harcourt

by nick nelson

aunt meredith scowled mercilessly and adjusted her reading glasses on her long nose as she scrutinized the latest monthly summary of harcourt’s expenses. this is unacceptable, she drawled, after a long pregnant pause . what do you have to say for yourself? i am a human being, aunt, harcourt replied stoutly with an upright bearing, and i have impulses. you have impulses, aunt meredith repeated. you have impulses. a smile began to crease her ancient face. then aunt meredith began to giggle. she could not restrain herself, and burst out into cascading peals of loud laughter. impulses! she cried. he has impulses. stokes, the butler, entered the room. is something amiss? madam, he stammered. harcourt has impulses! aunt meredith cried. i asked him why he is bankrupting the family and he says he has impulses! stokes chimed in with aunt meredith’s shrieking laughter. davis, the maid, came running into the room. she, too, joined in the fun after stokes managed to articulate, through his choking and wheezing , what harcourt had said to aunt meredith about his impulses. suddenly all the lights in the house went on. the rooms were filled with people, the whole staff, most of the family, some of harcourt’s old fraternity brothers, and people he had never seen in his life. all repeating the story of harcourt and his impulses and shouting out with glee. harcourt felt a chill. he looked down and saw that his jacket and tie had disappeared and that he was clad only in the orange jump suit he had been forced to wear during his trial for the murder of uncle morris. harcourt turned and ran. he ran through the packed hordes of laughing guests and out into the night. he ran and ran. he came to the crossroads and fell down on his knees. a bum, whom harcourt thought he had vaguely recognized, was passing by. harcourt grabbed at the bum’s patched coat and began pouring out his tale of woe and complaining that nobody understood him. sorry, chum, the bum said, i got troubles of my own. he shook harcourt’s hand off and and went on down the road. harcourt tried to rise to his feet and fell face down in the mud. he lay there for a long time. after a while the sun began to come up. a bird flew across the sky. it was the dawn of a new day.