Deborah had not taken three steps toward the door when Lolly's words struck like a child's stone, cruelly thrown.
“And of course, we can't forget our darling Deborah. While you're compiling chapters, Sass, you should add a whole book of them for Deb. There's simply so much ground to cover with her. Let's see, Aubrey could talk about the family ingrate, or the family basket case, or the family embarrassment-or the family slut.” And for one brief second Lolly's eyes lit on Gretchen. I saw her smile crookedly for a moment, then she returned her gaze to Deborah. My cousin stood by the door, her fingers trembling in anger on the knob. Her dark eyes glowed with pure hate.
“Stop it!” Aubrey bellowed. He stood and poked a finger into Lolly's face. “How about your chapter? The family tyrant? We're not little kids you can bully anymore. Or the family nut? Sweetie isn't anything but a dog. He's not Uncle Charles come back to life, you pathetic witch.
Because why on earth would Charles come back to vow? The tortures of hell have to be preferable to your company.”
Lolly simply smiled back at him, her grin brittle with rancor. She drew a quivering hand along her brow.
Uncle Mutt finally spoke. “Stop it, Lolly. You, too, Aubrey, and Sass, if you make another sound I'll cut you out of the will.” Uncle Mutt didn't need to yell; the tone of his voice carried its own thunder, and the squabblers fell quiet. Sass pressed fingertips to her eyelids and I wondered if she was already regretting her drunken outburst.
“Aubrey, write all you want about dys-whatever families. I don't give a green shit. But I forbid you to write a word about anyone sitting at this table. You understand me, boy?”
Aubrey stared back at our great-uncle. “Who's playing the family bully now. Uncle Mutt? You can't tell me what to do in my career-”
Uncle Mutt exploded. “Y'all are like a bunch of kids bickering amongst yourselves-unruly, contentious little brats.” I took umbrage at being called names-I for one had not raised my voice or done one thing untoward. But I kept my silence. “And now I got to tell all y'all how to act before I leave the room.” He stood and stared down the table at the upturned faces, and for a moment I didn't doubt we resembled children-we all hung on his words. “And I'm leaving the room forever.”
Silence fell like the guillotine's blade. I heard the hollow, whispering shudder of Aunt Lolly breathing hard next to me. Her rasp grated on my nerves and I glanced back at her; her skin was pale as bone.
Mutt let the quiet play itself out. His gaze carefully came to rest on each of our faces. He gave me a long, considered look of sadness and I felt a thickness coat my throat.
“I'm a dead man, you see,” Uncle Mutt announced. A moment of absolute hush was followed by a guffaw from Aunt Lolly. I can't say she had a hearty titter; but rather it was a giggle of sick disbelief. She wiped the back of her hand across her mouth, her fingers trembling.
No one else laughed. Deborah sagged against the door.
“What the hell are you talking about, Emmett?” Uncle Jake wheezed. He sat, looking crumpled, in his chair next to Uncle Mutt. The older man put one withered hand over Mutt's, as though to say, Don't joke with me, son.
“Y'all know I ain't one to mince words. I been to the doctors in Houston. I got brain cancer, and it's spreading. I got maybe a few months, that's all. And I ain't gonna have all of y'all bickering and sniping the last time we're together while I'm alive.”
I felt shock and distress at this announcement, but I hadn't known Uncle Mutt my whole life-these people had. I glanced across the table at Bob Don-his face was ashen. I wanted to reach out to him in reassurance, but he was too far down the table. I kept my hands folded in my lap.
“Oh, God, Uncle Mutt-” Bob Don tried, but couldn't speak.
“Oh, Uncle Mutt, no-” Aunt Sass finally seemed speechless; the back of her hand was pressed against her lips and she shot a wild look toward Aubrey, who remained mortally silent. Next to me, Aunt Lolly began to cry. I took her hand, not knowing what else to do. She leaned against my shoulder. She was a spiteful old witch, but she was losing her brother-I couldn't help but sympathize with her.
“Why didn't you tell us before? How long have you known?” Tom Bedrich asked, his voice unchanged.
“For a while.” He smiled at his family. “Now, now, Lolly, don't cry. Y'all needed to know, so I've told you.” Lolly ignored his calm plea for strength; her nails practically dug into my neck as she shuddered with grief.
“What doctors? Where did you go in Houston? We can get a second opinion-” Deborah tried the next level of denial, but it didn't work. Her voice sounded like a weak child's whisper.
“Naw, honey, I been everywhere. I can afford second opinions from every doctor in Houston. I'm plumb MRI-ed out. It ain't gonna change nothing. I just hope God takes me before my mind starts slipping away.” He glanced at Lolly. “As is, I might lose my sight eventually from it. If I last that long.” He then smiled thinly and looked younger than his years. I couldn't help but admire his bravery in light of the circumstances. Mutt was everything Bob Don claimed-a real pistol. If he was afraid of dying, his family would not see it now. The only fear in the room seemed to be our own.
There was a long hush, broken only by Lolly's racked sobbing. She finally pulled away from my shoulder, her face damp with tears. “You'll come back to me, Emmett. I know you will. Just like Charles did. Maybe you'll be a nice kitty for me, or a bird that sings pretty. Promise me you'll come back to me, won't you?”
Uncle Mutt watched his sister with sadness. “I don't know, Lolly. I think I'm nearly ready for a rest. I don't got any complaints about my life-but maybe a little more time would have been nice. Just a little more.” He cleared his throat. “I told Rufus and Wendy already-”
“You told your help before you told us?” Aunt Sass exploded. Her face reddened in anger. “I can't believe you told that drunken coonass and-”
“Quiet!” Uncle Mutt bellowed. He leveled a hard glance at Sass. “You just hush about them, Sass. Rufus and Wendy have been wonderful to me. They live here, they see me every day. And not everybody at this table can make the same claim.”
Sass wasn't daunted, and she ignored Bob Don's plea to calm down. “Oh, so we don't live on your stupid island, we don't get as much consideration as the hired help?” I couldn't tell if anger or grief-or a combination of both- fueled her voice.
“I've known Rufus for fifty years. He's my oldest friend-”
Sass gulped at her Scotch. I saw her hand tremble. “Blood's thicker, Uncle Mutt.” Is it? I wondered. No one had embraced him. They all seemed frozen.
Sass continued:. “And then to put that little tramp-”
Uncle Mutt's fist thundered down on the table. “Hush! I won't have you talking about Wendy that way! Shut up right now!”
“Mother,” Aubrey ventured quietly, “I think we all need to take a rejuvenating, deep-lung breath, don't you?”
“Aubrey,” Sass said slowly, covering her face with her hands, “be quiet or I will slap the tar out of you. I don't want a rejuvenating breath. I don't want to deep-lung anything. Shut up.”
“Oh,” Lolly moaned. “Y'all stop bickering. I feel sick.” Philip got up and murmured to his aunt; no one else seemed overly alarmed by Lolly's illness-I wondered if she was the clan hypochondriac. Or perhaps they were too stunned after Mutt's showstopper announcement or no one felt particularly kindhearted toward her after her vicious monologue. I was bothered, though-Lolly's hand was pressed to her chest and she kept blinking, as though trying to clear her vision.
“I'm sorry, Lolly. I shouldn't have made it a shock to you-” Uncle Mutt stood. “Wendy!” he called.
The young woman who had been in the kitchen with Uncle Mutt ventured out into the dining room. I hadn't seen her since we started eating-the superb dinner had been set out on the sideboard buffet-style, and we'd all helped ourselves. But there was no doubt that she would have heard Sass's nasty comments.