Cora and Benjy
I was looking for something to read lately and I opened "The Golden Apples Of The Sun", a collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury.
Here are excerpts from the "The Great Wide World Over There".
"What's going on in that world out there, oh, I'll never know, I'll never know," she said.
...
Benjy's coming from that world out there; he's seen it, smelt it; he'll tell me about it. And he can write. She looked at her hands. He'll be here a whole month and teach me. Then I can write out into that world and bring it here to the mailbox.
...
Cora was seated in a breathless spell. She watched the pencil behind Benjy's peach-fuzz ear. She saw him finger it casually, lazily, indifferently. Oh, not so casual, Benjy, she thought. Handle it like a spring robin egg. She wanted to touch the pencil, but hadn't touched one in years because it made her feel foolish and then angry and then sad. Her hand twitched in her lap.
...
Cora walked around her mailbox twice, not touching it for a long time. "Benjy, I've got me some letters!" She reached in delicately and took them out and turned them over. She put them quietly in his hand. "Read them to me. Is my name on the front?"
"Yes'm." He opened the first letter with due carefulness and read it aloud in the summer morning:
"'Dear Mrs. Gibbs ...'"
He stopped and let her savor it, her eyes half shut, her mouth moving over the words. He repeated it for artistic emphasis and then went on ...
"Benjy, Benjy, I'm so happy! Start over again!"
"'Dear Mrs. Gibbs ...'"
...
After that the mailbox was never empty. The world came rushing and crowding in, all the places she had never seen or heard about or been to.
The world filled up her letter box, and suddenly she was not alone or remote from people.
...
"Thanks," she said, "for everything." He knew what it meant. He shook her hand.
Are you or do you know a Cora?
Do you want to be a Benjy and open up "The Great Wide World Over There"?
Visit READ/OC.
"What's going on in that world out there, oh, I'll never know, I'll never know," she said.
...
Benjy's coming from that world out there; he's seen it, smelt it; he'll tell me about it. And he can write. She looked at her hands. He'll be here a whole month and teach me. Then I can write out into that world and bring it here to the mailbox.
...
Cora was seated in a breathless spell. She watched the pencil behind Benjy's peach-fuzz ear. She saw him finger it casually, lazily, indifferently. Oh, not so casual, Benjy, she thought. Handle it like a spring robin egg. She wanted to touch the pencil, but hadn't touched one in years because it made her feel foolish and then angry and then sad. Her hand twitched in her lap.
...
Cora walked around her mailbox twice, not touching it for a long time. "Benjy, I've got me some letters!" She reached in delicately and took them out and turned them over. She put them quietly in his hand. "Read them to me. Is my name on the front?"
"Yes'm." He opened the first letter with due carefulness and read it aloud in the summer morning:
"'Dear Mrs. Gibbs ...'"
He stopped and let her savor it, her eyes half shut, her mouth moving over the words. He repeated it for artistic emphasis and then went on ...
"Benjy, Benjy, I'm so happy! Start over again!"
"'Dear Mrs. Gibbs ...'"
...
After that the mailbox was never empty. The world came rushing and crowding in, all the places she had never seen or heard about or been to.
The world filled up her letter box, and suddenly she was not alone or remote from people.
...
"Thanks," she said, "for everything." He knew what it meant. He shook her hand.
Are you or do you know a Cora?
Do you want to be a Benjy and open up "The Great Wide World Over There"?
Visit READ/OC.
