The Night Travellers

18. More Fred

18 More Fred Following his wonderful encounter in Atlanta with the shimmering lady from North Carolina, Fred Davis had frequent recourse to the long-distance telephone. Finally, he visited Kingsbury. Kate took him to the club and invited Jane to dinner along with a bachelor librarian, Jane's routine escort, and two other friends, chosen with care. Everyone said that Fred was an attractive man and they liked him very much. The vandalism at the lab had by then taken place. Kate recounted it to Fred with despairing tears in her eyelashes, and he brimmed with sympathy and shock. She did not, however, mention her daughter in this connection, or Jefferson Blaise. Mary Kerr was known to be dancing away at Winston. Neither by letter nor telephone did she mention Jeff. Kate assumed he had been refused a chance to teach there; she had done her best to block him. Ethan put out the word that Jeff would soon be travelling to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to work more closely with the Movement. He belonged with the student elite which Ethan envisioned as the hope of America. Someone else reported that he wasto join agroup invited to Washington at the request of certain senators. Kate pondered. He would no doubt leave. Twice she thought she saw him, walking away at twilight, turning up a dark street. Mary Kerr hymned the praises of her new hero. "I never knew what a great person was before, or a really great dancer, either. I won't ever go back to ballet." "But what's it like?" Kate asked. Mary Kerr said it had to be seen, not described. It was free, she added. It was inward-looking, too. When you watched it, you were looking in on something, an expres94 The Home Scene 95 sion of feeling. Ballet faced outward, showed itself off. That was the difference. Kate was mystified. Mary Kerr sent out programs for the closing performance. The time had passed so fast. Kate shared them with Fred Davis, who was there for his second visit. Mary Kerr was listed to appear in two numbers: "Fantasy in F" and "Hymn to Motherhood." Kate was only a little wary, being happy in the company of Fred Davis. "Why, let's go up and see her," he suggested. "Two weeks from now, 111 come and well bring her back with us. If she's not ready yet, we can at least take her out to dinner, get acquainted a little." Not even the damage to the lab could keep Kate in those days from wanting to smile. She was often hastening to the door for a box of flowers or a special-delivery letter; more than twice a week the interesting calls came through. At my age: imagine, she would think. "If you still want to come for her program," she finally agreed, "I believe it's all right with her." With one another, they talked of nothing so much as daughters. His own (Esme, named on his ex-wife's whim out of a story byJ. D. Salinger) had had a runaway early marriage, a disaster, then had met a nice solid fellow who owned a ski resort in the Sierras. Had little interest in skiing but enjoyed life there, two children, boy and girl. Only trouble seemed to be that Fred's ex-wife, frequently visiting her daughter, made something of a nuisance of herself, picking up undesirable friends. But he personally . . . bad times with the daughter ? No, not really. Nothing understanding and patience would not resolve. "Persist," was his advice to Kate. "Reason." Kate said she had tried. She changed the subject. They agreed these were especially difficult times. On the drive up to Winston, Kate said, "It's just this boy. Not even really a boy. He's older, I mean. Jeff Blaise." The subject stuck to her once she got into it. She found it hard to shake loose. She tried to tell only a little. "But if he's here and there reforming the country, you can't be finding him so much of a nuisance, I would think." "He's frightening. Oh, not to me personally. I mean . . . he's into all these frightening things. No control." "What about his draft number coming up?" "Oh, that's easy. They're all defying that. So would he." They arrived at Winston and ate an early dinner in the ancient [3.145.93.210] Project MUSE (2024-04-26...