Read To Sail Beyond the Sunset for Free Online Page B

Father.”
    “I know I mentioned it. If you’ve just gotta—and the day might come—tell your husband what is biting you, ask his permission, ask for his help, ask him to stand jigger for you.”
    “Oh! Yes, you did tell me about two couples like that county…but I could never figure out who they are.”
    “I didn’t intend you to. So I threw in a few false clues.”
    “I discounted for that, sir, knowing you. But I still couldn’t guess. Father, that seems so undignified. And wouldn’t, uh, my husband be terribly angry?”
    “He might give you a fat lip; he won’t divorce you for asking. Then he might help you anyhow, on the sound theory that you would get into worse trouble if he says No. And—” Father gave a most evil grin. “—he might discover he enjoys the role.”
    “Father, I find that I’m shocked.”
    “Then get over it. Complacent husbands are common throughout history; there is a lot of voyeur in everyone…especially in males but females weren’t left out. He might jump at the chance to help you…because you helped him just that way, six weeks earlier. Stood lookout for him and that young schoolteacher, then you lied like a diplomat to cover up for them. Next commandment.”
    “Wait a minute, please! I want to talk about this one some more. Adultery.”
    “And that is just what I’m not going to let you do. You think about it but not a word out of you on this subject for at least two weeks. Next.”
    “Thou shalt not steal. I couldn’t improve that one, Father.”
    “Would you steal to feed a baby?”
    “Uh, yes.”
    “Think about other exceptions; we’ll discuss it in a year or two. But it is a good general rule. But why won’t you steal? You’re smart; you can probably get away with stealing all your life. Why won’t you do it?”
    “Uh—”
    “Don’t grunt.”
    “Father, you’re infuriating! I don’t steal because I’m too stinkin’ proud!”
    “Exactly! Perfect. For the same reason you don’t cheat in school, or cheat in games. Pride. Your own concept of yourself. ‘To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day—’”
    “‘—thou canst not then be false to any man.’ Yes, sir.”
    “But you dropped the ‘g’ from the participle. Repeat it and this time pronounce it correctly: You don’t steal because—”
    “I am too… stinking …proud!”
    “Good. A proud self-image is the strongest incentive you can have toward correct behavior. Too proud to steal, too proud to cheat, too proud to take candy from babies or to push little ducks into water. Maureen, a moral code for the tribe must be based on survival for the tribe…but for the individual correct behavior in the tightest pinch is based on pride, not on personal survival. This is why a captain goes down with his ship; this is why ‘The Guard dies but does not surrender.’ A person who has nothing to die for has nothing to live for. Next commandment.”
    “Simon Legree. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Until you corrupted me—”
    “Who corrupted whom? I am the epitome of moral rectitude…because I know exactly why I behave as I do. When I started in on you, you had no morals of any sort and your behavior was as naïvely shameless as that of a kitten trying to cover up on a bare floor.”
    “Yes, sir. As I was saying: Until you corrupted me, I thought the Ninth Commandment meant: Don’t tell lies. But all it says is, if you have to go into court and be a witness, then you have to tell the truth.”
    “It says more than that.”
    “Yes. You pointed out that it was a special case of a general theorem. I think the general case ought to read: Don’t tell lies that can hurt other people—”
    “Close enough.”
    “Father, you didn’t let me finish.”
    “Oh. Maureen, I beg your pardon. Please go on.”
    “I said, ‘Don’t tell lies that can hurt other people’ but I intended to add, ‘—but since you can’t guess ahead of time what harm