Lawrence Curry

When I tell peoplemy name,they always ask me if I'm related to Lawrence Curry,the novelist,andwhen I say,yes,he was my great-uncle,they always want to know what he

was like."We've read all his books,"they say,"but please tell us what hewas really like."When I described him,as I knew him,they godisappointed.It seems that they find it

difficult to acceptsuch a great figure could have had such an ordinary character.

My great-uncle wastall,with a long thin body.When he walked,he moved stiffly,with his armsclamped against his sides,looking like nothing so much as a pair of

scissors.When I knewhim,his hair as quite white,though it was supposed to have been yellow when hewas young. His eyes were blue and deep set and had an anxious look

about them as if hefound the world a puzzling place.This expression of anxiety,which arose fromnothing more than short-sight一he refused to wear glasses一inspire the

protective instinctsof his lady admirers,much to the irritation my great-aunt who thought all womenwere fools,except herself.

Great-uncle Currywas naturally lazy. He spent a great deal of his time in the village pubplaying darts.He was also a compulsive reader from the local telephonedirectory to

great-aunt'sshopping lists.For a man whose book showed such a deep perception of thecomplexities of human behavior, his conversation was surprisingly trivial.He

delighted indiscussing English weather,the price of beer,his grandchildren's most amusingwords.

He loved gossip,buthe was kind.I never heard him make a malicious remark,but the wisdom of his writingnever appeared in his conversation.As a child,we much preferred

the company of hiscousin,Stanly,who was a successful shop-owner who always brought us bags ofsugar and broken biscuits.Taking it all in all,I have to admit my famous

great-uncle was rathera bore.My great-unclealways had an anxious expression because_________.

A.he found the worlda confusing place

B.he was alwaysthinking complex things

C.he didn't have agood eyesight

D.he was worriedabout what was going to happen to him