A Glorious Morning, Comrade

Gee, Maurice

Primary Category: Literature / Fiction

Genre: Short Story

Annotated by:
Coulehan, Jack
  • Date of entry: Dec-17-1996

Summary

Mr. Pitt-Rimmer is a demented elderly man who lives with his two daughters. They are entertaining their friends for the afternoon. When their attention is diverted, he runs away, stopping first at the dairy store to buy some cigarettes and Turkish delight. The proprietress recognizes him and calls his daughter, but Mr. Pitt-Rimmer again slips off.

He has various other encounters before his daughters pick him up later in the afternoon. "Promise us you won't be naughty again. It makes us so sad." But the old man later writes in the back of his book, "My daughters are keeping me prisoner. Help! I have not had a piece of meat for twenty years . . . ."

Commentary

A delightful (and insightful) story about the vagaries of aging, dependency, and dementia.

Miscellaneous

First published: 1975

Primary Source

Collected Stories

Publisher

Penguin

Place Published

New York

Edition

1986