THE JOHN O'HARA SOCIETY

THE JOHN O'HARA SOCIETY

From A Rage To Live:

   On the tenth of June, 1913, Sidney and Grace celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary. Sidney was thirty-five years old; Grace was twenty-nine. They had three children: Alfred, who was nine years old; Anna, seven, whom her father sometimes called Annotate, a second-generation joke in the Tate family; and William Brock, known as Billy, who was five....

   Sidney lunched alone at the Fort Penn Club on the day of the anniversary. He and Grace were having their bridesmaids and ushers and closest friends for dinner that night, and he had gone to Fort Penn for a haircut, which was hardly more than a trim around the edges. He drank a glass of sherry, contrary to his custom of not drinking while the sun was up, and ate the Irish stew. He sat in the dining-room instead of the grill, to take advantage of the unwritten rule that in the dining-room you chose your company, while in the grill anyone theoretically could sit at your table. He wanted to think about Grace and their marriage, because he believed that on a tenth anniversary that was the right thing to do. To cast accounts, to recapitulate.

   This is a good mariage. I love my wife and I am confident she loves me.