Thursday, July 8, 2010

Excerpts from Master and Commander: Childbirth, part III

The final installment:
The Citoyen Durand ran smoothly through the darkness down towards Minorca, a steady breeze behind her; now that the screaming had stopped Dillon posted a reliable man at the helm, visited the little watch below in the galley and came down into the cabin.  Stephen was washing, and the husband, shattered and destroyed, held the towel in his drooping hands.
'I hope...' said James.
'Oh, yes, yes,' and Stephen deliberately, looking round at him. 'A perfectly straightforward delivery: just a little long, perhaps, but nothing out of the way.  Now my friend,'—to the captain—'these buckets would be best over the side; and then I recommend you to lie down for a while. Monsieur has a son.' he added.
'My best congratulations, sir,' said James. 'And my best wishes for Madame's prompt recovery.'
'Thank you, sir, thank you,' said the captain, his eyes brimming over again.
The officers sit down and take some refreshments, while the captain joins his wife:
... and next door the poor young woman slept at last, her husband holding her hand and her crinkled pink baby snorting at her bosom.
And there you have it.   I'm sure my "crinkled pink baby" spends many an hour with his mother, "snorting at her bosom."  That's usually how he wakes me up—snorting.  :)

5 comments:

  1. I was floating along until I got to "snorting"...

    Considering that's what I did when I read it, rather appropriate!

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  2. Definitely some laugh-out-loud narrative in this book, Mat. Anna—not to mention true-to-life, right Mat. Emily?

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  3. Are we all on the computer right now or what? I just read Mat. Emily's new post, posted a reply post on my site, come over here and see both of your comments...

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  4. Apparently. We need a chat room. :P

    Except that i need to put my kids to bed! ;)

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