Page 110
Story: Holly
He gives a downward jerk of his head that might be a nod and says something interrogatory.
“He wants to know what it’s about.”
“Cary Dressler,” Holly says. “Do you remember him?”
Anderson says something and gestures with his gnarly right hand. The left lies dead on the arm of his chair, palm upturned.
“He says he can hear you, he’s not deaf.”
Holly reddens. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’d pull up his mask, but then I wouldn’t understand him, either. He has been vaxxed. Everyone here has.” She lowers her voice. “A couple of the nurses and one of the aides refused, and they’ve been let go.”
Holly taps her upper arm. “Me too.”
“You remember Mr. Dressler, don’t you, Vic? You called him a mensch.”
“Meh,” Anderson agrees, and makes his one-sided smile again. Holly thinks there was a time, and not so long ago, when he must have looked like Lee J. Cobb in On the Waterfront or 12 Angry Men. Handsome and strong.
“Excuse me one minute,” Evelyn says, and leaves them. On the TV, Aunt Bea has just said something funny, and the laugh-track erupts in hilarity.
Holly draws up a chair. “So you do remember Cary, Mr. Anderson?”
“Yef.”
“And you remember Rodney Harris, right?”
“Oddy! All-all! Oore!”
Evelyn comes back. She has a small bottle of Cetaphil. “He says sure. I don’t know what all-all means.”
“I do,” Holly says. “Small Ball, right?”
Anderson does another of his jerky nods. “All-all, ight!”
His wife kisses him again, on the temple this time, then drops to her knees and begins rubbing cream into his scaly feet. There is a matter-of-fact kindness to this that makes Holly feel both glad and like crying. “Answer Ms. Gibney’s questions, Vic, and then we’ll have a nice little visit. Would you like some yogurt?”
“Oore!”
“All I’m really curious about, Mr. Anderson, is how well Professor Harris knew Cary. I guess not very well, right?”
Anderson makes a chewing motion on the side of his face that still works, as if trying to wake the other side up. Then he talks. Holly can only get a few words and phrases, but Evelyn gets everything.
“He’s saying that Roddy and Cary were good buddies.”
“Ooo-duddies!” Anderson agrees, and then goes on. Evelyn continues to work the cream into his feet as she listens. She smiles a couple of times and once laughs out loud, a sound Holly finds much more natural than the TV laugh-track.
“The prof didn’t go out with the others to smoke, but sometimes he’d buy Cary a beer after the game. Vic says the prof encouraged Cary to talk about himself because—”
“No one else ever did,” Holly says. She got that part. To Vic she says, “Let me be sure I understand, and then I’ll let you get to your yogurt. You’d say they were good friends?”
Anderson gives his jerky half-nod. “Yef.”
“Did they drink beer together at the bowling alley? The Bowlaroo, or whatever it’s called?”
“Nef’or. Elly’s.”
“Next door at Nelly’s,” Evelyn says, and caps the lotion. “Do you need anything else, Ms. Gibney? He tires easily these days.”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110 (Reading here)
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146