The Turmoil - Booth Tarkington (good books to read for 12 year olds .txt) š
- Author: Booth Tarkington
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Bibbsās face was as white as his fatherās, but he kept remembering that splendid look of Maryās which he had told her would give him courage in a struggle, so that he would never give up.
āNo. You canāt have your way,ā he said. And then, obeying a significant motion of Gurneyās head, he went out quickly, leaving them struggling.
XXVIIMrs. Sheridan, in a wrapper, noiselessly opened the door of her husbandās room at daybreak the next morning, and peered within the darkened chamber. At the old house they had shared a room, but the architect had chosen to separate them at the New, and they had not known how to formulate an objection, although to both of them something seemed vaguely reprehensible in the new arrangement.
Sheridan did not stir, and she was withdrawing her head from the aperture when he spoke.
āOh, Iām awake! Come in, if you want to, and shut the door.ā
She came and sat by the bed. āI woke up thinkinā about it,ā she explained. āAnd the more I thought about it the surer I got I must be right, and I knew youād be tormentinā yourself if you was awake, soā āwell, you got plenty other troubles, but Iām just sure you aināt goinā to have the worry with Bibbs it looks like.ā
āYou bet I aināt!ā he grunted.
āLook how biddable he was about goinā back to the Works,ā she continued. āHeās a right good-hearted boy, really, and sometimes I honestly have to say he seems right smart, too. Now and then heāll say something sounds right bright. āCourse, most always it doesnāt, and a good deal of the time, when he says things, why, I have to feel glad we havenāt got company, because theyād think he didnāt have any gumption at all. Yet, look at the way he did when Jimā āwhen Jim got hurt. He took right hold oā things. āCourse heād been sick himself so much and allā āand the rest of us never had, much, and we were kind oā green about what to do in that kind oā troubleā āstill, he did take hold, and everything went off all right; youāll have to say that much, papa. And Dr. Gurney says heās got brains, and you canāt deny but what the doctorās right considerable of a man. He acts sleepy, but thatās only because heās got such a large practiceā āheās a pretty wide-awake kind of a man some ways. Well, what he says last night about Bibbs himself beinā asleep, and how much heād amount to if he ever woke upā āthatās what I got to thinkinā about. You heard him, papa; he says, āBibbsāll be a bigger business man than what Jim and Roscoe was put togetherā āif he ever wakes up,ā he says. Wasnāt that exactly what he says?ā
āI suppose so,ā said Sheridan, without exhibiting any interest. āGurneyās crazierān Bibbs, but if he wasnātā āif what he says was trueā āwhat of it?ā
āListen, papa. Just suppose Bibbs took it into his mind to get married. You know where he goes all the timeā āā
āOh, Lord, yes!ā Sheridan turned over in the bed, his face to the wall, leaving visible of himself only the thick grizzle of his hair. āYou better go back to sleep. He runs over thereā āevery minute sheāll let him, I suppose. Go back to bed. Thereās nothinā in it.ā
āWhy aināt there?ā she urged. āI know betterā āthere is, too! You wait and see. Thereās just one thing in the world thatāll wake the sleepiest young man alive upā āyes, and make him jump upā āand I donāt care who he is or how sound asleep it looks like he is. Thatās when he takes it into his head to pick out some girl and settle down and have a home and chuldern of his own. Then, I guess, heāll go out after the money! Youāll see. Iāve known dozens oā cases, and soāve youā āmoony, no-ācount young men, all notions and talk, goinā to be ministers, maybe or something; and thereās just this one thing takes it out of āem and brings āem right down to business. Well, I never could make out just what it is Bibbs wants to be, really; doesnāt seem he wants to be a minister exactlyā āheās so faraway you canāt tell, and he never saysā ābut I know this is goinā to get him right down to common sense. Now, I donāt say that Bibbs has got the idea in his head yetā āār else he wouldnāt be talkinā that fool-talk about nine dollars a week beinā good enough for him to live on. But itās cominā, papa, and heāll jump for whatever you want to hand him out. He will! And I can tell you this much, too: heāll want all the salary and stock he can get hold of, and heāll hustle to keep gettinā more. That girlās the kind that a young husband just goes crazy to give things to! Sheās pretty and fine-lookinā, and things look nice on her, and I guess sheād like to have āem about as well as the next. And I guess she isnāt gettinā many these days, either, and sheāll be pretty ready for the change. I saw her with her sleeves rolled up at the kitchen window the other day, and Jackson told me yesterday their cook left two weeks ago, and they havenāt tried to hire another one. He says her and her mother been doinā the housework a good while, and now theyāre doinā the cookin,ā too. āCourse Bibbs wouldnāt know that unless sheās told him, and I reckon
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