by Cyndi Myers
Tom ignored the suggestion. “If he thinks I’m going to let him take that lifeguarding job now, he can forget it. I’ve a mind to ground him until he’s thirty.”
“I think we should let him stay here. At least until I come home.” The idea had just come to her. Tom’s reaction made her reluctant to send Casey back to him. Maybe some distance would make the relationship between father and son less volatile. She couldn’t imagine how tense things would be between the two of them without her there to act as a buffer. And it would be good to have him here.
“What’s he going to do there? At least here I can put him to work. Maybe have the local police talk to him about what can happen to runaways. Scare some sense into him.”
“That’s not a bad idea, but it can wait until we’re both home. Right now I really could use his help. And maybe a different environment will give him anew perspective.”
“He needs more than anew perspective. He’s sixteen years old. It’s time he showed more responsibility.”
“I don’t think yelling at him is going to make him grow up any faster.”
“Coddling him certainly isn’t doing the trick.”
She gritted her teeth. “Just because I choose to deal with his behavior rationally, instead of shouting at him, doesn’t mean I’m coddling him.”
“You’re right. I am irrational. If you’d been through what I’ve been through the last twenty-four hours, you’d be irrational, too.”
She pictured him, slumped against the wall, raking one hand through his hair. Maybe if she’d been worrying about Casey for the last twenty-four hours instead of the last six, she’d be more upset, too. “It’ll be easier on you if you don’t have him to deal with this summer,” she said. “And I’ll feel less guilty if I’m helping with at least one son.”
“Yeah. You’re right.” He was silent a moment, and when he spoke again, his voice was gentler. “I’m glad he’s okay.”
“Me, too. Do me a favor and first chance you get, pack up some of his clothes and send them down here. It doesn’t look like he brought much with him.”
“That figures.” He sighed.
“You must be exhausted,” she said. “Try to make it an early day, so you can get some sleep.”
“Not a chance, not with all the work I have to do. Plus I’ve got a stack of invoices six inches high that need to be dealt with.”
No doubt an exaggeration, but she didn’t feel like calling him on it. After all, she’d left everything in perfect order three days ago. Things wouldn’t be that far behind—yet. “Call a temp agency and hire some clerical help. You can’t do everything.”
“I guess you’re right.” He gave a hoarse laugh. “See, I need you here to figure these things out.”
This admission made her relax a little. “I’ll be home as soon as I can. Dad’s doing really well, so I’m hopeful it won’t be too long. Now get some rest.”
She hung up, then went looking for Casey and her dad. She found them in the study, her father showing Casey his spreadsheets, Casey pretending to be interested.
Or maybe the interest was genuine. “Hey, Mom, did you know Grandpa has seen penguins in South America? And something called an Arctic Tern near the north pole?”
“Your grandfather has seen birds on every continent on earth.” She showed him the certificate from Guinness. “He’s set records which may never be broken.”
Casey admired the certificate. “That’s cool.” He looked at his mother. “What’s for lunch? I’m starving.”
She laughed. Now they were back in familiar territory. “Let’s go in the kitchen and see. Dad, you come, too.”
For once, her father didn’t argue. He allowed Casey to push him to the kitchen and even accepted a glass of the despised nutritional supplement, after Casey drank some and pronounced it, “Not as bad as I thought it would be. It might even be good if you put some ice cream in it, Mom.”
Dad nodded and she laughed. “Now, why didn’t I think of that?”
“See, it is a good thing I showed up, huh, Mom?”
“I guess it is.” She had to admit, she didn’t feel so alone now. She could count on her youngest son to be there to support her when no one else would.
The nurse’s aide had just left the next afternoon when Del paid a visit. With him was a young, beautiful girl dressed in low-cut jeans and a tight T-shirt. She had a ring in her navel and another in her left eyebrow, and she made Karen think of the women in magazine ads for designer jeans or exotic perfume—the ones who always looked as if they had either just gone to bed with a man, or were about to.
“Karen, this is Mary Elisabeth.”
Mary Elisabeth offered a hand with a ring on each finger. “It’s good to meet you. I think it’s really great of you to come down here and look after your daddy this way.” She had a Texas drawl that would melt butter, and a handshake as firm as any man’s.
Was it possible Del had been singing his sister’s praises? She looked over at him. He had his head in the refrigerator, probably searching for another beer. She turned to Mary Elisabeth again. The Catholic schoolgirl name seemed incongruous on the young woman before her. “Thanks.”
“If you ever need any help, or just want to take a break or something, give me a call,” she said. “I get along great with older folks.”
“You do?” Karen looked at Del again. She’d been sure he was blowing smoke when he’d offered Mary Elisabeth’s services. “Why is that, do you think?”
“Oh, I’m a good listener, and I don’t get impatient with them like some people. I used to work at a nursing home, so I’ve seen pretty much everything related to gettin’ old that there is to see.”
“Where do you work now?” Karen pulled out a chair at the kitchen table and offered it to the younger woman, then sat across from her.
“I work for the city water department. It’s not as interesting as the nursing home, but it pays better. But sometimes I think I’d like to go back to school to be a nurse.”
“Interesting.” How had this seemingly bright, ambitious young woman ever ended up with Del? She was about to ask as much when Casey emerged from the back bedroom, where he’d been taking a nap.
He cut his eyes to Mary Elisabeth and they widened a little, then he looked at Del. “Hey, Uncle Del.” He went over to his uncle and gave him a hug.
“Casey, you brat.” Del returned the hug, grinning. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I came down to help Mom. Hey look, I’m as tall as you now.” He held his hand over Del’s head, showing the tops of their heads were even.
“So what? I can still whip your ass.” Del faked a punch.
Casey dodged away, laughing.
“Del, honey, aren’t you going to introduce me to your good-looking young friend?” Mary Elisabeth turned a dazzling smile on Casey, who instantly blushed to the tips of his ears.
“This is my nephew, Casey. He’s sixteen. Way too young for you.”
“Some people think you’re too old for me.” She winked at Casey, who laughed again.
“I thought maybe Mary Elisabeth could meet Dad, see how they get along,” Del said.
“He’s napping right now,” Karen said. “He usually takes a nap about this time every day.”
“That’s all right. I’ll see him some other time,” Mary Elisabeth said. “I have to get to work now. But it was nice to meet you.” She smiled at each of them in turn, gave Del a peck on the cheek and sailed out the door.
They were all silent a moment, as if she’d taken some of the air out of the room with her departure.
“Uncle Del, she’s hot,” Casey pronounced.
Del laughed. “Stick with me, boy. I can teach you a thing or two about how to handle women.”
“You’ll do no such thing.” Karen stood and went to the sink, where she busied herself washing up the breakfast dishes. The thought of her playboy brother teaching her son anything sent shivers up her spine. “She seems very nice. Very bright. How did she ev
er end up with you?”
“Obviously, she has excellent taste.”
Karen snorted.
“That was really cool of her to offer to help you with Grandpa,” Casey said.
“Yes, it was very nice.” But why would a total stranger offer to do something so nice? She turned to Del. “She’s not some gold digger out to talk Dad out of his money, is she?”
“You watch too many soap operas.” He tossed his now-empty beer can into the garbage. “Mary Elisabeth is just a nice person who likes to help other people. There are still folks like that left in this world, you know?”
“Yeah, I met one of them on my way down here,” Casey said. “He ran this restaurant near the bus station and he let me have a burger and fries in exchange for sweeping up for him.”
“You didn’t have any money with you?” Karen stared at her son.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked around the kitchen. “Well, I had some when I started out, but I sort of lost it.”
“You lost it?” She sagged against the counter. Tom was right. The boy was completely irresponsible.
“It was stolen, actually.” Casey shrugged.
“Stolen?” She stared at him.
“Yeah, well, this ex-con sat next to me, see, and I couldn’t move because there weren’t any more empty seats and—”
She put her hand over her eyes and waved away the rest of his explanation. “I don’t think I want to hear any more.”
Casey came over and put his arm around her. “It’s okay, Mom. everything worked out.”
“That’s right, sis,” Del said. “You worry too much.”
The rest of the world might be crazy, but she was the one with a problem, because she worried too much. “It’s the worriers in this world who get things done,” she said. “People who bother to think about problems figure out how to solve them. Not to mention, we’re the ones who look after all you ‘free’ spirits.”
“Maybe so, but I know who’s having more fun, don’t you, Casey?” Del winked at his nephew.
Casey laughed. “Maybe it’s a chick thing.” He hugged Karen again. “Stick with us and we’ll teach you to lighten up. And you never know. Some of your responsibility might rub off on us.”
She sighed. “I hear pigs might fly, too.”
Casey laughed again, and she managed a smile. Life was absurd sometimes. And this particular corner of Tipton, Texas, had always been the touchstone for most of the absurdities visited upon her. She’d be glad when she could get back to her ordinary life, where she was mostly in control and usually knew in advance how things would turn out. Unlike Casey, Karen wasn’t a big fan of surprises.
6
We’re never single-minded, unperplexed, like migratory birds.
—Rainer Maria Rilke, The Duino Elegies
In his dreams each night, Martin strode through the jungles of the Amazon, or across the plains of the midwest, or along the shores of tropical beaches. Everywhere birds came to him, darting and wheeling about, the flutter of their wings and the lilt of their songs the soundtrack for his slumber. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds hovered before him like feathered jewels, and Black-necked Stilts stitched lines of tracks in the sand at his feet. He watched them with a lightness in his heart, as if at any moment he, too, might sprout wings and learn to soar with their grace.
He would wake buoyed by this excitement and anticipation, brought back to earth with a thud by the limitations of his body. The determination that had once enabled him to scale the peaks of the Andes or trek for days across waterless deserts, or endure all manner of hardships in the pursuit of birds for his list now could not will so much as a finger on his left hand to move or words to form on his tongue.
He silently railed at the injustice of being imprisoned by the frailty of his own flesh. His frustration exploded from him with the least provocation. He banged his wheelchair into walls and furniture, not caring what he destroyed. He swept the lunch tray from his desk, dishes shattering, when a slice of ham wasn’t chopped fine enough to keep from choking him. He balked at being shaved or having his hair cut until the aide calmly pointed out that only a fool argued with a woman who held a razor to his throat.
And always there was Karen, watching him with such intensity, alternately cajoling and critical. “Dad, you have to eat more.” “Dad, you aren’t trying.” “Dad, come away from that computer. You need your rest.”
How did she know what he needed? She hardly knew him. She thought his pursuit of birds all over the world was a waste of time. Oh, she never said as much, but the shuttered expression she assumed whenever the topic of birding came up told him everything he needed to know. She didn’t understand that peace could come in focusing on a part of nature so different from himself. She didn’t know that beyond the pleasure of accumulating numbers and amassing records, there were the birds themselves, so diverse and diverting. They offered beauty without judgment. They demanded nothing from him.
Karen had been back in Texas about two weeks and was beginning to settle into a routine when Del showed up on her doorstep with a dog. “Look what I got for you, sis,” he said, grinning like a schoolboy who’s just handed his teacher an apple with a worm in it.
She eyed the dog warily. The oversize yellow mutt had floppy ears, legs that looked too long for its body and feet the size of Mason jar lids. It grinned up at her, tongue lolling, reminding her of Pluto from the Disney cartoons of her childhood. “What did you bring me?” she asked warily.
“I brought you a dog. Isn’t she great?” He patted the dog’s side. The animal responded by flopping over onto her back, tail whipping wildly back and forth, all four feet flailing in the air. A flea crawled across the dirty white fur on the dog’s stomach.
Karen took a step back. “I don’t want a dog,” she said. “I especially don’t want an overgrown, flea-bit ten mutt.”
“Aw now, don’t be like that.” Del shoved past her into the house. The dog followed, toenails clicking on the hardwood floor.
“No!” Karen rushed after them. “Get that beast out of here. I don’t want it.”
“You need a dog, sis.” Del helped himself to a Coke from the refrigerator. The dog followed, eyes fixed on him adoringly. “She’ll keep you company.”
“I don’t need company. And I don’t need anything else to look after.”
“Living with a dog will teach you to lighten up.” As if on cue, the mutt rolled on her back again, and looked at Karen, as if waiting for some sign of approval.
Del bent and rubbed the dog’s belly. “How serious can you be around this?” he asked.
She was seriously considering slapping her brother, to try to knock some sense into him. Or at least force him to listen to her. “No, Del. I mean it. Get that beast out of here.”
“Hey, where’d you get the dog?” Casey ambled into the kitchen and grinned at the mutt, still on her back in the middle of the floor. He dropped to his knees beside her and began rubbing her belly. “She’s a real sweetie, isn’t she? Is she yours, Uncle Del?”
“I got her for your mom.”
“Really?” Casey’s smile grew even wider and he looked back at Karen. “She’s great!”
Karen hugged her arms across her chest and frowned down at Casey and the dog, who were now rolling around together on the floor. When the boys were six and nine, they had launched a campaign for the family to adopt a dog. Tom had been willing to go along with the idea, but Karen had put her foot down, pointing out that if she’d wanted something else to look after, she’d have had another child. The boys and Tom had been wise enough not to press the point.
“No. No dog,” she repeated.
Casey’s smile crumpled. Crouched on the floor beside the animal, he looked closer to the little boy she remembered than the man he was fast becoming. The image tugged at her heart. “But, Mom, why not?”
“Dogs are dirty. They’re noisy. They shed. They’re destructive. And they need a lot of attention and time I don’t have.”
“I’ve known other people who had dogs. A dog is just one more thing for me to look after, and I already have too much to do around here.” Between nursing her father and taking care of the house she was stressed to the max already. Not to mention, adding a dog would be one more change in a summer that had brought too many changes to her life already.
“I’ll look after her. I promise.” Casey threw his arms around the dog and hugged her close. “She won’t be that much trouble.”
Karen had the feeling things were fast slipping out of her control. She shook her head again. “No.”
Casey pretended not to hear her. “Hey, we could maybe train her to help Grandpa. You know, one of those assistance dogs.”
The dog seemed intent now on licking the skin off Casey’s face. Karen had her doubts this mutt could be trained for anything. “No, I don’t want it.” She turned to Del. “Get it out of here.”
He took a long sip of Coke, then set the can on the counter. “Guess I’ll just have to shoot it, then,” he said.
“Shoot it?” The outrageousness of the statement left her stammering. “Why…why would you do that?”
“If I take her to the animal shelter, they’ll just put her down, plus they’ll ask for a ‘donation’ to do it. A big dog like this is hard to find a home for. A bullet’s cheaper.”
“Mom, no!” Casey still clung to the dog. The animal herself turned to Karen, eyes the color of chocolate M&M’s filled with sadness. Karen couldn’t stand it. Why was everyone making her out to be the villain, when it was Del who’d gotten them into this mess?
She turned to her brother. “Do you even have a conscience? How could you try to foist this dog—that I don’t want—off on me, and then threaten to kill her if I don’t take her?”
His expression was guileless. “I thought you and Casey, and Dad, too, for that matter, would enjoy having a dog around. I saw it as a nice thing to do for you. You’re the one trying to make it something bad.”