"Yes--that's it. They were looking for their children. If mine hadn't
a-died that's maybe what I'd be doing now. Oh, God, parson, I'm in
wrong again. I've been in wrong ever since Annie died. If she was
alive I'd be working in a machine shop somewheres, bringing home my
twenty-two a week with more for overtime and going around with my wife
and the kid and living natural, like other men. My God," he groaned,
"the lights just went out when she went and I've been stumbling around
in the dark, not knowing how to live or die.
"I quit work the day after I buried her. What was the use of working
then? I had half a mind to blow in all I had but I couldn't. Seemed
like she was still there with me, trying to cheer me up. I slunk
around like a shadow for months. And then I got hungry for people. A
single man don't get asked around much and he's got to hang around with
the boys.
"So I took what money I had and started a pool-room. I thought maybe
I'd feel better seeing people around all day. Well--it wasn't so bad.
But one night a little woman with a baby in her arms came to the door
and begged me to send her husband home and not let him play in my place
any more. She said she had no milk for the baby and no fire, that he
was spending everything he earned in my poolroom.
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