Monday, April 1, 2013

Trip To The Museum, parts 1410 - 1413




1410. By now you will probably have realized that the animosity between Agnes and the director's secretary was of long standing. The truth was they hated each other, but it was the sort of hatred that, over the years had crusted over and become dormant. It was an ill-feeling of which the two of them were almost unaware. If you were to ask either one about it they would have seriously denied it.


1411. Perhaps you have found yourself involved in a business setting with a co-worker that you simply can't stand, and yet the situation forces you to suppress all your hostile feelings and every day be polite and affable to the best of your ability. 



 1412. Often neither party suspects that the other is full of animosity, only getting a fleeting glimpse of the situation by the tiniest of signs: a slightly raised voice, a too tired preemptory "good morning," even a poorly expressed and exaggerated compliment about clothes or makeup.



1413. The antagonism of Agnes for the secretary was of long standing; it went back to when Agnes was 8 years old. In order to comprehend such a long dormant antagonism, and enable one to understand how it culminated in the slap Agnes gave to the secretary, we will have to go back to the very first visit to the museum by Agnes when she was 7 years old and enrolled in Toledo's parochial grade school.

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