 |
АвтоАвтоматизацияАрхитектураАстрономияАудитБиологияБухгалтерияВоенное делоГенетикаГеографияГеологияГосударствоДомДругоеЖурналистика и СМИИзобретательствоИностранные языкиИнформатикаИскусствоИсторияКомпьютерыКулинарияКультураЛексикологияЛитератураЛогикаМаркетингМатематикаМашиностроениеМедицинаМенеджментМеталлы и СваркаМеханикаМузыкаНаселениеОбразованиеОхрана безопасности жизниОхрана ТрудаПедагогикаПолитикаПравоПриборостроениеПрограммированиеПроизводствоПромышленностьПсихологияРадиоРегилияСвязьСоциологияСпортСтандартизацияСтроительствоТехнологииТорговляТуризмФизикаФизиологияФилософияФинансыХимияХозяйствоЦеннообразованиеЧерчениеЭкологияЭконометрикаЭкономикаЭлектроникаЮриспунденкция
KIM BALDWIN. Two to three a.m. was devoted to funny stories about past vacations each had been on
|
Читайте также: |
Two to three a.m. was devoted to funny stories about past vacations each had been on.
Hobbies took up another half hour. So did religion—both were lapsed Roman Catholics.
Politics and social issues were next. Both were decidedly Democratic and they shared a deep concern for the environment and other issues.
Gable kept Erin talking while keeping an ear tuned to her radio.
About the time that dawn was breaking, the questions and answers began getting more and more personal. Gable was nearly hoarse from having to raise her voice half the night. But the rain had stopped, F nally.
“How did you get your name, Gable? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone named that before.”
“My mom really liked old movies, and she named all of us after actors she liked.”
“Oh! Clark Gable! I get it! It’s unusual, but I like it very much,” Erin said. “You said ‘all of us’? I take it you have brothers and sisters?”
“Eight brothers, no sisters. I’m the baby of the family.”
“You have eight older brothers? Oh my. That must have been fun when you were young! Tell me about them. What are their names?”
“Well, there’s Grant, Stewart, Kelly…” Gable counted them out on her F ngers to make sure she got them all. “Flynn, Mason, Wayne, Fitzgerald and Tracy. And we’re all very close. Dad died when I was ten, so they all kind of stepped up. Grant taught me self-defense. Flynn took me F shing and showed me how to shoot a gun. Kelly turned me into a pretty good poker player, and Fitz taught me how to shoot hoops.
With Mason it was whittling and carpentry, and with Wayne it was F xing cars. Stewart’s really good with computers. I’ve learned a lot from them and they’ve all really been there for me. But they are awful overprotective.”
Erin laughed. “Well it was quite different for me growing up. My sister Sue was so much older—twenty years—that she was out of the house before I was born.”
“Did you say twenty years?”
“Yeah, I was a major surprise—Mom was forty when she got pregnant with me. It was like being an only child, really. I was spoiled rotten. Got anything I asked for.”
• 34 •
FORCE OF NATURE
“Okay. Favorite Christmas presents, then,” Gable prompted.
“Hmm. Well, my F rst two-wheeled bicycle, when I was seven.
It was pink. I got a phone in my room, when I was fourteen. And a Mustang convertible—used—after I turned sixteen. That was a memorable one, as you can imagine. And two weeks in Paris, the year I turned eighteen.”
“Pretty cool presents,” Gable agreed. “I never got anything near that good, but then I did do well in the sheer volume category.”
Erin laughed.
“Course, back when we were growing up, a lot of the presents were homemade,” Gable said. “I’d get all sorts of things whittled out of wood or molded out of clay. Homemade kites. Vases that couldn’t hold water. Wallets made at summer camp. But the boys have all done pretty well for themselves since they got out into the working world, so I’ve been really raking it in the last several years.”
“Part of me, especially as an adult, misses having a lot of siblings,”
Erin said. “Sue is married, with four kids, and lives in Seattle. We hardly ever see each other, and don’t often talk on the phone.”
“That’s a shame. I can’t imagine not being close to my brothers, especially Stewart—he’s only a year older than I am. And Grant, because he took me in and became kind of a second father to me.”
“Grant took you in?” Erin repeated.
“Six years after Dad died of a heart attack, Mom got killed in a car accident,” Gable said, her voice thick with emotion. “Being the only girl, my parents both really doted on me. It was real hard.” She took a deep breath. “Anyway, I was just sixteen. Grant—he’s the oldest—he was married by then and had a house. He took care of me until I went away to college, and he and the rest of my brothers all chipped in to pay for my tuition and dorm. I don’t know how I’d have come through it without ’em.”
“It’s wonderful to have people in your life who you know will be there when you need them.”
“Sure is,” Gable agreed.
“I certainly needed you tonight,” Erin said. “And I won’t forget all you’ve done, Gable.”
Gable smiled at the words. She knew that she and Erin were building a very special friendship tonight. And the thought warmed her from within.
• 35 •
Поиск по сайту: