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Authors: Flannery O’Connor
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car or rob a bank or jump out
of a dark alley onto a woman. His blood all morning had been saying the person would
come today.
He left the second-shift guard and approached the pool from a discreet footpath that
led behind the ladies’ end of the bath house to a small clearing where the entire
pool could be seen at once. There was nobody in it—the water was bottle-green and
motionless—but he saw, coming up the other side and heading for the bath house, the
woman with the two little boys. She came every other day or so and brought the two
children. She would go in the water with them and swim down the pool and then she
would lie up on the side in the sun. She had a stained white bathing suit that fit
her like a sack, and Enoch had watched her with pleasure on several occasions. He
moved from the clearing up a slope to some abelia bushes. There was a nice tunnel
under them and he crawled into it until he came to a slightly wider place where he
was accustomed to sit. He settled himself and adjusted the abelia so that he could
see through it properly. His face was always very red in the bushes. Anyone who parted
the abelia sprigs at just that place, would think he saw a devil and would fall down
the slope and into the pool. The woman and the two little boys entered the bath house.
Enoch never went immediately to the dark secret center of the park. That was the peak
of the afternoon. The other things he did built up to it. When he left the bushes,
he would go to the F ROSTY B OTTLE , a hotdog stand in the shape of an Orange Crush with frost painted in blue around
the top of it. Here he would have a chocolate malted milkshake and would make some
suggestive remarks to the waitress, whom he believed to be secretly in love with him.
After that he would go to see the animals. They were in a long set of steel cages
like Alcatraz Penitentiary in the movies. The cages were electrically heated in the
winter and air-conditioned in the summer and there were six men hired to wait on the
animals and feed them T-bone steaks. The animals didn’t do anything but lie around.
Enoch watched them every day, full of awe and hate. Then he went there.
The two little boys ran out the bath house and dived into the water, and simultaneously
a grating noise issued from the driveway on the other side of the pool. Enoch’s head
pierced out of the bushes. He saw a high rat-colored car passing, which sounded as
if its motor were dragging out the back. The car passed and he could hear it rattle
around the turn in the drive and on away. He listened carefully, trying to hear if
it would stop. The noise receded and then gradually grew louder. The car passed again.
Enoch saw this time that there was only one person in it, a man. The sound of it died
away again and then grew louder. The car came around a third time and stopped almost
directly opposite Enoch across the pool. The man in the car looked out the window
and down the grass slope to the water where the two little boys were splashing and
screaming. Enoch’s head was as far out of the bushes as it would come and he was squinting.
The door by the man was tied on with a rope. The man got out the other door and walked
in front of the car and came halfway down the slope to the pool. He stood there a
minute as if he were looking for somebody and then he sat down stiffly on the grass.
He had on a blue suit and a black hat. He sat with his knees drawn up. “Well, I’ll
be dog,” Enoch said. “Well, I’ll be dog.”
He began crawling out of the bushes immediately, his heart moving so fast it was like
one of those motorcycles at fairs that the fellow drives around the walls of a pit.
He even remembered the man’s name—Mr. Hazel Motes. In a second he appeared on all
fours at the end of the abelia and looked across the pool. The blue figure was still
sitting there in the same position. He had the look of being held
of a dark alley onto a woman. His blood all morning had been saying the person would
come today.
He left the second-shift guard and approached the pool from a discreet footpath that
led behind the ladies’ end of the bath house to a small clearing where the entire
pool could be seen at once. There was nobody in it—the water was bottle-green and
motionless—but he saw, coming up the other side and heading for the bath house, the
woman with the two little boys. She came every other day or so and brought the two
children. She would go in the water with them and swim down the pool and then she
would lie up on the side in the sun. She had a stained white bathing suit that fit
her like a sack, and Enoch had watched her with pleasure on several occasions. He
moved from the clearing up a slope to some abelia bushes. There was a nice tunnel
under them and he crawled into it until he came to a slightly wider place where he
was accustomed to sit. He settled himself and adjusted the abelia so that he could
see through it properly. His face was always very red in the bushes. Anyone who parted
the abelia sprigs at just that place, would think he saw a devil and would fall down
the slope and into the pool. The woman and the two little boys entered the bath house.
Enoch never went immediately to the dark secret center of the park. That was the peak
of the afternoon. The other things he did built up to it. When he left the bushes,
he would go to the F ROSTY B OTTLE , a hotdog stand in the shape of an Orange Crush with frost painted in blue around
the top of it. Here he would have a chocolate malted milkshake and would make some
suggestive remarks to the waitress, whom he believed to be secretly in love with him.
After that he would go to see the animals. They were in a long set of steel cages
like Alcatraz Penitentiary in the movies. The cages were electrically heated in the
winter and air-conditioned in the summer and there were six men hired to wait on the
animals and feed them T-bone steaks. The animals didn’t do anything but lie around.
Enoch watched them every day, full of awe and hate. Then he went there.
The two little boys ran out the bath house and dived into the water, and simultaneously
a grating noise issued from the driveway on the other side of the pool. Enoch’s head
pierced out of the bushes. He saw a high rat-colored car passing, which sounded as
if its motor were dragging out the back. The car passed and he could hear it rattle
around the turn in the drive and on away. He listened carefully, trying to hear if
it would stop. The noise receded and then gradually grew louder. The car passed again.
Enoch saw this time that there was only one person in it, a man. The sound of it died
away again and then grew louder. The car came around a third time and stopped almost
directly opposite Enoch across the pool. The man in the car looked out the window
and down the grass slope to the water where the two little boys were splashing and
screaming. Enoch’s head was as far out of the bushes as it would come and he was squinting.
The door by the man was tied on with a rope. The man got out the other door and walked
in front of the car and came halfway down the slope to the pool. He stood there a
minute as if he were looking for somebody and then he sat down stiffly on the grass.
He had on a blue suit and a black hat. He sat with his knees drawn up. “Well, I’ll
be dog,” Enoch said. “Well, I’ll be dog.”
He began crawling out of the bushes immediately, his heart moving so fast it was like
one of those motorcycles at fairs that the fellow drives around the walls of a pit.
He even remembered the man’s name—Mr. Hazel Motes. In a second he appeared on all
fours at the end of the abelia and looked across the pool. The blue figure was still
sitting there in the same position. He had the look of being held
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