Our Mr. Wrenn: The Romantic Adventures of a Gentle ManLewis, Sinclair
General
Our Mr. Wrenn: The Romantic Adventures of a Gentle Man
Lewis, Sinclair
Courtship -- Fiction; Love stories; Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; Middle-aged men -- United States -- Fiction
Mr. Wrenn went to the bathroom, turned on the cold-water tap, returned,
and undressed Charley, who struggled and laughed and let his whole
inert weight rest against Mr. Wrenn’s shoulder. Though normally Charley
could have beaten three Mr. Wrenns, he was run into the bath-room and
poked into the tub.
Instantly he began to splash, throwing up water in handfuls, singing.
The water poured over the side of the tub. Mr. Wrenn tried to hold him
still, but the wet sleek shoulders slipped through his hand like a wet
platter. Wholesomely vexed, he turned off the water and slammed the
bathroom door.
In the bedroom he found an unwrinkled winter-weight suit and one clean
shirt. In the living-room he hung up his coat, covering it with a
newspaper, pulled the broom from under the table, and prepared to
sweep.
The disorder was so great that he made one of the inevitable
discoveries of every housekeeper, and admitted to himself that he
“didn’t know where to begin.” He stumblingly lugged a heavy pile of
dishes from the center-table to the kitchen, shook and beat and folded
the table-cover, stuck the chairs atop the table, and began to sweep.
At the door a shining wet naked figure stood, bellowing:
“Hey! What d’ yuh think you’re doing? Cut it out.”
“Just sweeping, Charley,” from Mr. Wrenn, and an uninterrupted “Tuff,
tuff, tuff” from the broom.
“Cut it out, I said. Whose house _is_ this?”
“Gwan back in the bath-tub, Charley.”
“Say, d’ yuh think you can run me? Get out of this, or I’ll throw you
out. Got house way I want it.”
Bill Wrenn, the cattleman, rushed at him, smacked him with the broom,
drove him back into the tub, and waited. He laughed. It was all a good
joke; his friend Charley and he were playing a little game. Charley
also laughed and splashed some more. Then he wept and said that the
water was cold, and that he was now deserted by his only friend.
“Oh, shut up,” remarked Bill Wrenn, and swept the bathroom floor.
Charley stopped swashing about to sneer:
“Li’l ministering angel, ain’t you? You think you’re awful good, don’t
you? Come up here and bother me. When I ain’t well. Salvation Army.
You——. Aw, lemme _’lone_, will you?” Bill Wrenn kept on sweeping. “Get
out, you——.”
There was enough energy in Charley’s voice to indicate that he was
getting sober. Bill Wrenn soused him under once more, so thoroughly
that his own cuffs were reduced to a state of flabbiness. He dragged
Charley out, helped him dry himself, and drove him to bed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account