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From: rosa <rosa6262@yahoo.com>
Subject: {Earnest Hemingway} "Up in Michigan" (MF)
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Up in Michigan
	By Earnest Hemingway
	Jim Gilmore came to Hortons Bay from Canada.  He bought the 
blacksmith shop from old man Horton.  Jim was short and dark with big 
mustaches and big hands.  He was a good horseshoer and did not look 
much like a blacksmith even with his leather apron on.  He lived 
upstairs above the blacksmith shop and took his meals at D. J. 
Smithšs.
	Liz Coates worked for Smithšs.  Mrs. Smith, who was a very large 
clean woman, said Liz Coates was the neatest girl shešd ever seen.  
Liz had good legs and always wore clean gingham aprons and Jim noticed 
that her hair was always neat behind.  He liked her face because it 
was so jolly but he never thought about her.
	Liz liked Jim very much.  She liked it the way he walked over from 
the shop and often went to the kitchen door to watch for him to start 
down the road.  She liked it about his mustache.  She liked it about 
how white his teeth were when he smiled.  She liked it very much that 
he didnšt look like a blacksmith.  She liked it how much D. J. Smith 
and Mrs. Smith liked Jim.  One day she found that she liked it the way 
the hair was black on his arms and how white they were above the 
tanned line when he washed up in the washbasin outside the house.  
Liking that made her feel funny.
	Hortons Bay, the town, was only five houses on the main road between 
Boyne City and Charlevoix.  There was the general store and post 
office with a high false front and maybe a wagon hitched out in front, 
Smithšs house, Stroudšs house, Dillworthšs house, Hortonšs house and 
Van Hoosenšs house.  The houses were in a big grove of elm trees and 
the road was very sandy.  There was farming country and timber each 
way up the road.  Up the road a ways was the Methodist church and down 
the road the other direction was the township school.  The blacksmith 
shop was painted red and faced the school.
	A steep sandy road ran down the hill to the bay through the timber.  
>From Smithšs back door you could look out across the woods that ran 
down to the lake and across the bay.  It was very beautiful in the 
spring and summer, the bay blue and bright and usually whitecaps on 
the lake out beyond the point from the breeze blowing from Charlevoix 
and Lake Michigan.  From Smithšs back door Liz could see ore barges 
way out in the lake going toward Boyne City.  When she looked at them 
they didnšt seem to be moving at all but if she went in and dried some 
more dishes and then came out again they would be out of sight beyond 
the point.
	All the time now Liz was thinking about Jim Gilmore.  He didnšt seem 
to notice her much.  He talked about the shop to D. J. Smith and about 
the Republican Party and about James G. Blaine.  In the evenings he 
read The Toledo Blade and the Grand Rapids paper by the lamp in the 
front room or went out spearing fish in the bay with a jacklight with 
D. J. Smith.  In the fall he and Smith and Charley Wyman took a wagon 
and tent, grub, axes, their rifles and two dogs and went on a trip to 
the pine plains beyond Vanderbilt deer hunting.  Liz and Mrs. Smith 
were cooking for four days for them before they started.  Liz wanted 
to make something special for Jim to take but she didnšt finally 
because she was afraid to ask Mrs. Smith for the eggs and flour and 
afraid if she bought them Mrs. Smith would catch her cooking.  It 
would have been all right with Mrs. Smith but Liz was afraid.
	All the time Jim was gone on the deer hunting trip Liz thought about 
him.  It was awful while he was gone.  She couldnšt sleep well from 
thinking about him but she discovered it was fittin to think about him 
too.  If she let herself go it was better.  The night before they were 
to come back she didnšt sleep at all, that is she didnšt think she 
slept because it was all mixed up in a dream about not sleeping and 
really not sleeping.  When she saw the wagon coming down the road she 
felt weak and sick sort of inside.  She couldnšt wait till she saw Jim 
and it seemed as though everything would be all right when he came.  
The wagon stopped outside under the big elm and Mrs. Smith and Liz 
went out.  All the men had beards and there were three deer in the 
back of the wagon, their thin legs sticking stiff over the edge of the 
wagon box.  Mrs. Smith kissed D. J. and he hugged her.  Jim said 
ŗHello, Liz,˛ and grinned.  Liz hadnšt known just what would happen 
when Jim got back but she was sure it would be something.  Nothing had 
happened.  The men were just home, that was all.  Jim pulled the 
burlap sacks off the deer and Liz looked at them.  One was a big buck.  
It was stiff and hard to lift out of the wagon.
	"Did you shoot it, Jim?"  Liz asked.
	"Yeah.  Ainšt it a beauty?"  Jim got it onto his back to carry to the 
smokehouse.
	That night Charley Wyman stayed to supper at Smith's.  It was too 
late to get back to Charlevoix.  The men washed up and waited in the 
front room for supper.
	"Ainšt there something left in that crock, Jimmy?" D. J. Smith asked, 
and Jim went out to the wagon in the bam and fetched in the jug of 
whiskey the men had taken hunting with them.  It was a four-gallon jug 
and there was quite a little slopped back and forth in the bottom.  
Jim took a long pull on his way back to the house.  It was hard to 
lift such a big jug up to drink out of it.  Some of the whiskey ran 
down on his shirt front.  The two men smiled when Jim came in with the 
jug. D. J. Smith sent for glasses and Liz brought them. D. J. poured 
out three big shots.
	"Well, herešs looking at you, D. J."  said Charley Wyman.
	"That damn big buck, Jinny."  said D. J.
	"Herešs all the ones we missed, D. J.."  said Jim, and downed his 
liquor.
	"Tastes good to a man."
	"Nothing like it this time of year for what ails you."
	"How about another, boys?"
	"Herešs how, D. J."
	"Down the creek, boys."
	"Herešs to next year."
	Jim began to feel great.  He loved the taste and the feel of whiskey.  
He was glad to be back to a comfortable bed and warm food and the 
shop.  He had another drink.  The men came in to supper feeling 
hilarious but acting very respectable.  Liz sat at the table after she 
put on the food and ate with the family.  It was a good dinner.  The 
men ate seriously.  After supper they went into the front room again 
and Liz cleaned off with Mrs. Smith.  Then Mrs. Smith went upstairs 
and pretty soon Smith came out and went upstairs too.  Jim and Charley 
were still in the front room.  Liz was sitting in the kitchen next to 
the stove pretending to read a book and thinking about Jim.  She 
didnšt want to go to bed yet because she knew Jim would be coming out 
and she wanted to see him as he went out so she could take the way he 
looked up to bed with her.
	She was thinking about him hard and then Jim came out.  His eyes were 
shining and his hair was a little rumpled.  Liz looked down at her 
book.  Jim came over back of her chair and stood there and she could 
feel him breathing and then he put his arms around her.  Her breasts 
felt plump and firm and the nipples were erect under his hands.  Liz 
was terribly frightened, no one had ever touched her, but she thought, 
"Hešs come to me finally.  Hešs really come."
	She held herself stiff because she was so frightened and did not know 
anything else to do and then Jim held her tight against the chair and 
kissed her.  It was such a sharp, aching, hurting feeling that she 
thought she couldnšt stand it.  She felt Jim right through the back of 
the chair and she couldnšt stand it and then something clicked inside 
of her and the feeling was warmer and softer.  Jim held her tight hard 
against the chair and she wanted it now and Jim whispered, "Come on 
for a walk."
	Liz took her coat off the peg on the kitchen wall and they went out 
the door.  Jim had his arm around her and every little way they 
stopped and pressed against each other and Jim kissed her.  There was 
no moon and they walked ankle-deep in the sandy road through the trees 
down to the dock and the warehouse on the bay.  The water was lapping 
in the piles and the point was dark across the bay. it was cold but 
Liz was hot all over from being with Jim.  They sat down in the 
shelter of the warehouse and Jim pulled Liz close to him.  She was 
frightened.  One of Jimšs hands went inside her dress and stroked over 
her breast and the other hand was in her lap.  She was very frightened 
and didnšt know how he was going to go about things but she snuggled 
close to him.  Then the hand that felt so big in her lap went away and 
was on her leg and started to move up it.
	"Donšt, Jim," Liz said.  Jim slid the hand further up.
	"You mustnšt, Jim.  You mustnšt." Neither Jim nor Jimšs big hand paid 
any attention to her.
	The boards were hard.  Jim had her dress up and was trying to do 
something to her.  She was frightened but she wanted it.  She had to 
have it but it frightened her.
	"You mustnšt do it, Jim.  You mustnšt."
	"I got to.  Išm going to.  You know we got to."
	"No we havenšt, Jim.  We ainšt got to.  Oh, it isnšt right.  Oh, itšs 
so big and it hurts so.  You canšt.  Oh, Jim.  Jim.  Oh."
	The henlock planks of the dock were hard and splintery and cold and 
Jim was heavy on her and he had hurt her.  Liz pushed him, she was so 
uncomfortable and cramped.  Jim was asleep.  He wouldnšt move.  She 
worked out from under him and sat up and straightened her skirt and 
coat and tried to do something with her hair.  Jim was sleeping with 
his mouth a little open.  Liz leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.  
He was still asleep.  She lifted his head a little and shook it.  He 
rolled his head over and swallowed.  Liz started to cry.  She walked 
over to the edge of the dock and looked down to the water.  There was 
a mist coming up from the bay.  She was cold and miserable and 
everything felt gone.  She walked back to where Jim was lying and 
shook him once more to make sure.  She was crying.
	"Jim," she said,  "Jim. Please, Jim."
	 Jim stirred and curled a little tighter.  Liz took off her coat and 
leaned over and covered him with it.  She tucked it around him neatly 
and carefully.  Then she walked across the dock and up the steep sandy 
road to go to bed.  A cold mist was coming up through the woods from 
the bay.



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