Part 9 (1/2)
”Don't yer think yer'd better make it day after ter-morrer?” he ventured.
”Or 'long erbout May er June?” Angy hastily amended.
Samuel gave an exasperated grunt.
”See here, whose spree is this?” Abe demanded of the little old wife.
She sighed, then resolved on strategy:
”Naow, Abe, ef yew be bound an' possessed ter go ter the Beach, yew go; but I'm a-goin' a-visitin' tew, an' I couldn't git the pair o' us ready inside a week. I'm a-goin' deown ter see Blossy. She ast me jist naow, pendin', she says, Cap'n Sam'l here cures Abe up ernough ter git him off. I thought she was crazy then.”
Samuel knocked the ashes out of his pipe against the window-sill and arose to go.
”Waal,” he said grudgingly, ”make it a week from ter-day then, rain s.h.i.+ne, snow er blow, er a blizzard. Ef yer ever a-goin' ter git hardened, Abe, naow's the time! I'll drive over 'long erbout ten o'clock an' git somebody ter sail us from here; er ef the bay freezes over 'twixt naow an' then, ter take us in a scooter.”
A ”scooter,” it may be explained, is an ice-boat peculiar to the Great South Bay--a sort of modified dingy on runners.
”Yes--yes, a scooter,” repeated Samuel, turning suddenly on Abe with the sharp inquiry: ”Air yew a-s.h.i.+verin'? Hain't, eh? Waal then, a week from ter-day, so be it!” he ended. ”But me an' Blossy is a-comin' ter see yew off an' on pooty frequent meanstwhile; an', Abe, ef ever I ketch yew a-layin' abed, I'll leave yew ter yer own destruction.”
XII
”A Pa.s.sEL OF MEDDLERS”
Angy's secret hope that Abe would change his mind and abandon the projected trip to the Beach remained unfulfilled, in spite of the fact that cold weather suddenly descended on the South Side, and the bay became first ”sc.u.mmed” over with ice, and then frozen so solid that all its usual craft disappeared, and the ”scooters” took possession of the field.
Abe and Samuel held stubbornly to their reckless intentions; and the sisters, sharing Angy's anxiety, grew solicitous almost to the point of active interference. They withheld nothing in the way of counsel, criticism, or admonition which could be offered.
”Naow,” said Mrs. Homan in her most commanding tones at the end of a final discussion in the big hall, on the evening before the date set for departure, ”ef yew're bound, bent, an' determined, Brother Abe, to run in the face of Providence, yew want tew mind one thing, an' wear yer best set of flannels ter-morrer.”
”Sho, thar hain't no danger of me ketchin' cold,” decried Abe.
”I didn't say yer thickest set of flannels; I said yer best. When a man gits throwed out onto the ice ker flump, the thickness of his clo'es ain't goin' to help him much. The fust thing I allus taught my husbands was to have everything clean an' whole on, when thar was any likelihood of a sudden death.”
”Yew 'spect me tew go an' prink up fer a sudden death?” thundered Abraham. ”I hain't never heard tell on a scooter a-killin' n.o.body yit; it's them plagued ice-boats up State what--”
”That's all very well,” persisted Mrs. Homan, not to be diverted from her subject; ”but when old Dr. Billings got run over by the train at Mastic Crossin' on Fourth o' July eight year ago, his wife told me with her own lips that she never would git over it, cuz he had his hull big toe stickin' out o' the end of his stockin'. I tell yew, these days we've got tew prepare fer a violent end.”
The patient Angy somewhat tartly retorted, that during the last week she had spent even more time upon Father's wardrobe than she had upon her own; while Abe inwardly rejoiced to think that for seven days to come--seven whole days--he and Angy would be free from the surveillance of the sisters.
Mrs. Homan, in no way nonplussed, boomed on:
”Thar, I most fergot about his necktie. 'Course, they don't dress up much at the Station; but jest the same that air tie o' yourn, Brother Abe, is a disgrace. I told yew yew'd spile it a-wearin' it tew bed.
Naow, I got a red an' green plaid what belonged to my second stepson, Henry O. He never would 'a' died o' pneumony, either, ef he'd a-took my advice an' made himself a newspaper nightcap last time he subst.i.tuted with the 'Savers. An' yew kin have that necktie jest as well as not.
Naow, don't say a word; I'm better able to part with it 'n yew be not to take it.”
No one ever attempted the fruitless task of stopping Mrs. Homan once fully launched; but when at last she permitted her back to rest against her chair, folding her arms with the manner of one who makes a sacrifice in a worthy cause, Abe broke into an explosive protest.