Read Online The Legacy by Howard Fast - Free Book Online

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    â€œHe never told me about that,” Jean said. “I wonder why?”
    â€œThey were frightened people. Dan felt he shouldn’t have taken the money.”
    â€œThere is so much I didn’t know about him. It wasn’t long enough.”
    Cassala nodded. So much that he didn’t know about her, or himself, so little that people ever knew about each other in the bit of time allowed them.
    It was ten o’clock in the evening when Barbara got to the chapel and joined them as they sat quietly alongside the coffin. Cassala rose and watched the two women as they kissed each other.
    â€œThey brought Dan here while you were at the airport,” Jean said. “Is Sammy all right?”
    â€œYes — tired, mother, but just fine.”
    â€œI’m glad he’s here.”
    â€œTom came to the house. With Lucy,” she said.
    â€œOh? That was dutiful of him.”
    â€œIt’s no easier for him than for us.”
    â€œNo, I suppose not,” Jean said. “Do you want to look at your father? Stephan will open the coffin for you, if you do. I don’t enjoy such things. I don’t want to remember that stupid travesty undertakers make of a human being.”
    Barbara shook her head. “No, it’s not necessary. I won’t forget daddy.” She went over to Cassala and kissed him. “You’ve been more than kind, Steve.”
    â€œIt’s your mother who’s been kind enough to let me stay with her. My car’s outside, Barbara. Can I drive you home?”
    â€œNo, I’ll walk with mother to her house, if she feels up to it. Thank you, Steve.”
    â€œI’d like to walk,” Jean agreed.
    Outside on Jones Street, Jean took Barbara’s arm. Barbara asked her whether she was all right.
    â€œI’m fine, darling. Just let me cling to you a bit, just to reassure myself that you’re here and real. Did Tom stay at the house? Will he be there now?”
    â€œNo, he and Lucy left. They’ll be at the funeral.”
    â€œI’ve lost my will to hate, or even to resent. Not that I ever hated Tom. You don’t hate your son — but what do you feel? He could have stayed at the house, Bobby, he could have waited for me. We’re not Kentucky mountaineers to go on with these wretched family feuds.”
    â€œHe’ll come around, mother.”
    Jean stopped walking, breathed deeply of the damp sea air, and pointed down the hill where fog was already gathering. “Do you know, Bobby, we used to run up these hills. Like what? Gazelles? No, two kids. Strong kids. I was mad about him. Nothing else like Danny ever happened to me — that big, hulking fisherman. Oh, damn him! Damn him! All the rotten things he did, this is the worst — to leave me like this.”
    â€œI know, mother,” Barbara said. “I know it all so well.”
    About a year before this night, Jean and Dan had talked about death. It was not a matter that obsessed them, but neither was it a subject which they avoided. Talking about it made Jean somewhat uncomfortable, just as talking about religion made her uncomfortable; for Dan, the subject lacked importance.
    â€œStill and all,” Jean said, “you ought to spell out your wishes. I mean write them down.”
    â€œI have a will. What else?”
    â€œYou know what I mean. Things one wants done afterward.”
    â€œThat’s on your shoulders,” Dan said.
    â€œOh? And what makes you so sure I’ll be here?”
    â€œYou will.”
    â€œJust don’t be so cocksure about it. And if it did happen that way, I might just empty a bottle of sleeping pills and join you.”
    â€œBullshit.”
    â€œYou always were one for a gentle rejoinder. Now let’s face it. My grandfather bought a family plot. Plenty of room there. I just don’t know whether you want to lie cheek by jowl with the Seldons.”
    â€œI been lying cheek by jowl with