Show ME lON WILL OF THE NI WIND I 1 by WILLIAM BRANDON M MRS RS HACKETT found her in the bedroom crying she stood in the doorway and said grimly I 1 came in to borrow some sugar sylvie the door was open so I 1 just walked in now what on earth s wrong with you sylvia sat up and dried her eyes her starched g engham skirt was wrinkled and her black hair was tangled and disordered A curling strand ol 01 it hung down beside her nose like an ink stain A pin pm had come out of her imitation uni tation lace collar and it had fallen down to catch in the red buckle at her waist she said shakily hello mrs hackett N ething mrs hackett drew down the cor ners of her mouth nothing my foot loot it s because of chip wanting to pull up stakes and go to canton isn t it of course it Is sylvia slapped the lock ot of hair out of her eyes I 1 won t be a boomer a wife wifel she flared I 1 won ti t mm mrs hackett said sourly A boy s will Is the wind s will that s a poem its it s the truest thing in the world don t do no good to fight light against it remember that and you 11 R have it easier I 1 won t be a boomer s ab boom er 3 wifel wife I 1 I 1 won t drag around to one mill after another all my life and never have anything no home and no no noth nothing ingI I 1 I 1 won tl ti well it s his job ob it he wants to throw it away it isn tl ti its it s just as much mine as it Is fisl I 1 don t believe in that old idea that a woman a just a a slave to follow a man ar around aund at whatever be he happens to want to do dol oh you don t mrs hackett said and just what can you do about it sylvia bowed her head I 1 an and d scrubbed rubbed ec unhappily at her che cheeks S with her handkerchief I 1 don t know she sobbed of course you don t you re noth tag ing but a child mrs hackett sniffed you d be twenty years finding out what to do and by that time it s too late to do you any good unless there s somebody around to tell you to begin with somebody j who mows sylvia was not impressed whai could you tell me mrs hackett what could anyone do I 1 ve argued with him until I 1 m almost crazy but he he doesn doean t even listen any more he s got his mind set on moving on to something different that won t be any different at all and then hell he want to go again and A boy s will is the wind a will said mrs hackett that s what the poem says it 3 just as true of a man or an old man for that matter the older they get the truer it gets I 1 reckon only they kind of give up trying to do any thing about it after so long a time she pushed up her lower hp lip and looked down her nose at sylvia like ike mr hackett sylvia looked up startled you mean mr hackett used to want to he was the hardest man to hold down in this town he got tired of everything that was his trouble it a a sort of laziness that s all it is but he stuck here he stuck au all right I 1 why sylvia walled wailed what did you do doa well mrs hackett said you can take it for what it its s worth sylvia it worked with mr hackett I 1 know that but what was it if whenever he worked himself up to a pitch about cutting loose and chasing away some place after something he thought was better I 1 simply gave him his way sylvia looked disappointed and puzzled oh but mrs hackett said profoundly he dian didn t know it I 1 took him on a trip just a week or so and I 1 kept him on the jump every minute of it I 1 always liked little trips around anyway well by the time that man would get home agam again he d be so tired of jumping around that be he wouldn t have left xa a r S 11 0 10 M 4 tl X fa 41 0 1 no I 1 1 00 alij 4 they went up into michigan west to nis cousin down through blinne minnesota sota and iowa and st louis to memphis tor for a pension that mrs hackett said is something you find out about men sylvia they like to start but they like getting back a whole lot more sylvia said doubtfully it doesn t sound like chip would maybe he wouldn t I 1 in the last person in the world to try to give folks advice sylvia nobody wants it and I 1 guess everyone has to sew his own seam anyway but mr hackett says they re shutting down for a week for the millwright a gang and it if chip was to spend that week in a car bouncing along from one place to another without even a chance change to catch his breath well a boy s will is the wind s will I 1 and the wind can change la in a mm ute but whal what if he wouldn t want to go mm mill you tell him you want a little vacation before you move to canton if he thinks you ve given in about that he 11 take you you try it and see they went up into michigan west to wisconsin down through minnesota and iowa and st louis to mem aphis east to knoxville and up through louisville to come home they were gone six days each dal da sylvia had them up and driving a daylight and she kept on the iob job circuiting the sights at the next stop until late at night she called chip to stop often at roadside standi where she purchased carved orna ments and bumpy pottery she plied him with hot dogs sot drinks and bad coffee she was SUP sur and delighted at the glazed look that appeared in his eyes or the third day mrs hackett came over the daj day after they returned she said well and paused expectantly holding the cup of sugar in bott hands he went back to 0 o work today sylvia said there was a listless list lesi note in her voice he chasn t said anything about going to canton for days mm and what did he say when he got home she pursed her lips that he never thought it would look so good to him sylvia nodded she sat down on a kitchen chair and swung one fool and watched it pensively just ex acely she said you wont won t even be able to get him to stir out of the house to a pic pie ture show for a month I 1 told you wind s will that s the poem they re all alike she put the cup of sugar on the kitchen cabinet and looked at sylvia and frowned but I 1 wouldn t say you look so happy about it sylvie but you re tired sylvia stopped swinging lier foot and rested her chin on her hands she sighed and said only of this town I 1 guess I 1 was lust just thinking when we came back and it looked so so old and so shabby and dull and tiresome and I 1 thought that we U 11 spend all our lives here I 1 mrs hackett drew back and re carded her and then said again de pensively fen you re just tired sylvie sylvia looked up and her eyes were sparkling but I 1 in not she said I 1 had a wonderful time |