And Cyril leaned forward and yelled, “Father’s still very fond of meringues.”
At that Grandfather Pinner jumped as though he had been shot.
“Don’t shout!” he cried. “What’s the matter with the boy? Meringues! What about ’em?”
“Oh, Aunt Josephine, must we go on?” groaned Cyril desperately.
“It’s quite all right, dear boy,” said Aunt Josephine, as though he and she were at the dentist’s together. “He’ll understand in a minute.” And she whispered to Cyril, “He’s getting a bit deaf, you know.” Then she leaned forward and really bawled at Grandfather Pinner, “Cyril only wanted to tell you, father dear, that his father is still very fond of meringues.”
Colonel Pinner heard that time, heard and brooded, looking Cyril up and down.
“What an esstrordinary thing!” said old Grandfather Pinner. “What an esstrordinary thing to come all this way here to tell me!”
And Cyril felt it was.
“Yes, I shall send Cyril the watch,” said Josephine.
“That would be very nice,” said Constantia. “I seem to remember last time he came there was some little trouble about the time.”
Chapter X
They were interrupted by Kate bursting through the door in her usual fashion, as though she had discovered some secret panel in the wall.
“Fried or boiled?” asked the bold voice.
Fried or boiled? Josephine and Constantia were quite bewildered for the moment. They could hardly take it in.
“Fried or boiled what, Kate?” asked Josephine, trying to begin to concentrate.
Kate gave a loud sniff. “Fish
This story changed my pereception and my life. I remember reading this progressively surreal exploration of the aftermath of a patriach’s death and finding the psychical state of ‘trying to begin to concentrate’ fascinating( and provocative) to say the least! How can the daughters cope with the freedom from an autocratic parent? They have never learnt autonomy and their agency is fragile and comical in its pathos. Of course the story is really concerned with the true objects of mourning: the daughters themselves, but such an admission is too much to admit, let alone bear. So they occupy this curious, almost pre-linguistic state of ‘trying to begin to concentrate.’ Everything becoems ‘more’ and garantuan in its power becausethey are essentially powerless and innocent of any human experience that would render them capable of action.
And then how seemingly arbitrary is the identification of ‘fish.’ This is as surreal as wilde’s hand bag and just as perplexing for the listener. The otherness of Kate who lives in the real world of course is rendered brillinatly through her disembodiment, her voice appears utterly disconnected to her flesh. When the sisters hear her voice, it is really as if they are meeting a creature from another world, and of course, they are.
This surreal gift is anticipated in the previous section of the story through the meringue! The unreality and disconnection of the sisters is both comic and unnervingly poignant. Details are stranded on the shore of the sisters’ reality and are disconnected from meaning. So the fluidity of the meringue with the ear generates an exchnage that collapses signfication. wonderful!