Loading...
Village Squire, 1978-11, Page 30of a gorilla or a chimpanzee. animals that at the best of times 1 find distracting. The skin had that bluish cast that goes with a heavy black beard. The lips that now parted in a smile displayed a mouthful of heavy squarish, oversized teeth. while above the mouth was a broad flat nose with flared nostrels. Large ears were set forward in a listening attitude. Craggy brow ridges emphasized the thick black brows. Only the big blue eyes and heavy chin relieved the face from being wholey ape -like. And as he smiled 1 felt like a mouse staring into the face of a prowling cat. "I see you are reading Graham Greene. He's one of my wife's favourites." The man's voice was in startling contrast to his face. One would have as little expected a striking cobra to trill like a hermit thrush. It was deep as the great chest from which it issued. rich and well moduated. I noted, too, that the man was impecably dressed. My father was a tailor, so I've learned to assess cloth and cut at a glance. Commenting briefly on my own fondness for Greene I returned to my lunch and he to his. I read on, but the print before me registered little as I tried to conjur up a wife that could bring herself to mate with such a man. Later in the day I began to wonder whether or not my imagination was playing tricks on nie and letting me magnify Whitaker's sad lack of good looks. A week past and on return from an assignment in Windsor 1 ran into the ugly man again in the same small restaurant, a favourite one of mine when on home base. Willie also seemed to drop in at my accustomed hour so we formed the habit of exchanging bits of random conversation. He was head of a small team of industrial designers, had his own business. His home. he said was a modest place at King City where he and his wife and son resided. As a hobby he painted and was bit by bit working some of his ideas into paid murals. Thanks to his fine voice he also did the odd radio commercial. This I could readily accept but with the passing of time I began to suspect that the family at King City might well be a polite fantacy. How could any sensitive woman accept this fellow on a day by day basis? It must have been about the time of our third or fourth meeting that I came up with the plan of securing the opinion of the distaff side. First I solicited the aid of Midge Carol a big homely girl of 30 odd years. From her vantage post where I posted her in Malcolm's she would have a clear view of the little booth we were accustomed to occupy. Her comment was brief, "Marriage 1 dream of, but never that." Others I invited to have a peek at Willie offered similar comments. Finally I invited Kay McDonald. Kay was a free -wheeling lass with a penchant for men from many molds. Fun -loving and tolerant of a wide range of male shortcomings, she if anyone might be able to see behind the ugly exterior and sense the man beneath. After she had studied Whitaker secretly her comment was the most charitable of the lot. "I'd feel sorry enough for the poor devil to go out on a date with him now and again, but to bed, never." "He tells me he is married although I have never met his wife.": "If that's so, then what they say about love being blind is surely true," was her response. Occasionally in the months that followed I invited Willie over to my bachelor apartment overlooking Allan Gardens, if we were both working on into the evening. He was a delightful and interesting companion despite his ugliness. Our acquaintance also gave me more time to note the casual reaction of passersby on the street. I was interested in his sketches and he in my photographic abstracts which now and again he begged my permission to use in an occasional mural. From time to time he refered to his wife and son. As I reviewed them they seemed fragmentary, and I began to wonder whether lb. they might be a coverup for a lonely man who had no real hope of present or future married bliss. My beat now shifted exclusively to the Metro area and it was not uncommon for Willie and 1 to lunch together as often as twice 28 The Village Squire November 1978 URE • PAINTS CPRFEt : • WALLCOVERINGS Robert L. I lumsteel uteriors DECORATI NG PHONE 527-0902 SEAFORTH DECORATE YOUR HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS Make your home into everything you want it to be! Our experience and special selection of furnishings will help you achieve that "Decorator Look"! Give us a call and we will come to your home with our free decorating service. We have a Targe selection of furniture, floor coverings, wallcoverings and paints.