4
THE FOX-AND-CLAM EPISODE cost the Leightons several pupils. I was one of them. My mother spent much of that afternoon on the telephone. Most of the time, she just listened to the mothers of children who had been upset by the story—children who were lying on their beds, wringing their little hands, staring at the walls—but by the time she had listened to the fourth anxious mother, she had herself become anxious.
Over dinner, she told my father what she had learned. “I think it isn’t the right atmosphere for Peter,” she said when she had finished. “I think we should take him out of the school.”
“But I thought you said that the story didn’t seem to bother him,” said my father. He hadn’t finished eating. He had been listening to my mother throughout her account of the day, taking bites in between nodding and saying “Mm-hmm” and “Hmmm.” Now he put his fork down and ran his hand through his hair.
“Yes,” said my mother, “but if they’re going to be reading that sort of story, I think it’s just not the right sort of atmosphere for a child.” Several of the mothers were using the same phrase that evening. It had originated with Mrs. Hosmer, who, entirely by coincidence, had been reading a magazine article on the importance of the right atmosphere in child-rearing on the very morning of the fox-and-clam incident at the Misses Leighton’s School.
“I think childhood is important to a child,” said my mother. My father sneaked in a quick bite of meatloaf. “There’s time enough later for them to see the misery and unhappiness of life. They should be allowed to spend some time on that mountaintop, in the sun—”
“Yeah, I know,” said my father. “Before they descend into the valley of death.” He frowned.
“The vale of tears,” said my mother.
“Right, right,” said my father. “I don’t have any objection to taking him out of the school. I think those two old gals are kind of funny anyway.”
“Then it’s settled?” asked my mother.
“As far as I’m concerned,” said my father.
My mother went straight to the telephone, and my father had to pour his own coffee. He and I sat at the table, not looking at each other. I stirred the last of my peas into my mashed potatoes. I could hear my mother talking on the telephone to one of the other mothers. She was saying, “We decided that it just wasn’t the right atmosphere—”
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At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of “My Mother Takes a Tumble,” “Do Clams Bite?,” “Life on the Bolotomy,” “The Static of the Spheres,” “The Fox and the Clam,” and “The Girl with the White Fur Muff,” the first six novellas in Little Follies.
You’ll find an overview of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy. It’s a pdf document.
🎧 106: The fox-and-clam episode ...