Between Rounds (Henry)
from the Collection « Four Million»
On a warm May night, a group of boarders were sitting on the steps of Mrs. Murphy's boarding house. Inside, Mrs. McCaskey was waiting for her husband to come home for supper. When he arrived, they got into an argument, which was interrupted by a loud scream from downstairs. It was Mrs. Murphy, who had just realized her six-year-old son, Mike, was missing.
The boarders on the steps were moved by Mrs. Murphy's distress. Major Griggs offered to search the city for the missing child, and Mrs. Murphy's neighbors began to look for him as well. Mrs. McCaskey and her husband, who had been arguing, were also moved by Mrs. Murphy's plight. Mrs. McCaskey said that if they had a child of their own, they would be just as distressed.
The search for Mike went on for some time, but eventually he was found asleep behind a roll of old linoleum under Mrs. Murphy's bed. Everyone was relieved, and Mrs. McCaskey and her husband returned to their argument. Policeman Cleary, who had been listening to the argument from the street, was surprised to find that it had been going on for an hour and a quarter. He shook his head in admiration for Mrs. McCaskey's strength.