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12 - The Putnam Tradition · Astounding Sci-Fi Audiobook Library

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: The put Num Tradition by S. Dorman.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Chris Gogina. The Putnun
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Tradition by S.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Dorman.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Through generations, the power has descended, now weaker, now stronger?
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: And which way did the power run? In?
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: The four year old in the garden playing with a pipe.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Late It was an old house not far from the coast,
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  Speaker 2: and had descended generation by generation to the women of
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  Speaker 2: the Putnam family. Progress literally went by it. A new
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: four lane highway had been built two hundred yards from
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  Speaker 2: the ancient lilacs at the doorstep. Long before that, in
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  Speaker 2: the time of Cecily Putnam's husband, power lines had been
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  Speaker 2: run in and now on cold nights, the telephone wires
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  Speaker 2: sounded like a cone of cellos, while inside, with a
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: sound like the breaking of beetles. The grandmother Cecily moved
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: through the walls in the grooves of tradition. Simon Puttnan
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: her granddaughter, Nina Putnam, her great granddaughter. The unbroken succession
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: of matriarchs continued, but times The old woman thought that
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: in Simone was weakened, and she looked at the four
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: year old Nina as cants, waiting, waiting for some good sign.
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  Speaker 2: Sometimes one of the Putnam women had given birth to
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  Speaker 2: a son, grew sickly and died, or less often grew
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: healthy and flat. The husbands were usually strangers to the land,
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  Speaker 2: the house, and the women, and spent a lifetime with
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  Speaker 2: the long lived Putnam wives, and died leaving their strange
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: signs telephone wires, electric lights, water pumps, brass plumbing. Sam
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: Harris came and married Simon, bringing with him an invasion
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  Speaker 2: of washer, dryer, toaster, mixer, coffee mass until the current
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: poured through the walls of the house with more vigar
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: than the blood in the old woman's veins. You don't
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: approve of them, Simon said to her grandmother. It's his trade.
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  Speaker 2: Cecily Putnam answered, our men have been carpenters, or farmers,
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  Speaker 2: or even schoolmasters, but an engineer. Simon was washing the dishes,
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  Speaker 2: gazing out across the windowsill, where two pink and white
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Murex shells stood, to the tidy garden beyond where Nina
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: was engaged in her private games. She dried the dishes
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: by passing her hand once above each plate or glass,
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  Speaker 2: bringing into a dry sparkle. He saved wearing the dish
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  Speaker 2: towels and didn't amuse her. Sam's not home very much,
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  Speaker 2: she said in applicating voice. She herself had grown terrified
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  Speaker 2: since her marriage that she wouldn't be able to bear
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  Speaker 2: the weight of her past. She felt its power in
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: her and couldn't carry it. Cecily had brought it up
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  Speaker 2: after her father had disappeared and her mother had died
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: in an unexplained accident. Daily she saw the reflection of
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  Speaker 2: her failure in the face of her grandmother, seemed built
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  Speaker 2: of the same seasoned and secure wood as the old
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  Speaker 2: Putnam house. Simon looked at her grandmother, whom she loved,
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: it became a mere vapor. He's not how so much,
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  Speaker 2: Simon said. Her face was small, with a pointed chin,
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  Speaker 2: and she had golden red hair, which she wore loose
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  Speaker 2: on her shoulders. Nina too had a small face, but
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  Speaker 2: it was neither so pale nor so delicate as her mother's.
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  Speaker 2: As if sam stuffer substance had filled her out and
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  Speaker 2: strengthened her bone structure, if it was true that she
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  Speaker 2: Simon was a weak link, then Sam's strength might have
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  Speaker 2: poured into the child and there would be no more Putnam.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: Family and tradition. People don't change that easily, old woman said,
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  Speaker 2: But things Simon began. The china, which had a history
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: of five generations, slipped out of her hands and smashed.
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  Speaker 2: Sam's toaster. Wouldn't toast her pop up. Simon couldn't even
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  Speaker 2: use the telephone for fear of getting a wrong number,
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  Speaker 2: or no number at all. Things things, her grandmother cried.
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  Speaker 2: It's blood that counts. If the blood is strong enough,
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  Speaker 2: things dissolve. They're just garbage, all those things loading on
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  Speaker 2: the surface of our history. It's our history that's deep.
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  Speaker 2: That's what counts. You're afraid of Sam, the young woman accused.
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  Speaker 2: Not afraid of any man, Cecily said, straightening her back.
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  Speaker 2: But I'm afraid for the child. Sam has no family, tradition,
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  Speaker 2: no depth, no talent, handed downing perfected. A man with
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: his head full of wheels and wires. Simon loved him.
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  Speaker 2: She leaned on him and grew about him, and he
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  Speaker 2: supported her tenderly. She wasn't going to give him up
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  Speaker 2: for the sake of some abstract tradition. It's not abstract,
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: her grandmother said, with spirit. It's seen your blood. Or
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  Speaker 2: why don't you sweep the floors the way other women do,
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  Speaker 2: the way Sim's mother must. Simon had begun to clean
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  Speaker 2: the house where she was thinking, moving her hand horizontally
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  Speaker 2: across the floor in the height of her hip. The
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  Speaker 2: dust was fallowing in the motion of her hand and
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  Speaker 2: moving in a small, sun brightened river towards a trash
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  Speaker 2: basket in the kitchen corner. Now, Simon raised her hand
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  Speaker 2: to her face to look at it. The river of
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  Speaker 2: dust rose like a serpent and hung a foot below
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  Speaker 2: her hand. Yes, she agreed, At least I can clean
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  Speaker 2: the house if I don't touch the good china. And
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  Speaker 2: look where I'm going, the old woman said again angrily.
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  Speaker 2: Don't feel so sorry for yourself, not for myself. Simon
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  Speaker 2: mumbled and looked again towards the garden, where her daughter
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: was doing something with three stones and a pipe plate
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  Speaker 2: full of spring water. I do despair of Nina, Cecily said,
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  Speaker 2: as she was set before. She's four and has no appearance,
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  Speaker 2: not even balance. She fell out that the apple rose
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  Speaker 2: tree and couldn't even help herself Suddenly the old woman
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  Speaker 2: thrust her face close to her. Granddaughter was smooth, round
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  Speaker 2: and sweet as a young colonel with corn. The eyes
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  Speaker 2: sat down under the bushy green brows were cold and
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  Speaker 2: clear gray. Simon, the old woman said, you didn't lie
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  Speaker 2: to me. You did know she was falling and couldn't
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  Speaker 2: get back in time to catch her. A shudder passed
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  Speaker 2: through Simon's body. There was no blood in her veins,
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  Speaker 2: only water, no marrow in her bones. It were empty
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  Speaker 2: and porous as the bird's. Even the roots of her
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  Speaker 2: hair were weak, and now the sweat was starting out
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  Speaker 2: on her scalp as she faced her grandmother and saw
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  Speaker 2: the bristling shapes of seven generations of Putnam women behind her.
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  Speaker 2: You light, the old woman said, You didn't know she
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  Speaker 2: was falling. Simon was a vapor, a mere fraud, blowing
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  Speaker 2: away in the first breeze. My poor dear, the old
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  Speaker 2: woman said, in a gentle voice, how could you marry
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  Speaker 2: someone like Sam. Don't you know what will happen. He'll
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  Speaker 2: dissolve us our history, our talents, our pride. Nina is
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  Speaker 2: nothing but an ordinary little child. She's a good child,
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  Speaker 2: Simon said, Try not to be angry, She wanted her
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  Speaker 2: child to be loved, to be strong. Nina isn't a
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  Speaker 2: common child, she said, with her head bent. She's very bright,
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  Speaker 2: a man with his head full of wheels who set
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  Speaker 2: home with electricity and wires.
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  Speaker 1: The old woman went on.
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  Speaker 2: We've had them before, but never allowed them to dominate us.
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  Speaker 2: My own husband was such a man, but he was
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  Speaker 2: only allowed to make token gestures, such as having the
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: power lines put in. He never understood how they worked.
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  Speaker 2: She lowered her voice to whisper yours, Sam understands. I've
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: heard him talk to the water pump. That's why you're
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: afraid of him, Simon said, not because I'm weak and
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  Speaker 2: he might take something away from me, but because he's
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  Speaker 2: strong and he might give us something. Then everything would change,
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  Speaker 2: and you're afraid of that. Nina might be all change.
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  Speaker 2: She pointed toward the garden, following the white line of
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  Speaker 2: her granddaughter's finger. Cecily looked out into the garden and
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  Speaker 2: saw Nina turned toward him as though she knew they
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: were angry. The child pointed to the one finger directly
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  Speaker 2: at them in the house. It was a sharp crackle
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  Speaker 2: and something of a brilliant and vibrating blue leaped between
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  Speaker 2: the outstretched fingers of mother and daughter and flew up
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  Speaker 2: like a bird to the power lines above. Mommy, Nina
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  Speaker 2: called Simon's heart nearly broke. With wondering fright, her grandmother
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  Speaker 2: contemptuously passed through the kitchen door and emerged on the
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  Speaker 2: step outside, but Simon opened the door and left it
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  Speaker 2: open behind her. What was that, she asked Nina. Was
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: it a bluebird? Don't be silly, Nina said. She picked
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  Speaker 2: up the pipe plate and brought it toward them. Cecily's
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  Speaker 2: face was white and translucent. One hand went to her
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  Speaker 2: throat as the child approached, brain full of crackling blue
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  Speaker 2: fire with a fluctuating heart of yellow. The pipe plate
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  Speaker 2: came toward them, held between Nina's small, dusty hands. Nina
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  Speaker 2: grinned at them. I stole it out of the wires,
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  Speaker 2: she said. Simon thought she would faint with a mixture
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  Speaker 2: of joy and fear. Put it back, she whispered, Please
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  Speaker 2: put it back, Oh, mommy, Nina said, beginning to whine,
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  Speaker 2: Not now, not right away, I just got it. I've
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  Speaker 2: done it lots of times. The pipe plate crackled and
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  Speaker 2: hissed in the steady small hands Simon could feel the
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  Speaker 2: old woman's shot silence behind her. You must not carry
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  Speaker 2: it in a pipe plate. It's dangerous, Simon said to
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  Speaker 2: her child. But she could see Nana was in no danger.
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  Speaker 2: How often have you done this? She could feel his
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  Speaker 2: skirt and her hair blow with electricity lots of times.
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  Speaker 2: You don't like it, do you? She became teasing and roguish,
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  Speaker 2: and she looked most like Sam. Suddenly she threw back
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  Speaker 2: her head and opened her mouth and tilted up the
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  Speaker 2: pipe plate. She drank it empty. Her reddish gold hair
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  Speaker 2: sprang out and crackling rays around her face. Her eyes flashed,
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  Speaker 2: and sparks flew out between her teeth. Before she closed
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  Speaker 2: her mouth, Nana, the old woman cried and began to crumble,
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  Speaker 2: falling slowly against Simon in a complete faint. Simon caught
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  Speaker 2: her trembling hands and lowed her gently. She said to her,
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: you mustn't do that in front of Grandy.
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  Speaker 1: You're a bad girl.
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  Speaker 2: You knew it would scare her, And to herself, she said,
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  Speaker 2: I must stop babbling. The child knows of me and silly.
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  Speaker 2: Oh isn't it wonderful? Isn't it awful?
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  Speaker 1: Oh? Sam?
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  Speaker 2: How I love you? Daddy said it would scare you.
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  Speaker 2: Nina admitted, that's why I never showed you before. Her
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  Speaker 2: hair was softly falling into place again, and she was
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: gazing curiously and her great grandmother lying the doorstep. It
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: did scare me, Simon said, I'm not used to it, darling,
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: but don't keep it secret anymore. Is Granny asleep? Simon
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: said hastily, Oh, yes, she's taking a nap. She's old,
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  Speaker 2: you know, and likes to take naps. That's not a nap,
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  Speaker 2: Nina said, leaning over and patting the old woman's cheek.
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  Speaker 2: I think she's having a bad dream. Simon carried her
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  Speaker 2: grandmother into the house. If that old, tired heart had
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: jumped and floundered like her own, that must be some
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: damage done to it. If anything happened to her grandmother,
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  Speaker 2: the world would end, Simon thought, was furious with Nina
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  Speaker 2: and at the same time full of joy for her.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: Cecily Putnam opened her eyes widely, and Simon said, it
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: does change, you see, but it's in the family after all.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: The old woman sat up right quickly. That wicked child,
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: she exclaimed, to come and frighten us like that. She
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: ought to be spanked. She got up with great strength
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: and rushed out to the garden. Nina she caught in furiously.
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  Speaker 2: The child picked up one of the small stones from
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  Speaker 2: the pipe plate, now full of spring water, and came
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: to her great grandmother. I'll make something for you, Grannie,
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  Speaker 2: she said seriously. She put the stone in the palm
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: of her hand and breathed on it, and then held
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: out her hand and offered the diamond.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: It's lovely. Thank you, the old.
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: Woman said, with dignity, and putting her hand in the
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: child's head. Let's go for a walk and I'll show
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: you how to grow rose apples. That's more becoming to
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: a young lady. You're slapped on the step. Ah, I'm
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  Speaker 2: old and I like to take little naps, Cecily answered Simon.
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  Speaker 2: Sodden disappeared among the apple rose trees side by side.
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  Speaker 2: She was still trembling, but gradually as she passed her
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  Speaker 2: hand back and forth, and the dust followed, moving in
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  Speaker 2: a sparkling river towards the trash basket. Simon stopped trembling
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  Speaker 2: and began a smile, with the natural pride of a
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  Speaker 2: putnant woman. The end of the Putnam Tradition by S.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: Dorman