Prev | Current Page 213 | Next

Blackwood, Algernon, 1869-1951

"The Extra Day"

Maria's eyes were closed
so tightly that her entire face seemed closed. The pause drew out.
"Yes, but where does everything come from?" inquired Tim calmly.
He valued the lengthy explanation at just exactly--nothing!
"Because there simply must be a beginning somewhere," added Judy.
They were at the starting-point again. They had merely made a circle.
And Uncle Felix found himself in difficulties of his own creating.
Where everything came from puzzled him as much as it puzzled the
children, or the looper caterpillar that was now crawling from his
flannel collar to his neck and contemplating the thicket of his dense
back hair. Why ask these terrible questions? he thought, as he looked
around at the sunshine and the trees. Life would be no happier if he
knew. Since everything was already here, going along quite pleasantly
and usefully, it really couldn't help matters much to know precisely
where it all came from. Possibly not. But it would have helped him
enormously in his relations with the children--his particular world at
the moment--if he could have provided them with a satisfactory
explanation. And he knew quite well what they expected from him.


Pages:
201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225