Their social life becomes far more important She...
Their social life becomes far more important
She busies herself with running her house, keeping a list of the delicate debits and credits of entertainment and visitingIt always takes them two hours to figure out the list for their monthly party
Once they spend a week wondering if they can invite the General to their house, discuss the elaborate arguments on either sideThey conclude it would be in bad taste, might hurt them even if he came, but a few nights later Captain Cummings wrestles with the problem again, wakes up at dawn and knows it is a chance he must take
They plan it very carefully, picking a weekend when the General has no obligations and it seems as if none will developFrom the General's house orderly, Margaret finds out which foods he likes; at a post dance she talks to the General's wife for twenty minutes, discovers an acquaintance of her father's whom the General knows
They send out the invitations and the General mens gucci watches acceptsThere is the nervous preceding week, the tension at the partyThe General walks in, stands about at the buffet table, picking not without zeal at the smoked turkey, the shrimp for which she has sent to Boston
It is finally a success and the General smiles at Cummings mistily, pleased with his eighth Scotch, the puffed and tufted furniture (he had been expecting maple), the sharp sweet bite of the shrimp sauce through the fur of drinkingWhen he says good-bye he pats Cummings on the shoulder, pinches Margaret's cheekThe tension collapses, the junior officers and their wives begin to singBut they are too exhausted and the party ends early
That night when they congratulate each other Cummings is satisfied
But Margaret ruins it; she has a facility for ruining things nowYou know, honestly, Edward, I wonder what the point to it all was, you can't get promoted any faster, and the old fart (she has taken to swearing mildly) will be dead chanel earrings by the time it's a question of recommending you for general's rank
You have to start your reputation early, he says quicklyHe has accepted all these mores, forced himself dutifully into them, but he does not like them to be questioned
Oh, what a perfectly vague thing to sayYou know I'm feeling now as if we were silly to have invited himIt would have been much more fun without him
Fun? (This hits at the core of him, leaves him actually weak with anger There are more important things than funHe feels as if he has closed a door behind him
You're in danger of becoming a bore
Let it go, he almost shouts, and she subsides before his rageBut there it is between them, stated again
I don't know what gets into you, he mutters

There are other movements, other directionsFor a time he moves through the drinking circles of the officers' club, plays poker, and indulges in a few side affairsBut it is a repetition of Margaret with humiliating gucci men bag endings, and in another year or two he keeps to himself, devotes himself to running his outfits
In that he has talentHe absorbs the problem completely, thinks at night in bed of how best to treat the different men, how to command them most effectivelyIn the daytime he spends nearly all his time with the company, supervising labor details, conducting continual inspectionsHis companies are always the best managed on the post; his company street is easily the cleanest and neatest
On Saturday mornings a squad from each platoon is put to work cutting the weeds from under the barracks
He has all the patent brass polishers tested, selects the best, and has an order posted that the men can use only that brand
In the daily latrine inspections he is always one step ahead of the men; one morning he gets down on his hands and knees, lifts the drain plate, and gigs the platoon because there is grease in the pipe
When he inspects he brings a chanel jewelry needle, probes the cracks on the stairs for dust
In the gymkhana which the post holds every summer his company teams always winHe has them practicing from the first of February
The company mess floor is scrubbed with boiling water after every meal
He is always ahead of the menOne big Saturday inspection when a visiting general is expected, he instructs his first sergeant to have the men grease the soles of their extra shoes, which are exhibited at the foot of their bed
He has been known to strip a rifle on the parade ground and examine the rear of the hammer spring for dirt
There is always a standing gag in his company that the Old Man is thinking of having the men take off their shoes before they enter the barracks
The field officers are agreed that Captain Cummings is the best junior officer on the post

On a visit to her family in Boston, Margaret is questionedYou're not planning any children yet?
No, I don't think so, she omega replica watches laug