Ride a Cockhorse Read Free Page B

York.”
    â€œ The concert pianist? ” Terry glanced in disbelief at Mrs. Fitzgibbons. For just a second, his eyes strayed to her breasts. Mrs. Fitzgibbons was sitting up straight, as though in a physical response to the shock of Terry’s choice of young women. Her violet dress shimmered under the passing streetlights; she was conscious of the effect she had produced.
    â€œWhat’s so unusual about that?” she demanded, recalling hastily details from an article in the local Ireland Parish Telegram about the pianist. “She’s in her twenties. She’s beautiful. She has a future. You’d make a wonderful match.”
    â€œMe and her?” Young Sugrue couldn’t believe his ears. The young woman in question had graduated high school five years earlier and had been known from an early age as a light of the community, a prodigal talent much written about in the local newspaper.
    â€œDon’t you think she likes men?”
    â€œI suppose so,” he said.
    â€œOf course she does. You can speed up, by the way. We’re not going to a funeral.”
    â€œI think the car is okay.”
    â€œYou didn’t answer my question. Do you honestly think that Lorraine Salus doesn’t like men? Of course she does. It’s hard for a girl like that to make a good match. People who are beautiful and gifted, like Lorraine, or yourself for that matter, find it hard in that way. To locate a proper mate, I mean. You can’t just take anyone who comes along. I mean it. You may be underestimating yourself.”
    The look on the drum major’s face, as he glanced round from the steering wheel at Mrs. Fitzgibbons, betrayed the deep core of vanity in him. He was listening intently. To be so susceptible to flattery, she thought, was really quite sad.
    â€œIt’s your duty,” she went on, “to make a good match. That’s something that women understand better than men. Women judge men from a breeding standpoint. A woman always asks herself what kind of children she would have with this man. Men don’t do that.”
    â€œThat’s very interesting.”
    â€œThat’s why Maureen What’s-her-name is chasing after you. She wants to breed up.”
    â€œBreed what?”
    â€œUp! It’s instinctive. All females do that. They look to catch a male that is better than they are. It’s called breeding up.”
    Terry regarded her with an ingenuous stare.
    â€œIt comes from nature. That’s why wild animals fight in the breeding season. The males fight, and the females watch. And when it’s over, the females go to the winner. It’s as old as God. It’s the oldest thing there is. I guarantee you, if Lorraine Salus saw you leading the band down to the stadium, she’d go crazy. Even I’m impressed. I’m very impressed. Anyone would be impressed.”
    â€œMaureen loves watching,” he added.
    â€œI should think she would!” Mrs. Fitzgibbons belittled the girl in a scathing tone. “You’re her best chance. Who would take her out if she didn’t have you?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œThat’s what I mean. She’d have to settle for some wimp who studies all night and couldn’t get a girl if you set a pistol to his head.” Mrs. Fitzgibbons cut the air with her hand. “Maureen wouldn’t get anybody. I know who she is. I can see her problems. You have to face up to things, Terry. You can’t let Victorian sentiments fuck up your life.”
    The sudden expletive from Mrs. Fitzgibbons’s lips caused Terry to snap his head around. He was stunned.
    â€œUse your skin,” she said. “You have your whole life in front of you. You only get one good shot at it. The wheel goes around once, and that’s it. You’ll only be twenty once. You’ll never see these days again. Some decisions,” Mrs. Fitzgibbons stressed, electing to employ an impressive