by Miriam Toews
“She said I came out of your stomach,” he said, starting to cry.
“But I said I was lying, you little shit. You know I did,” said Minty. Now she began to cry.
“Shut up, Mint, and lock the door,” said Euphemia. She knew her parents and her other brothers and sisters would be upstairs and in the room in no time.
“You promised me, Minty, you fat liar,” said Euphemia. She shoved Minty onto the bed next to Hosea.
“Let us in, Phemie!” Euphemia’s father roared from the hallway. Her mother was begging him to calm down. Euphemia stared at Hosea. He had put his pillow over his head to muffle his sobs. The back of his neck poked out, soft and very narrow. It looks like somebody’s wrist, thought Euphemia. Two brown curls framed the tiny nape of Hosea’s neck. Euphemia kicked Minty’s leg, gently. She didn’t care. Not really. It was probably a good thing. She walked over to the door and let the rest of her family in.
“What’s this all about, Euphemia? What does Minty have to do with this? What the hell is going on?” Euphemia’s father looked from one girl to the other, barely acknowledging the small, heaving lump on the bed.
Euphemia couldn’t believe it. Her parents had accepted, cared for, and even loved Hosea when they believed he wasn’t hers. Now that they knew the truth, or suspected it—she was Hosea’s real mother, he was their flesh and blood, their own real little grandson—they were ready to reject him. And her. And maybe even Minty for keeping the secret. She’d had to tell Minty. She’d had to tell someone. She had been thrilled. And still was.
Euphemia sat down on the bed beside Hosea. She stroked his back. She didn’t try to remove the pillow. She moved her thumb up and down the back of his neck, dipping in and out of its soft hollow and feeling his hairline begin just above it. She put her mouth to his curls and kissed them.
“C’mon, Hosea,” she whispered, “we’re going.”
Euphemia’s parents had tried, in the end, to get them to stay. They had been angry and shocked and hurt and embarrassed, but they weren’t the kind of people to throw their daughter and grandson out on to the street. Why hadn’t she told them the truth? they asked Euphemia, to which she responded with a shrug. Euphemia’s father had told her she was a tramp, but had then apologized. Minty had been grounded for two weeks, which, after a day, was modified to one week, and had told Euphemia a thousand times she was sorry. Euphemia’s mother had asked her who the father was and Euphemia said she had no idea, a man on a horse. “Oh, Phemie, not that old cock and bull story,” her mother would say. “Your mother’s right, Phemie, that dog won’t hunt,” her father would echo, and Euphemia said calmly, “It’s true, that part of it is true.” Euphemia’s father would rise from the table and slam his fist down and curse Euphemia up one side and down the other and would then lie on the couch, spent and despondent.
But all the while Euphemia was packing her bags. In her mind she had already moved on. She had left. She had locked up this part of her life and thrown away the key. She had turned the page. The next morning she and Hosea were standing on the side of the road, hitching a ride to town.
Hosea would miss the farm. He’d miss Minty. He had planned to marry her when he was older. He was sorry he hadn’t punched her in the stomach when she had begged him to. But he didn’t really know why they had to go. He had crossed his heart and hoped to die in that old car, in the field with Minty. He had bothered his mother at the supper table. He had pretended to crawl into her stomach. He had thought it was funny but his grandpa and grandma were very angry and Minty was crying and now he and his mother were moving to town. He had heard his grandpa yell, “She’s his mother, for God’s sake,” and he hadn’t known why that was suddenly a problem. She had always been his mother and Grandpa had been happy. He had offered to play catch with Minty, thinking that might be it, but she said it was no use, it didn’t matter anymore.
Hosea stood at the side of the road and tugged at his shirt.
“Please,” said Euphemia and straightened out his arm. “C’mon, Hosea, let’s walk for a while.”
“But what about our boxes?” Hosea said.
“Hmmm,” said Euphemia, “we’ll just leave them right here and when we get a ride, we’ll ask the driver to come back and pick them up.”
They walked together towards town. Euphemia asked Hosea if his boots were pinching his toes yet, and he said no.
“That’s good,” she said. Hosea asked Euphemia if she’d give him a piggyback ride. She hoisted him up onto her back, and reminded him every twenty yards or so to put his arms around her shoulders and not her neck. After about half an hour they stopped and walked into the ditch and through it and up the other side and sat in the grass and leaned against a farmer’s fence.
“Hosea,” said Euphemia.
“What?” said Hosea.
“You did come from me, from inside me, inside my stomach.”
“Oh,” said Hosea. He pulled out some grass and started to make a pile.
“I’m your mother, Hosea, your real honest-to-goodness mother.”
Hosea looked up at her briefly and smiled and nodded.
“Do I got a dad?”
“He’s a cowboy.”
“Where is he?”
“Well, I suppose he’s riding the range. Cowboy’s can’t stay put, Hose.”
“That’s good,” said Hosea. He threw a piece of grass into Euphemia’s lap. And then another and another until he had made himself a pillow, and he put his head down on it and had a little nap.
“Why can’t I come along?” Summer Feelin’ wanted to go with Knute to work. Every time Knute made a move to get dressed, brush her teeth, eat breakfast, Summer Feelin’ made exactly the same move. She wasn’t letting Knute out of her sight.
“Because. I’ll be working.”
“So?”
“Well, I’m working for the mayor.”
“So?”
“So, it’s … detailed work.”
Summer Feelin’ was quiet for about ten seconds. Dory gave Knute a look (raised eyebrows, chin on chest) from the sink indicating she could have done better with the explanation.
“Grandma and Grandpa are boring,” said S.F. finally.
“Summer Feelin’!”
“Well, goodness, Knutie, it’s true, isn’t it?” said Dory, staring directly at Tom.
“No, no,” Knute began to say, glaring at S.F. and wondering if the question was actually intended for Tom. Dory was still staring at him.
“Well, I don’t know,” he said. “Boring? I suppose we are.”
“I suppose we are,” said Dory. She slammed down the milk in front of Tom and got up for her toast.
Tom and Knute looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.
“Please don’t do that,” said Dory.
“Don’t do what?” Knute asked.
“Don’t shrug your shoulders like that,” said Dory. “I’m not crazy, you know.”
She left the room then, and Tom and S.F. and Knute sat in silence for a while. One half of Dory’s toast had fallen off the plate and onto the table when she slammed it down. Tom put the toast back on her plate, lining it up perfectly alongside the other half. S.F. went over to the fridge and tried to open the door as fast as she could to catch the light coming on. Then, when that didn’t work, she opened it slowly, slowly, slowly. Tom and Knute watched, curious to know if it would work.
“C’mon, Summer Feelin’,” sighed Tom. “Let’s do some juggling. Your mom’s gotta go. Hosea’s a stickler for punctuality.”
Knute walked along Third Avenue towards Hosea’s office. She knew she had to make some other kind of babysitting arrangements for S.F. Dory had been getting more work, lately, at the farm labour pool and Tom couldn’t look after S.F. all day, every day, by himself. Later on, she might be able to bring S.F. to work with her occasionally, but not right then at the beginning. Her old friend Judy Klampp from high school had a couple of little kids, but Knute didn’t think she’d want to look after Summer Feel
in’ as well. And about a hundred years ago Knute had gone to a party with Judy Klampp’s husband, before he was her husband, and had left with his brother and … no. Forget Judy Klampp.
Knute told herself she would not think of Max. As far as she was concerned, he was yesterday’s news. S.F. thought it was cool that he was coming back to Algren. She thought he would be very happy to see her do her cartwheels and spell her name. She wondered if he’d have a present for her.
“Not bloody likely,” Knute thought. She moved the hair out of S.F.’s eyes and said, “Of course he will, sweetie.” Max, she supposed, could take care of S.F. while she worked. But no, he couldn’t, because he’d be living with Combine Jo and she would maul S.F. every chance she got and who knows? thought Knute, S.F. might hate Max.
Well, she thought, she’d have a cigarette and worry about all that later. She walked along Third Avenue and a dog in a hurry passed by without glancing up at her. She heard the sound of someone practising a violin. Must be spring, she thought.
When she got to the office Hosea was sitting in his chair with his hands folded on his desk in front of him as if he were waiting for a cue from the director to spring into action. His chin jutted out slightly and his face was flushed. His hair was fluffier than usual.
“Ho! You scared me. How are you, Knute?”
“Fine, thank-you. How are you?”
“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, very busy,” said Hosea, making chopping motions with his hands. “All over town. In fact, I’ve gotta fly.”
“Okay …” said Knute. She wasn’t sure what she should be doing. Staying. Going. She could see this job shaping up to be another one of her colossal failures at meaningful employment.
“All you have to do, Knute, is answer the phone, take messages, maybe think of ways to spruce up Algren: flowers along Main Street, new lettering on the water tower, some new blacktop, maybe check into the price of a new Zamboni, that sort of thing. Okey-dokey? At about noon you can go and get my mail from the post office. Just tell ’em who you are. Fair enough?”
“Okay,” she said again. She nodded and smiled. She was about to ask Hosea if she could smoke in his office, in their office, in the office, but he was gone.
Hosea Funk hurried up the steps of the Charlie Orson Memorial Hospital. The hospital was perched on top of a small hill, and from its front doors Hosea could just see the smoke coming out of the chimney of his house, a block away. Man’s life’s a vapour, full of woes, he thought, seeing the smoke twist in the sky and disappear. He cuts a caper and down he goes. But then he remembered his beloved Lorna, probably still asleep, warm and soft, her hands curled up like a baby’s beside her head, her dark eyelashes … and Hosea’s thoughts flip-flopped from one end of the spectrum to the other in a matter of seconds: from life’s woes to passion’s throes. Then, looking once again at the smoke escaping from the chimney, his thoughts tumbled back towards the woes, lodging themselves somewhere in the humdrum middle of the spectrum with thoughts of Knute and his work, and Knute’s ripped jeans in conjunction with his mayoral status, and would it all work out—should he mention the jeans, should he not?
“Ello, Hosea, you’re looking … sound.”
“Good morning, Dr. Bonsoir, I’m feeling … sound.” Hosea smiled.
“Well then,” said the doctor. “If you are so sound, what can I possibly do for you? I am a physician. Wait. Don’t tell me. You’re here to check up on my patients. On my quality of care? Perhaps you could check Mr. Hamm’s IV levels, or inspect Mrs. Epp for signs of dilation, or maybe you would like to discuss the radical new treatment for enlarged polyps recently making its debut in the New England Journal of Medicine, eh? Mr. Hosea Funk, why do you feel you have the right to ‘check in’ as you call it, on my patients? You are not a priest or a funeral home director. You are not family. You are not an intern practising for the real thing, you are not a hospital administrator or the CMA. You are not even a florist or a pizza delivery person, not that our patients order pizza every day. So, what do you want? Mayors do not, as far as I know, make hospital rounds every few days. It is not part of their job and you are irritating the hell out of me, do you know that?”
“Well, Dr. Bonsoir, I—”
“And my name is not Bonsoir, it’s François. Bon soir, for your information, means good evening. Dr. Good Evening? Have you ever heard of anything so ridiculous? Think about it. Would you like me to call you Mayor … Hello? Hello, Mayor Hello. Or Mayor Good Night?”
“Well no, gosh, I’m sorry, Doctor … Doctor—”
“François!”
Hosea looked around the room, then down at his shoes. His hand went to his chest, but instead of tugging he flattened his hand over his heart.
“What? Are you having chest pain, Hosea? Sit down there, in that chair. Come on. I’m sorry. Clearly I’ve upset you. I apologize. Here now, let’s loosen your coat.”
“Dr. François, I’m sorry, I—”
“Shhhh, I’m taking your pulse. I need to count. Please, shhh.” The doctor bent over Hosea, holding his wrist between his thumb and forefinger, looking sternly at the second hand of his watch. Hosea sat there, feeling foolish. His heart was fine. How could he tell the doctor he had a nervous condition, not a heart condition? Hosea felt bad for the doctor, who was feeling bad for Hosea. He looked at the curved back of the doctor, at his dark brown hair just grazing the back of his collar. Such care, such professionalism. For a moment Hosea wished the doctor was his own son. Lorna would have a delicious lunch prepared. He and the doctor would enter the warm kitchen slapping each other on the back, each kindly ribbing the other and gazing at Lorna with mutual tenderness.
The doctor let go of Hosea’s wrist and stood up.
“You’ve got the pulse of a nine-year-old girl, Hosea. Nothing to worry about.”
“Thank-you, Dr. François. I’m sorry I irritate you.”
“Oh, it’s nothing. I realize there isn’t that much for you to do, a small town like Algren isn’t exactly—”
“But that’s not true, Doctor,” said Hosea. He stood up.
“I have a lot of work to do. Algren isn’t just a small town, it’s the smallest. You know, just today I’ve hired a girl—a woman—Tom McCloud’s daughter, Knute, to take care of some of the details so I can work on the bigger projects. I’m sure your work is never done even though you work in a small hospital and not one in the city.”
“Well, I suppose so. I didn’t mean to offend you, Hosea, I was simply trying to shed some light on the subject. Listen, everything is very much as it was three days ago when you were last here. Monsieur Hamm is very ill. His organs are shutting down. He has begun to hemorrhage internally. It is very difficult to find a vein in which to insert his IV tubes. The members of his family are coming around to say good-bye. Unless you are a good friend, I would suggest you maintain a respectful distance. As far as Mrs. Epp goes, if she does not go into labour soon, we will have to induce her. I have discussed over the phone, with some of my colleagues in Winnipeg, the possibility of transferring her to one of the larger prenatal wards in the city. She is very uncomfortable. Okay, Hosea? Is that what you wanted to know? You know, this information is generally regarded as confidential. Are you happy?”
“Yes. Thank-you, Dr. François.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Hosea put out his hand to shake the doctor’s. He truly was grateful. That was exactly what he needed to know. But before the doctor could extend his own hand in return, the hospital’s head nurse, Mrs. Barnes, came careering around the corner. A clean white blur. “Dr. François? Dr. François, Mrs. Epp is leaking amniotic fluid and having contractions one and a half minutes apart. I’m afraid one of the babies is not in position. I’m only getting two pulses. A C-section may be necessary.”
In a second, Dr. François was gone. Hosea watched him and Nurse Barnes run down the hall, their white coats flying behind them like twin pillow cases on a washline. Hosea wanted to run after them, run with them. For one semi-uncon
scious moment Hosea envied the uncooperative baby, the one who was stuck, the one who would have the gentle, capable hands of Dr. François guiding him, or her? towards the light, out and up. Towards safety, towards home, towards his mother and his father. Such tenderness, such concern. For something so small as a baby, one of three, a triplet. Hosea’s mind almost capsized as he began to imagine the younger Dr. François as his own father, as the cowboy on the range, as the leader of the country, as the … Cut it out, Hosea, said Hosea to himself. Dr. Bon-François is busy, so are the nurses, I’ll have a quick peek at old Leander before I go. Thank God for my rubbers, thought Hosea, as he padded softly down the hall, away from the commotion in Mrs. Epp’s room.
Hosea peered around the door of room 3. He jumped when his eyes met Leander Hamm’s. They were open wide and staring directly at Hosea.
“Mr. Hamm?” whispered Hosea.
“Susie? Susie?” Leander Hamm’s eyes didn’t leave Hosea’s face. Hosea stood, frozen, in the doorway. He knew that Susie had been the name of Leander’s wife, long gone now.
“No …” whispered Hosea.
“Cut the crap, Suse. Take me … with you,” Leander Hamm managed to say. He had always been a cantankerous man. He preferred horses to people.
“I can’t. I—”
And then Leander Hamm let out a howl that terrified Hosea.
“Shhh, shh …” said Hosea. He was worried that the doctor would come running. He would be so angry with Hosea if he saw him in Mr. Hamm’s room.
“Okay, I’ll take you with me … dear. Let’s go right now. But please be quiet.” And Hosea went over to Leander Hamm and took his hand. He thought of taking Mr. Hamm’s pulse, the way the doctor had taken his. He stared at his thumb and tapered forefinger holding Leander Hamm’s tiny wrist. Hosea couldn’t believe that this narrow piece of bone had held down wild horses, broken savage stallions, held off the powerful hindquarters of a bucking bronc intent on squashing him between the stable boards. But Leander Hamm tightened his grip and, with more surprising strength, pulled Hosea to him so that Hosea’s face was touching his. Hosea wasn’t quite sure where Leander Hamm wanted to go, or how they’d get there. He just wanted the old man to simmer down.