The Graduate (5 page)

“Benjamin, it’s good to see you,” Mr. Arnold said, standing up and shaking his hand.

Peter and Louise ran up to him and wrapped their arms around his legs.

Benjamin’s father was sitting on one of the chairs beside the fireplace, a drink in his hand. “Go out and get the kids some fruit juice,” he said.

“Then come on back and we have a little surprise for you.”

Benjamin walked slowly across the living room with Peter and Louise still hanging onto his legs and laughing. He pushed open the door of the kitchen and walked inside.

“Get off my legs,” he said when the door was closed.

They smiled up into his face.

“Get off my legs, I said!”

They released his legs and walked slowly to one of the corners of the room. Benjamin shook his head and opened the door of the refrigerator and looked inside. “What do you want,” he said. “Grape juice or orange juice.”

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They stared at him from the corner without answering.

“Grape juice or orange juice!” Benjamin said, clenching his fist.

“Grape juice.”

“All right then.” He reached into the refrigerator for a bottle of grape juice and filled two small glasses. Peter and Louise walked across the kitchen to take them.

“Thank you.”

Benjamin poured himself a glass of grape juice and carried it back into the living room.

“Ben?” his father said, grinning at him. “I think you’ll get a real big kick out of your present this year.”

Benjamin nodded and sat down on the sofa beside Mrs. Arnold.

“We’ve been hearing all about it,” Mrs. Arnold said. “I can’t wait to see it.”

“Shall I bring it in now?” his father said.

“What.”

“Your present.”

Benjamin nodded and took a sip of the grape juice.

Mr. Braddock stood and left the room. When he came back several moments later he was carrying a large square box wrapped in white paper. “Many happy returns,” he said, placing it on the rug at Benjamin’s feet.

“I can’t wait,” Mrs. Arnold said.

Benjamin looked at her a moment, then reached down to break two strips of Scotch tape holding the paper together. Inside was a brown cardboard box. Mr. Arnold crossed the room to stand over him and watch him open it. Benjamin pulled up the two flaps of the carton and looked down into it.

“What is it,” he said.

“Well pull her on up,” his father said.

Inside the box was something made of black rubber that looked like several uninflated inner tubes folded up on top of each other.

Benjamin reached down and pulled it out.

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“Now unfold it,” his father said.

Benjamin held it up and let it unfold. It was a suit. There were two black arms and two legs and a zipper running up the front of it and a black hood.

“What is it,” Benjamin said. “Some kind of rubber suit?”

Mr. Arnold laughed. “It’s a diving suit,” he said.

“Oh,” Benjamin said. He looked at it a moment longer, then nodded and began returning it to the box. “Thanks.”

“You’re not through yet,” his father said, pulling it back up and holding it. “Keep digging.”

“Isn’t this exciting,” Mrs. Arnold said.

Peter and Louise came over to sit on the rug beside him and watch.

Benjamin reached down into the box and drew out a rubber mask with a glass plate in it, and two hoses leading out from the side of it.

“That’s your mask,” his father said.

Peter Arnold took it from him to hold. Benjamin reached in again for a large silver cylinder with the words COMPRESSED AIR stenciled on it in orange letters.

“That’s your oxygen supply.”

“I can see that,” Benjamin said. He dropped the tank on the rug and reached into the box a final time and pulled up two black rubber fins. He looked at them a mement, then dropped them back into the box and sat back on the couch. “Thanks,” he said. He reached for his grape juice.

“Well now, let’s have a show before it gets dark,” Mr. Braddock said.

“What?”

“I’ll be right back,” his father said. He turned around and hurried out of the room.

“What did he say?”

“I think he wants you to give us an exhibition out in the swimming pool,” Mrs. Braddock said.

“Oh no,” Benjamin said, straightening up on the couch.

Mr. Braddock returned carrying a long metal spear and handed it to Benjamin.

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“Listen,” Benjamin said.

“Go on up and get your gear on,” his father said. “I’ll set up some chairs out by the pool.”

“Look,” Benjamin said, shaking his head. “This is a great gift, but if you don’t mind—”

“Let’s go,” Mr. Braddock said. He began gathering up the equipment from the floor and handing it to Benjamin.

“Dad, it’s just what I wanted and all that but I can’t—”

“We want to be sure it’s safe,” his mother said.

“Safe? Sure it is. Look.” He reached down into the floor of the box and pulled out a white slip of paper. “Here’s the guarantee right here.”

“Let’s go,” his father said, taking his arm and pulling him up from the couch.

“This is ludicrous, Dad.”

“Come on,” Mr. Arnold said, grinning at him. “Let’s see a few underwater stunts.”

“Oh my God.”

“Let’s get to it,” Mr. Braddock said. He piled the equipment in Benjamin’s arms and began pushing him toward the hall.

“Come on now, Dad.”

His father left him standing in the hall and returned to the living room.

Benjamin waited a moment, then walked back to the entrance of the room.

“Dad?”

“What’re you still doing down here.”

“Could I see you a minute, please?”

“Oh no. You get ready.”

“Could I see you a minute in the hall, please!”

Mr. Braddock walked back into the hall.

“Now I refuse to make a goddamn ass of myself in front of the Arnolds.”

“Here we go,” Mr. Braddock said. He began pushing him toward the stairs.

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“Goddammit Dad!”

“Here we go,” he said, pushing him up the stairs. “Happy birthday.

Happy birthday.”

“Dad I don’t—”

“I’ll give you three minutes to get it on,” Mr. Braddock said. He turned around and walked back into the living room. Benjamin stood a moment on the stairs with his arms wrapped around the equipment,then carried it up and into the bathroom. “Jesus Christ,” he said, throwing it on the floor. He shook his head and kicked off his shoes. Then he removed the rest of his clothes and sat down on the toilet. He tugged the rubber legs up around his own legs and forced his arms into the rubber arms and pulled up the zipper across his chest. He fixed the black rubber hood over his head and was about to return downstairs when he happened to glance out the bathroom window and into the back yard.

“Oh my God,” he said.

The Arnolds and his mother were seated in metal chairs at one side of the pool. The two children were running back and forth on the grass.

Standing at the other side of the pool were the Lewises, the other next-door neighbors and their teenaged daughter, and a man and a woman whom Benjamin had never seen before, standing beside them on the lawn holding drinks. At the rear of the yard the neighbors from in back were at the fence with their son. Benjamin pushed up the window.

“Say Dad?” he said.

Mr. Braddock was pulling a final chair up beside the pool.

“Hey Dad! Could I see you a minute!”

Mr. Braddock looked up at the window and grinned.

“There he is, folks,” he said, pointing at him. “Right up in the window there. He’ll be right down.” He held his hands up in front of him and began to applaud. The other guests gathered around the pool laughed and clapped. The Lewises’ daughter turned to whisper something to her mother and her mother laughed and whispered something to their guests.

“Dad, for God’s sake!”

“Hurry it up! Hurry it up! Folks,” Mr. Braddock said, “he’s a little shy.

This is his first public appearance so you’ll have to—”

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Benjamin slammed the window shut and stared down at the two fins and the air tank and the mask on the floor of the bathroom. Then he picked them up and carried them downstaris and out through the living room to the back. He stood looking out the door at the swimming pool and the guests until finally Mr. Braddock rushed inside.

“Let’s go.”

“Does this amuse you?”

Mr. Braddock leaned back out the door. “He’s downstairs, folks! The suit’s on! Give us half a minute!” He closed the door and stepped back inside. “I’ll help you on with the mask,” he said.

“Dad, this is sick.”

“Here.” He took the mask and fitted it onto Benjamin’s face. Then he strapped the air cylinder onto his back and connected it to the hoses running out the side of the mask. “Can you breathe all right?” he said.

“Good.” He got down on his knees and fitted the fins over Benjamin’s feet, then stood up, grinned at him and walked back outside.

“Folks,” he said, “let’s hear you bring him out! A big round of applause!” The guests began to applaud. “Here he comes! Here he comes!”

Benjamin stepped out the door and into the back yard. The neighbors continued to clap and laugh. Mr. Lewis pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket to dry his eyes. The Arnold children began jumping up and down on the lawn and screaming and pointing at him. After several moments of applause Mr. Braddock raised his hands. It was quiet.

“Now ladies and gentlemen? The boy is going to perform spectacular and amazing feats of skill and daring under water.”

Mr. Arnold laughed, “Get your pennies ready, folks.”

“Are you ready, boy?” Mr. Braddock said. “All right then. On with the show!”

“On with the show! the Arnold children yelled, jumping up and down.

“On with the show! On with the show!” Mrs. Arnold stood up and took their hands and then it was suddenly perfectly quiet in the yard.

Benjamin cleared his throat. He walked slowly toward the edge of the pool, keeping his chin down against his chest so he could see where he was going through the mask, but before he reached the The Graduate

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water one of his flippers got caught under his foot and he nearly pitched forward onto his face. The children began to laugh again and leap up and down.

“Oh no,” Mrs. Arnold said. “That wasn’t funny.”

“Hey Ben,” Mr. Arnold called. “Be careful when you come up. You don’t want to get the bends.”

Benjamin placed his foot down onto the top step at the shallow end of the pool, then walked slowly down the steps to the pool’s floor.

“Wait a minute,” his father said. He hurried to the edge of the pool with the spear. Benjamin stared at him a moment through the glass, then grabbed the spear away from him, turned around and began walking slowly down the slope of the pool toward the deep end. The water rose up around his black suit to the level of his chest. Then to his neck. Just as the water level was at his chin the flippers began scraping against the bottom of the pool. He let all his breath out and tried to force himself under but the air tank kept him afloat. He began thrashing with his arms but his head would not go under. The Arnoldchildren began to laugh. Finally he turned around and began moving slowly back up toward the shallow end. The neighbors in back began booing through the fence. By the time he reached the steps everyone in the yard was booing except for his father, who was standing at the head of the pool frowning at him.

Benjamin pulled the mask partially away from his face. “The show’s over,” he said quietly.

“What’s wrong.”

“He needs a weight!” Mr. Arnold called. “That’ll get him under. If you had a big rock it would do it.”

“Right,” Mr. Braddock said. He straightened up. “Folks?” he said.

“There will be a brief intermission. Hang on to your seats.” He hurried past the pool and through a gate into the rear part of the yard, where the incinerator was.

Benjamin stood quietly at the shallow end of the pool resting the end of his spear on the pool’s floor and staring through his mask at Peter Arnold. It was perfectly quiet. When Mr. Braddock returned he was carrying a large piece of concrete used to keep the lid of the incinerator closed. Benjamin took it from him and walked slowly back toward the deep end. Some of the guests began laughing and applauding as his head went under and then it was perfectly quiet The Graduate

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beneath the water as he walked gradually down to the very bottom of the pool. He stood a moment looking at a wall of the pool, then sat down. Finally he eased himself down onto his side and balanced the heavy piece of concrete on his hip. Then he turned his head to look up at the shiny silver surface of the pool above. “Dad?” he said quietly into his mask.

In the morning Benjamin got up earlier than usual. He dressed himself in a pair of khaki pants and an old jacket he had bought in the East at an army surplus store, and went downstairs. Mrs. Braddock was in the kitchen. “You’re up early,” she said.

Benjamin walked past her and sat down at the table in front of his grapefruit. “I’m leaving home,” he said.

“What?”

“I said I’m leaving home,” he said, picking up his spoon. “I’m clearing out after breakfast.”

Mrs. Braddock reached up to wipe her hands on a towel beside the sink. “You’re going away?” she said.

“That’s right.”

She frowned and walked across the room to sit down beside him at the table. “You’re taking a trip?” she said.

“That is right,” Benjamin said. He dug into the grapefruit.

“Well where are you going,” she said.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know where you’re going?”

“No.”

She sat a moment looking at him. “I don’t understand what you mean,”

she said.

“If you want the cliché,” Benjamin said, looking up from his grapefruit,

“I’m going on the road.”

“What?”

“On the road. I believe that’s the conventional terminology.”

“Well Ben,” his mother said.

“What.”

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“I still don’t understand this. You aren’t just planning to throw your things in the car and leave, I hope.”