar, you must have brushed a hand against it.
âI did not brush a thing against it. Hello Harry. Christinaâs making some tea.
âWell itâs late enough Oscar, I brought out some sturgeon, maybe weâll just want lunch? But heâd already ordered up tortellini for lunch, told that woman to fix it in some broth and then something in an Alfredo sauce and salad if anyone could find her, bad enough just trying to find anything herself, scissors, any scissors, those ginger preserves, his copy of Fitzhughâs Cannibals All! because he certainly couldnât scale the shelves in the library the mess it was in since theyâd moved things around to put a bed in there for him where he couldnât reach the phone that had already ring twice since heâd been left sitting here in the rain, abandoned was really the word for it, heâd had her look in his room upstairs for his play in a black pebbled binder and she finally came down with an old address book and the papers, had they brought out the newspapers? Not that he could read them if they had because that was the worst of it, his glasses, âwhat that woman could have done with my glasses I havenât been able to read anything but the headlines since the day before the, the mail even the mail, wherever sheâs hidden the mail like every illiterate in this whole illiterate country I have to watch the news trimmed to fit that damned little screen between the hemorrhoid and false teeth commercials, can you imagine what the rest of the audience looks like? America has taken Spot to its heart, did you see it last night? Every idiot in sight down there with something to sell, dog candy, hot dogs, Free Spot! buttons, Free Spot! T shirts, Spot dolls with huge wet eyes and that whole hideous Cyclone Seven? peddling this take apart puzzle model and a game where you try to get the dog out with magnets shaped like a dog bone? Marching around for animal rights, artistsâ rights, black rights, right to life, abortion, gun control, Jesus loves and the flags, Stars and Stripes, Stars and Bars and then somebody . . .
âOscar, just . . .
âYes and then somebody throws a beer bottle and they . . .
âAnd Father right in the midst of it, thatâs . . .
âAnd why shouldnât he be! Why shouldnât he Christina he started it all didnât he? with that, that decision he wrote for this awful little dog? Schoolchildren sending in donations so this cheap sentimental vision of our great republic shall not perish from the earth, you know that story by Stephen Crane? A Small Brown Dog? where a lonely little boy and a simpering brown dog make friends and the whole thing gets so syrupy the drunken father finally throws the dog out the window? Iâd do the same thing, itâs being reprinted everywhere how the same man who wrote it could have written The Red Badge of Courage, you think theyâre notmaking that into a television special too? Everybody grabbing part of the act, the Civil War nobody gives one damn for it till they see these headlines PATRIOTIC GORE IN NINETY MILLION DOLLAR SPECTACULAR, have you seen it?
âThat review in the Times? It was . . .
âNo the movie! the movie! Isnât that what I asked you? if youâd just go see the movie? They steal the whole, how many, two years? three years I worked on that play? They step in and steal the whole thing and you canât even take three hours to go see what they . . .
âOscar itâs not that simple. You know Harryâs up to his eyes in work and you donât really know what theyâve done after all, I mean you havenât actually seen the movie yourself yet and . . .
âYes I know I havenât actually seen the movie myself yet! I havenât
It was the obstinate chair of course, âa little safety lock down here Oscar, you must have brushed a hand against it.
âI did not brush a thing against it. Hello Harry. Christinaâs making some tea.
âWell itâs late enough Oscar, I brought out some sturgeon, maybe weâll just want lunch? But heâd already ordered up tortellini for lunch, told that woman to fix it in some broth and then something in an Alfredo sauce and salad if anyone could find her, bad enough just trying to find anything herself, scissors, any scissors, those ginger preserves, his copy of Fitzhughâs Cannibals All! because he certainly couldnât scale the shelves in the library the mess it was in since theyâd moved things around to put a bed in there for him where he couldnât reach the phone that had already ring twice since heâd been left sitting here in the rain, abandoned was really the word for it, heâd had her look in his room upstairs for his play in a black pebbled binder and she finally came down with an old address book and the papers, had they brought out the newspapers? Not that he could read them if they had because that was the worst of it, his glasses, âwhat that woman could have done with my glasses I havenât been able to read anything but the headlines since the day before the, the mail even the mail, wherever sheâs hidden the mail like every illiterate in this whole illiterate country I have to watch the news trimmed to fit that damned little screen between the hemorrhoid and false teeth commercials, can you imagine what the rest of the audience looks like? America has taken Spot to its heart, did you see it last night? Every idiot in sight down there with something to sell, dog candy, hot dogs, Free Spot! buttons, Free Spot! T shirts, Spot dolls with huge wet eyes and that whole hideous Cyclone Seven? peddling this take apart puzzle model and a game where you try to get the dog out with magnets shaped like a dog bone? Marching around for animal rights, artistsâ rights, black rights, right to life, abortion, gun control, Jesus loves and the flags, Stars and Stripes, Stars and Bars and then somebody . . .
âOscar, just . . .
âYes and then somebody throws a beer bottle and they . . .
âAnd Father right in the midst of it, thatâs . . .
âAnd why shouldnât he be! Why shouldnât he Christina he started it all didnât he? with that, that decision he wrote for this awful little dog? Schoolchildren sending in donations so this cheap sentimental vision of our great republic shall not perish from the earth, you know that story by Stephen Crane? A Small Brown Dog? where a lonely little boy and a simpering brown dog make friends and the whole thing gets so syrupy the drunken father finally throws the dog out the window? Iâd do the same thing, itâs being reprinted everywhere how the same man who wrote it could have written The Red Badge of Courage, you think theyâre notmaking that into a television special too? Everybody grabbing part of the act, the Civil War nobody gives one damn for it till they see these headlines PATRIOTIC GORE IN NINETY MILLION DOLLAR SPECTACULAR, have you seen it?
âThat review in the Times? It was . . .
âNo the movie! the movie! Isnât that what I asked you? if youâd just go see the movie? They steal the whole, how many, two years? three years I worked on that play? They step in and steal the whole thing and you canât even take three hours to go see what they . . .
âOscar itâs not that simple. You know Harryâs up to his eyes in work and you donât really know what theyâve done after all, I mean you havenât actually seen the movie yourself yet and . . .
âYes I know I havenât actually seen the movie myself yet! I havenât
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