american tragedy

Chapter 52

Chapter 218
The exciting scene of this meeting was only the beginning of their future friendship and happiness.Clyde and Roberta thought so, they had found love, and they were so happy that they had no time to worry about the problems that this particular manifestation of love might cause.However, how to continue to love each other? That is another matter.For Clyde, Roberta's relationship with the Newtons was a stumbling block in their relationship.Another stumbling block is Grace Marr, who is much worse than Roberta.This is not because of her ugly appearance, but because of the narrow education she received in her early years.But she also wants to be happy and free.In her opinion, although Roberta sometimes likes to have fun and is a bit conceited, she still doesn't violate the traditional ideas in her heart. She thinks that she has found this Roberta, and she has found a person who is not very affected by traditional ideas. bound people.And because of that, she clings to her, which, in Roberta's opinion, is kind of boring.Grace thought that the two of them could exchange views on everything, and so far this was the only comfort she could find in this gray world.

But long before Clyde and her dated, Roberta didn't want them to stick together like this.Afterwards, she never mentioned anything about Clyde to Grace.Because, she didn't know what Grace thought about her sudden change of heart. Now that she met him and fell in love with him, she was afraid to think about the limit of the relationship she should keep with him.This kind of unequal status is not allowed here.She knew it was, so she didn't want to mention him to Grace at all.

So, on the Monday night after that incident on the lake on Sunday, when Grace squinted at her and said:

"He's so kind, I think he's taken a fancy to you."

"Oh, nonsense," replied Roberta warily, and at the same time, a little surprised, "he won't look at me, and besides, the factory rules are very strict. As long as I work in the factory for a day, I am not allowed to so."

That last sentence worked more than anything, enough to dispel Grace's suspicions about the relationship between Clyde and Roberta, because the conventional wisdom was so deep that no one could think of breaking the company's rules.Even so, Roberta was concerned that Grace would not think she was having an affair with Clyde, so she decided that whenever Clyde was involved, she would be careful to pretend that they were distant.

But this was only the beginning of some later troubles, which had nothing to do with the past, but were caused by subsequent troubles.After she fell in love with Clyde, she discovered that the only way to meet him was by a tryst. Moreover, the chance of a tryst was so rare that even when the next time they would meet was unknown.

"I'll tell you, it's the way it is," she explained to Clyde.This was what she told him a few nights later when she sneaked out to spend an hour with him.The two of them walked from the end of Taylor Street toward the Mohawk River, where there were open fields and pretty banks and low banks. "Wherever the Newtons went, I was invited to go with them. And, even when they didn't, Grace never went unless I went too. We used to be together a lot in Tribez Mills, so she It’s still like that now, it’s like a part of our family. It’s different now, but I can’t shake it off. I can’t explain to people where I’ve been or who I’m hanging out with.”

"Honey, I understand," he replied sweetly in a low voice, "it's all true, but our current problems still can't be solved, can't we? You can't let me just visit you in the factory."

He looked at her so earnestly and longingly that she felt sympathy for him too.To comfort him, she said, "No, I don't want you either, my dear. But what can I do?" She laid a tender, earnest hand on Clyde's long, thin one.

"I have an idea," she said after a moment's thought. "I have a sister who lives in Homer, New York. About 35 miles north. Maybe, I can go there some Saturday afternoon or Sunday. She wrote and asked me to go, but I never remembered. But I might go . . . maybe."

"Why not?" Clyde exclaimed excitedly. "That's great! What a way!"

"Let me think about it," she went on, ignoring him. "If I remember correctly, we should go to Fonda first and change trains there. However, we can take the tram anytime here. Fonda only has two trains at two o'clock and six or seven o'clock. That is, I can go at Leave here anytime before two o'clock, can't you? I can take the seven o'clock bus, you can go there first, or meet me halfway, so people here don't see us. Then, you can continue onwards Go, or come back. I believe I can make an arrangement with Agnes that I must write her a letter."

"But, before that, what should we do? This period of time is not short!"

"I've got to figure it out, but I'm not sure, dear, we'll all think again. But now I'm going back." She stood up, and Clyde had to follow, the hour hand on the watch pointing to ten o'clock.

"But what shall we do?" he went on, "why can't you find an excuse on Sunday, say, to go to another church and see me, and must you tell them?"

Roberta's face darkened.His words violated the inviolable belief she had formed since she was a child.

"That's not allowed." She refused with a serious expression, "It shouldn't be."

Clyde immediately stopped insisting, he was afraid of making her angry, "Ah, well, I will do as you said, but I just said that because you really can't think of any way."

"Don't do this, honey, don't do this," she begged him softly, because she knew he thought she was angry. "It's nothing, it's just that I don't want to do that, I can't do it!"

Clyde shook his head, thinking of the set of rules he learned when he was young, and felt that he really shouldn't have said that just now.

They walked toward Taylor Street, thinking of nothing good to do except talk about going to Fonda.He kissed her several times, and suggested that they both consider some way of seeing each other before then.She put her arms around his neck for a while, and then walked east along Taylor Street, and the delicate shadow disappeared in the moonlight.

Only one night did Roberta push that she had made an appointment with Braley to come to her house the next day.Only then did I meet Clyde again, and after that, I never met again.On Saturday, Clyde figured out the exact time, and immediately set off by tram, and met Roberta at the first stop westward, until the car came back at seven o'clock in the evening. During this time, they were inseparable, and they Hanging around the small town that both of them are very unfamiliar with, having a great time.

A few miles near Fonda, there is a fairground called Starlight.There's a lot of rambunctious stuff there, like little airplanes, big windmills, rotary machines, old windmills, and dance halls and all that stuff.There is a small lake for boating, which is a bit idyllic.There is a mini music station on an island in the middle of the lake, and there is a funny big bear in a cage on the shore.Roberta hadn't been to such a vulgar playground since she came to Lycurgus, and the rest of the place was much the same, and a little more vulgar.They saw this place and shouted in unison, "Look, look!" Clyde said, "Let's get off here, it's not far from Fonda anyway."

They got out of the car and put away her purse, Clyde going ahead to the sausage stand.He made Roberta play with him on the spinning wheel, and they climbed up, and he put her on a zebra, and stood close to her with his arms around her, and they both clung to the brass rings as best they could.Although everything here is so vulgar and noisy, he can finally play with her to his heart's content, not afraid of being seen by others, and she is the same, playing like crazy and happily.They kept turning on the noisy rotary machine, watching the tourists boating on the lake, watching the small blue and yellow planes flying around, and the hanging cage of the big windmill-style car turning over and over again.

They looked at the sky in the woods by the lake.Clyde asked suddenly, "Are you dancing, Roberta?"

"Oh no, I won't," said Roberta regretfully.She also looked at the happy couples in the ballroom, feeling very uncomfortable.Her church considered it unseemly to dance, but why couldn't she and Clyde, young men in love, do it? What fun they had in the little blue-brown house!

Clyde exclaimed: "What a pity!" He thought how happy he would be if he could dance with Roberta in his arms. "It would be great if you could dance! I'll teach you, and you'll learn it in a moment."

"I won't," she said deliberately, but her eyes clearly said that she was in favor of the idea. "I'm not very good at this aspect. My hometown regards dancing as a shameful thing. Our church also opposes dancing. My parents won't let me dance."

Clyde said, "Come on, Roberta, pretty much everybody dances now, and what's wrong with dancing?"

"Oh, I know, people of your class may be like this, and I know that girls in the factory all dance. I think, as long as you have money and status, you can do anything, but I am different. You Are your parents not as strict as mine?"

"Really?" Clyde laughed when he noticed the words "people of your class" and "as long as you have money and status" in her words.

He went on: "You may think so, but my parents were tougher and I didn't miss it? It's really okay, come on, Roberta."

He put one arm around her waist and looked into her eyes.Roberta agreed with half-push and half-satisfaction.

The rotary machine stopped, and they walked towards the ballroom.There are not many people dancing there, but they dance very vigorously.A small band was playing foxtrot and step.At the other end of the ballroom, at the railing, there was a handsome ticket inspector collecting tickets, a dime a time for a pair of dancers.Everything here deeply moved Clyde and Roberta.

The music stopped and the partners went out.Dance tickets for five cents apiece are on sale again.

Clyde led her to the ticket counter, and Roberta said, "I don't think I can do it. It's going to be ugly. I've never done it."

"Nonsense, why can't you dance well? You are so beautiful and generous, you must be the best dancer, and you will know later."

After paying, they went in.

Clyde took her into a corner and showed her the movements involved, which were not difficult at all, and Roberta was very talented, learned and attentive, and soon mastered them.As soon as the music started, Clyde held her in his arms, and she walked briskly. They cooperated perfectly and danced in perfect harmony.

"Oh, dear," he whispered, "you're wonderful, you've learned it, and danced so well! I can't believe it."

They danced again and again until the music stopped.Roberta was as happy as drunk.She danced just now! And she danced so beautifully, and with Clyde! He was so handsome, and none of the boys in the room could compare with him.He also felt that he had never met anyone so lovely as Roberta.She was so cheerful, so tender, and she was definitely not a bad woman who deliberately seduced him.As for that Sandra Finchley, if you ignored him, forget her.

At 05:30, the band stopped playing and put up a sign saying "The next show starts at 07:30".After they finished their meal, they took a bus to Fonda Railway Station in a hurry.

On the way, Clyde and Roberta made detailed plans for how to arrange tomorrow's activities.Tomorrow, Roberta is going back.He could come here from Lycurgos to find her if she had set off from her sister sooner.They could play in Fonda at least until eleven o'clock, when the last train south from Homer arrived, and she was supposed to be on that train.At the same time, if they don't meet any acquaintances on the car back to Lycurgus, they can go back together.

Then they met as planned, and they walked and talked on the outskirts of the city, and Roberta told Clyde some stories of their Biltz family life.

The biggest problem they are currently facing is how to continue their relationship.Although Clyde wanted to be with her wholeheartedly, he couldn't think of anything really useful.

But she knew that it was not easy to come up with a practical solution. It would be impossible to consider going to see her sister in Homer or Biltz's parents within a month.But what better way?

(End of this chapter)