John Irving - The Cider House Rules

Olive Worthington had mentioned that Homer was taking driving lessons from Wally and swimming lessons from Candy-the latter in the Haven Club's heated pool. The latter-swimming lessons from that girl! – made Larch growl, and he concluded his cautionary advice about Homer's heart with the suggestion that Homer 'take it easy with the swimming.'

Dr. Larch did not share Olive Worthington's opinion that 'every boy should know how to drive and swim'; Dr. Larch could do neither.

'Here in St. Cloud's,' he wrote, to himself, 'it is imperative to have good obstetrical procedure, and to be able to perform a dilatation and curettage. In other parts of the world, they learn how to drive and swim!'

He showed Olive Worthington's letter to Nurse Angela and Nurse Edna, who both wept over it. They were of the opinion that Mrs. Worthington sounded 'charminG' and 'warm' and 'intelligent,' but Larch grumbled how it was strange that Mr. Worthington was so little in view; what was the matter with him? 'What's his wife running the farm for?' Larch asked his nurses, who both scolded him for his readiness to assume there was something wrong whenever a woman was in charge of anything. They reminded him that he had an appointment with Melony.

Melony had been working herself into a proper state of mind for her meeting with Dr. Larch. She prepared herself by lying in her bed and reading over and over again the inscription she had written in the stolen copy of Little Dorrit:

TO HOMER 'SUNSHINE' WELLS {282}

FOR THE PROMISE

YOU MADE ME

LOVE, MELONY

Then she tried, again and again, to begin the book through her angry tears.

The image of the staring, blazing sun in Marseilles -the oppressive glare-was both dazzling and mystifying to Melony. What experience did she have to help her comprehend a sun of that brightness? And the coincidence of so much sunshine (considering her nickname for Homer Wells) was too much for her. She read, got lost, began again, got lost again; she grew angrier and angrier.

Then she looked in her canvas bag of toilet articles and saw that the horn-rim barrette, which Mary Agnes had stolen from Candy-and which Melony had snatched out of Mary Agnes's hair and taken for herself-had been stolen again. She marched to Mary Agnes Cork's bed and retrieved the elegant barrette from under Mary Agnes's pillow. Melony's hair was cropped too short for her to be able to use the barrette, which she was not exactly sure how to use, anyway. She jammed it into her jeans' pocket; this was uncomfortable-her jeans were so tight. She went into the girls' shower room, where Mary Agnes Cork was washing her hair, and she turned the hot water up so hot that Mary Agnes was nearly scalded. Mary Agnes flung herself out of the shower; she lay red and writhing on the floor, where Melony twisted her arm behind her back and then stepped with all her weight on Mary Agnes's shoulder. Melony didn't mean to break anything; she was repelled by the sound of Mary Agnes's collarbone giving way, and she stepped quickly away from the younger girl-whose naked body turned from very red to very white. She lay on the shower room floor, shivering and moaning, not daring to move.

'Get dressed and I'll take you to the hospital,' Melony said. 'You broke something.' {283}

Mary Agnes trembled. 'I can't move,' she whispered.

'I didn't mean to,' Melony said, 'but I told you to keep outta my stuff.'

'Your hair's too short,' Mary Agnes said. 'You can't wear it, anyway.'

'You want me to break something else?' Melony asked the girl.

Mary Agnes tried to shake her head, but she stopped. 'I can't move,' she repeated. When Melony bent over to help her up, Mary Agnes screamed, 'Don't touch me!'

'Suit yourself,' Melony said, leaving her there. 'Just keep outta my stuff.'

In the lobby of the girls' division, on her way to her meeting with Dr. Larch, Melony told Mrs. Grogan that Mary Agnes had 'broken something.' Mrs. Grogan naturally assumed that Melony meant that Mary Agnes had broken a lamp, or a window, or even a bed,

'How are you liking the book, dear?' Mrs Grogan asked Melony, who always carried Little Dorrit with her; she'd not been able to get past the first page.

'It starts kinda slow,' said Melony.

When she got to Nurse Angela's office, where Dr. Larch was waiting for her, she was slightly out of breath and sweating.

'What's the book?' Dr. Larch asked her.

'Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens,' Melony said; she felt the barrette bite into her leg when she sat down.

'Where'd you get it?' Dr. Larch asked her.

'It was a gift,' Melony said-which was not exactly a lie.

'That's nice,' said Wilbur Larch.

Melony shrugged. 'It starts kinda slow,' she said.

They eyed each other for a moment, cautiously. Larch smiled a little. Melony tried to smile but she was unsure how this looked on her face-so she stopped. She shifted in the chair; the barrette in her pocket hurt her a little less.

'He's not coming back, is he? Melony asked Dr. Larch, {284} who regarded her with the respect and wariness you feel for someone who has read your mind.

'He has a summer job,' Larch said. 'Of course, some other opportunity might develop.'

Melony shrugged. 'He might go to school, I suppose,' she said.

'Oh, I hope so!' Larch said.

'I suppose you want him to be a doctor,' Melony said.

Larch shrugged. It was his turn to feign indifference. 'If he wants to be,' he said.

'I broke someone's arm, once,' Melony said. 'Or maybe it was something in the chest.'

'The chest?' Larch asked. 'When did you do this?'

'Not too long ago,' Melony said. 'Pretty recently. I didn't mean to.'

'How did it happen?' Dr. Larch asked her.

'I twisted her arm behind her back-she was on the floor-and then I stepped on her shoulder, the same shoulder of the arm I twisted.'

'Ouch,' said Dr. Larch. I

'I heard it,' Melony said. 'Her arm or her chest.'

'Perhaps her collarbone,' Larch suggested. Given the position, he guessed it would be the collarbone.

'Well, whatever it was, I heard it,' Melony said.

'How did that make you feel?' Wilbur Larch asked Melony, who shrugged.

'I don't know,' Melony said. 'Sick, I guess, but strong,' she added. 'Sick and strong,' she said.

'Perhaps you'd like to have more to do?' Larch asked her.

'Here?' Melony asked.

'Well, here, yes,' Larch said. 'I could find more things for you to do here-more important things. Of course, I could also inquire for you about jobs-outside, I mean. Away from here.'

'You want me to go, or do more chores, is that it?'

'I don't want you to do anything you don't want to do. You told me you didn't want to leave, once-and I'll {285} never force you. It's just that I thought you might be looking for a change.'

'You don't like how I read, huh?' Melony asked. 'Is that it?'

'No!' Dr. Larch said. 'I want you to keep reading, but that's only one of the things you might do here.'

'You want me to do what Homer Wells did?'

'Homer did a lot of studying,' Dr. Larch said. 'Perhaps you could assist Nurse Angela and Nurse Edna, and me. Perhaps you'd be interested in just observing-to see if you liked it.'

'I think it's sick,' Melony said.

'You disapprove?' Larch asked, but Melony looked genuinely puzzled.

'What?' she asked.

'You don't believe we should perform the abortions, is that it?' Larch asked. 'You don't believe in terminating a birth, in aborting the fetus?'

Melony shrugged. 'I just think it would make me sick,' she repeated. 'Delivering babies-yuck,' she said. 'And cutting babies out of people-yuck, again.'

Larch was confused. 'But it's not that you think it's wrong?' he asked.

'What's wrong about it?' she asked him. 'I think it's sick. Blood, people leaking stuff out of their bodies – sick,' Melony said. 'It smells bad around here,' she added, meaning the hospital air-the aura of ether, the scent of old blood.