John Irving - The Cider House Rules

Homer Wells regretted his timing; before he could close the delivery room door, Curly Day began his 'Dead!' chant all over again.

Curly Day possessed the kind of restlessness that would always lead him to unwanted discoveries. He had tired of dragging David Copperfield around in the enema-bag carton, and therefore he had conceived of launching {221} young Copperfield (in the carton) off the loading platform at the boys' division delivery entrance. It had been a struggle to get the carton and Copperfield up the ramp; but once elevated above the little-used driveway and the tall weeds, Curly imagined that Copperfield nnight be taught how to almost fly. Surely it wasn't such a high drop; in the carton, especially, it wouldn't be much of a fall. And the weedy hill that sloped away from the loading platform would probably allow the enema-bag carton to slide. Curly did foresee the possible damage to the carton-the destruction of which would leave him in the company of David Copperfield, all alone, and the prospect of Copperfield without a carton or another plaything was powerfully boring. But Curly was already tired of the possible uses of Copperfield with (or in) the carton; he had exhausted the safe things there; were to do, and Copperfield was not complaining. Copperfield didn't know he was on the brink of the loading platform; he couldn't see over the sides of the carton. When Curly pushed the carton and Copperfield over the edge, he was careful to keep the carton in an upright position, thus preventing Copperfield from landing on his head. The carton landed on one corner, which collapsed; and young Copperfield was propelled down the bank of tall weeds. Like an unsteady chick staggering out of its shell, he came briefly to his feet before he fell and rolled, again and again. From the platform, Curly Day watched the weeds waving at him; if the weeds indicated Copperfield's whereabouts, they were too tall for Curly to actually see Copperfield.

Copperfield was not injured, but he was disoriented. He couldn't see Curly, and he couldn't see the carton -which he'd grown rather fond of. When he stopped rolling, he tried to stand, but dizziness, in combination with the uneven ground, unbalanced him, and he sat down. What he sat on was something hard and round, like a stone, but when he looked at what it was, he saw it was the stationmaster's head-face up, eyes {222} open, a strangely accepting terror in the frozen expression.

An older child, or even an adult, might have been upset at sitting on the dead stationmaster's face, but young David Copperfield viewed it much as he viewed the rest of the world: with more curiosity than surprise. However, when he touched the face and felt its coldness, the correctness of the child's sensibilities was apparent: the coldness was surely wrong. Young Copperfield leaped away, rolled, came to his feet, ran, fell, rolled again. Finally on his feet, he began to yelp like a dog. Curly Day began to track him through the tall weeds.

'Hang on, hang on, don't get excited!' Curly called to the boy, but Copperfield ran and fell in circles, barking strangely. 'Stay in one place so I can find you!' Curly yelled. He stepped on something that rolled under his shoe; it felt like a freshly fallen branch that had not yet settled into the ground; it was the stationmaster's arm. In an attempt to catch his balance, Curly put his hand on the stationmaster's chest. The wide-eyed, unflinching face, which the tall weeds sheltered from the wind, stared past Curly, undisturbed. And then, in the plot of weeds, there were two barking dogs, who moved as if trapped in a maze. It was a testimony to something basically brave and responsible in Curly Day that the boy did not bolt from the weeds until he found David Copperfield.

Melony, at her window, watched the inexplicable thrashing through the weeds; at any time, she could have yelled out to Curly Day and told him the whereabouts of David Copperfield-she could see by the movement of the weeds which yelping animal was where. But she let them fend for themselves. Only when Curly Day was dragging young Copperfield up the driveway, around the boys' division toward the hospital entrance, did Melony feel inclined to comment.

'Hey, Curly, your shoes are on the wrong feet!'Melony called. 'You jerk!' But the wind was too strong. Curly {223} couldn't hear her; she couldn't hear what Curly was yelling. She spoke just one more word out the window, to no one in particular; she felt that the wind allowed her to say exactly what she felt, from the heart, as loudly as she chose, although she did not even bother to speak loudly. 'Boring,' she said.

But things became more interesting to Melony when Wilbur Larch and Homer Wells-and Nurse Edna and Nurse Angela-appeared in the driveway by the boys' division delivery entrance. They were clearly searching the plot of tall weeds.

'What are you looking for?' Melony yelled out the window, but either the noise of the wind or the intentness with which the searchers plunged through the weeds caused her question to be ignored. She decided to go see for herself.

Melony felt uneasy about the way this day was developing, but at the same time she felt grateful that something seemed to be happening-that anything at all was happening was vaguely all right with Melony.

This was not a feeling shared by either Candy Kendall or Wally Worthington, who for the last three hours had maintained an awkward silence-their sense of anticipation was too keen to conceal with conversation. It had still been dark when they'd left the coast at Heart's Haven and ventured inland-away from the wind, although the wind was still surprisingly strong. Wally had studied the map so excessively the night before that the white Cadillac moved as purposefully away from the sea as an oyster or its pearl washing resolutely ashore. It was really too windy, even inland, for the top to be down, but Wally preferred the Cadillac when it was a proper convertible, and also-with the top down, with the rush of the wind so noisy in the car-the absence of conversation between him and Candy was less obtrusive. Candy preferred it, too; her honey-blond hair was all around her face-such wild swirls of hair surrounded her face at times that she knew Wally couldn't see her {224} expression. Wally knew what her expression was, anyway; he knew her very well.

Wally glanced at the unread book in Candy's lap; she picked it up to read every so often, but when she returned the book to her lap, the same page was dog-eared. The book was Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens. It was required summer reading for all the girls in Candy's would-be graduating class; Candy had begun it four or five times, but she had no idea what the book was about, or whether she even liked it.

Wally, who was no reader, didn't bother to notice the name of the book; he just watched the same dog-eared page and thought about Candy. He was also thinking about St. Cloud's. He was already (in his mind) through the abortion; Candy was recovering nicely; the doctor was telling jokes; all the nurses were laughing. There were enough nurses to win a war, in Wally's imagination. All of them were young and pretty. And the orphans were amusing little tykes, with the appropriate gaps in their toothy smiles.

In the trunk of Senior Worthington's gliding Cadillac, Wally had three apple crates crammed full of goodies for the orphans. If it had been the proper season, he would have brought them apples and cider; in the spring there weren't any fresh apples, and there wasn't any cider, but Wally had provided the next best thing-in his opinion. He had loaded the Cadillac with jars and jars of the Worthingtons' best apple-cider jelly and crab-apple jelly, and with half-gallon jugs of Ira Titcomb's best apple-blossom honey. He imagined arriving for this abortion like Santa Glaus (an unfortunate image, if one considered Wilbur Larch's memory of the abortion place 'Off Harrison').