Bliss
Although Bertha Young was thirty, she still sometimes wanted to run instead
of walk. She wanted to dance in the street. She wanted to throw something up in the
air and catch it again, or to stand still and laugh at - nothing — at nothing, simply.
What can you do if you are thirty and, suddenly, turning the corner of your
own street, you feel perfectly happy, as if you had swallowed a piece of the late
afternoon sun?
She ran up the steps of her house and felt in her bag for her key, but she had
forgotten it, as usual. The servant opened the door.
'Thank you, Mary,' she said as she went in. 'Is Nurse back?'
'Yes, Ma'am.'
'And has the fruit come?'
'Yes, Ma'am. Everything's come.'
'Bring the fruit into the dining-room, will you? I'll arrange it before I go
upstairs.'
It was quite dark and cold in the dining-room. But Bertha still threw off her
coat, and the cold air fell on her arms.
But she still had that feeling of perfect happiness, as if she had swallowed a
piece of sunshine. She did not want to breathe. The feeling might get stronger; but
still she breathed, deeply, deeply. She did not want to look in the cold mirror, but
still she did look, and saw a woman with smiling lips and big, dark eyes. She looked
as if she was waiting for somebody, as if she was waiting for something to happen.
Something must happen.
Mary brought the fruit and with it a glass bowl and a lovely blue dish.
'Shall I turn on the light, Ma'am?'
'No, thank you. I can see quite well.'
There were small oranges and pink apples. There were some smooth yellow
pears and some silvery white grapes, and a big bunch of purple grapes. She had
bought the purple ones because they matched the colour of the dining-room carpet.
Yes, that was silly, but that was why she had bought them. She had thought in the
shop: 'I must have some purple ones because of the carpet.'
When she had finished arranging the bright fruit, she stood away from the
table to look at them. The glass dish and the blue bowl seemed to hang in the air
above the dark table. This was so beautiful that she started to laugh.
'No. No. I mustn't.' And she ran upstairs to her child's room.
Nurse sat at a low table giving little B her supper after her bath. The baby
looked up when she saw her mother and began to jump.
'Now, my love, eat it up like a good girl,' said Nurse.
Bertha knew that Nurse did not like her to come in at the wrong time.