Page 65 of A Fabulously Unfabulous Summer for Henry Milch

“Do you like magazines?”

“Not really?”

“Books?”

He shook his head.

“Music?”

“No.”

“So you’re just going to sit here and drink coffee.”

“It’s a coffeehouse.”

This was going nowhere. I almost got up to pick out another table, but then I thought,Oh, what the hell.

“Did you know your stepfather was using meth?” I asked, very casually.

He abruptly stood up. I thought he was going to walk away, but then Opal was there standing behind me. I turned and saw that she was wearing a black leotard and a giant vintage scarf. Her hair was fading. She wasn’t taking care of it.

“What are you doing here?” she snapped at me. “You need to leave people alone.”

She kissed Carl’s cheek. He tolerated it.

“My grandmother told me to go out and have some fun,” I said, quite truthfully.

“Fun?” Carl said. “You just told me my stepfather was using meth. Is that your idea of fun?”

“What? That’s not true,” Opal said, sitting down.

“It is true,” I said. “He was arrested for possession in Chicago. The police know all about it. They think he was murdered in a drug deal gone wrong.”

“Did you know?” Opal asked Carl.

“No. No, I didn’t,” he said, not looking up. He was totally lying.

Ignoring me, Opal said, “But your stepfather’s behavior… It must have been suspicious.”

“He wasn’t always around. He saw a lot of his parishioners at the church office. And, you know, he had insomnia a lot. Then he’d be kind of angry and depressed because he didn’t get enough sleep.”

“Where would he have gotten the money?” I asked. Yes, I’m obsessed with money. Get over yourself.

“My mother gave him whatever he wanted.”

“Did that make you mad?”

“Why would it—no, that’s just who she is.” After the briefest pause, he added, “She wasn’t happy. That made me mad.”

“Do you think she might have known? About the meth, I mean.”

“I don’t think so. I don’t think she’d have put up with it.”

“Do you think she could have killed him?”

“Henry!” Opal said. “Ivy couldn’t do that!”

But Carl was not as quick. “No… no I don’t think she could have killed him. If she’d known I think she would have turned him in to the police. I think that’s how she’d have dealt with it.”