THE NEXT DAY we were to leave for Devon. Bruce awoke with a large paunchy red eye.
“I’ll take him to the doctor,” I said to Mrs. Grail, “and then we’ll leave for the station. Mrs. Stackpole will be here at one to meet our lawyer, Mr. Snell. He’ll show her over the house. All you have to do is let them in, and then remember, you lock the front door and go out the back—”
“Ah God,” Mrs. Grail said, “if you take the little fellow to the doctor, you’ll sit there for hours, it’s very hard on such short notice. Why don’t you go to the chemist, he’ll give you something.”
“But… buying something in a drug store … ?”
“Ah, they have wonderful things in the chemist for that sort of eye. I bought something from the chemist for that sort of eye myself once and it worked perfect. If you go to the doctor, you’ll sit all day and you’ll miss your train.”
I bundled Bruce off down the Brompton Road; Jordan was to come home in an hour and then we were leaving. It was too wonderful to be true. The English Riviera. Even Bruce’s eye could not dampen my spirits.
We went into a little chemist’s shop.
“And how long has his eye been like this?” the chemist asked.
I tried to think. “It was sort of getting red a day or two ago,” I said.
“A day or two ago!” the chemist said. “We are only given one pair of eyes, Madam, has that occurred to you? Why haven’t you taken this child to a physician?”
I took a deep breath. “We are leaving for the country this afternoon,” I replied haughtily. “I intend to consult a physician when we arrive. Since we are travelling, I came in here for a stopgap remedy.”
I had apparently employed the correct tone; the shopkeeper began to fawn and cringe. “Oh, dear me, Madam, quite right. Oh, please do wait; I shan’t be a moment.” He returned with a small box. “Just pop this into his eye two or three times a day. It should do the trick. You’ll need an eye dropper,” he added.
“I shall have to purchase one,” I said, still talking funny.
“I’m afraid I’m fresh out.”
“We have to get an eye dropper,” I said to Bruce, as we left the shop. “I suppose we can get one at Boots.” This was a large chemist chain; the nearest one was about five blocks, or fifteen minutes walk, away.
“What a rude man,” Bruce said automatically.
“Oh, well,” I said
We made our way in a fine drizzle. Ahead of us a young woman, walking fast, was pulling a two-year-old child roughly after her by the hand. The child, trying to keep up, tripped and fell, and the young woman gave her an impatient slap. “Watch out,” she said. Before she could haul her tearful offspring on, a very tall majestic woman wearing a turban emerged from the crowd. “You must not pull your child that way, my good woman,” the lady said. “The poor little thing cannot keep up. Don’t walk so fast. Poor little thing,” she said to the child. She nodded at the mother and went on her way.
The mother stood rooted for a moment, shamefaced, and then moved on, much more slowly. “Come on,” she said irritably to the child.
“Did you hear what that man behind me said to the other man?” Bruce asked. “He said, ‘We made them,’ and the other man said, ‘You mean you actually, physically, made them?’ and the first man said, ‘No, of course not.’ What do you suppose he meant?”
“I can’t imagine,’’ I said.
“‘You mean you actually, physically, made them?’” Bruce said. We went into Boots. A girl in a white coat detached herself from the wall and came over to us. “Yes?” she said. I asked her if she had eye droppers, and she said yes. When she made no move in any direction, I said, “I’d like to buy an eye dropper.”
“I’m afraid that’s impossible,” she said.
“But you have them.”
“Oh, yes, we have them, but you see we’re cleaning out the cupboard where we keep them, and we’ve put them in a large box. If you come back next week, I’m sure I can help you then.”
“Couldn’t you take one out of the box and give it to me?”
“Oh, dear no,” she said, smiling. “It’s quite a large box. But next week we’ll have the cupboard all washed out, I’m sure, and then we’ll put everything back and you can have the eye dropper.”
“Why didn’t they put them in a small box?” Bruce said, as we walked to Harrods.
“Oh, who knows,” I responded irritably.
“‘You mean you actually, physically, made them?’” Bruce said.