Then she said, ‘Are you nervous about tonight?’
‘Very.’
‘Dorsey’s an idiot but he does well onstage.’ She checked the delicate silver watch on her delicate wrist. ‘Hey, lunchtime. You really scared me when you said you were scared.’
‘I didn’t say I was scared. I said I was nervous. Big difference.’
‘Well, whatever. So come on and have lunch with us.’
‘“Us” being?’
‘“Us” being me and Joel.’
‘Well, it’s tempting. I’m just so damned busy.’
‘There’s a very nice little restaurant about two blocks from here. And it’s “Take an Old Dude to Lunch Week.” I can find you a walker if you need one.’
‘The arrogance of youth. I’m forty-three.’
‘C’mon,’ she said, that slash of a smile always preceding a cynical remark. ‘You remember Joel. He’s always got really interesting bad news for us.’
And so he did.
Two
I’d seen family photos of them when they were young. Ted and Joel Bradshaw. There was no doubt they were brothers — they were virtual twins. And poor ones at that, growing up in a tiny white-frame house in New Hampshire, their mother working in a laundry and their father a philandering husband who stopped in occasionally between his benders and his shack jobs. But even then Ted stood tall and straight while Joel slouched. As a teenager Joel had been put in a psychiatric hospital for depression. The county had had to pick up the tab, he’d once told me, making his situation all the more humiliating.
I thought of the photographs as I saw him walk toward our booth. He was an impeccable dresser, a man who preferred good suits and shirts and ties to any other kind of attire. And though he’d gotten even better looking as he’d gotten older, he walked with his head down and still had the slouch. I always feel sorry for the very obese ones, the crippled ones and the deformed ones who have to cross streets in full view of cars waiting for the light to change. Many of them keep their heads down. They know they’re being judged and all too often found to be creatures of amusement or contempt.
‘Here’s a nice surprise. Great to see you, Dev. Sorry I’m late.’
‘Hey, Joel, it’s great to see you, too.’ Abby overdid it but that temptation was always there with Joel. You just wanted him to feel better about himself. All the millions of assholes in the world and here was a decent if troubled man who couldn’t seem to muster the least respect for himself.
He sat next to Abby and nodded to me. ‘I’m sure glad you’re in town, Dev. We really need help. I’ve been crunching all the numbers three times a day.’
He really did enjoy bad news. There was so little good news in his life, apparently, that his only succor was drawing energy from the bad.
I said, ‘It’s not over yet, Joel.’ He always made me sound like a cheerleader.
To the waitress, he said, ‘Steak sandwich and Diet Pepsi, please.’
‘Dorsey’s not a very good debater,’ I said. ‘I think Jess can turn everything around.’
‘I’ve never seen her this scared before a debate and she’s been in a lot of them. She knows what’s on the line. It’s never been this close before.’
And that was true. While Jess had never won with runaway numbers she’d always ended up with a two- or three-point win.
‘Isn’t Ted giving her his usual pep talk?’
Joel touched Abby’s hand. Sometimes when I saw them together I wondered if Joel had a crush on her.
‘He’s trying. But it doesn’t seem to be working. And I’m not sure he’s giving her the right advice. He’s back on the “maternal” kick again.’
‘Great,’ I said. ‘Him and his “maternal” bit. He finally got us to try it in one debate last election cycle — she got pilloried by the press and we went down two points.’
‘I love my brother but you know how he is when he gets an idea in his head. You really need to talk to Jess. Katherine flew in from college to be with her for good luck.’ A wan expression came over his face as he said, ‘Poor Katherine. I wish she’d meet somebody. She’s always gotten these painful crushes on older men. I think she has a bit of a one on you now, Dev. Jess was always trying to get her interested in boys her own age. But instead she’d fall in love with the UPS guy or somebody who was working around the house.’
‘That’s sad,’ Abby said, ‘but maybe she’s just compensating for neither of her folks being around very much. We thought of putting her on the campaign trail about five years ago but we could never be sure what she was going to say. That’s when I got to be her sounding board. She was a really lonely kid.’
‘I still think she could be an asset on the campaign trail.’ The only time Joel sounded as if he had the right to speak was when he talked about working on his sister-in-law’s campaign. In the D.C. office he was numero uno traffic manager. He had this ability to keep things moving. If somebody was a half hour late with a report Joel was standing at his desk. He had this enormous chart on his wall that he, along with most of the people in the office, called the Bible. He knew where everybody was for most of their twelve-hour days. What they were — or should be — doing. And if they needed him to stand at their desk or track them down by phone, so they could get their work done.
He’d had a failed marriage, two trips to rehab for alcoholism and several serious investments that had gone wrong. Ted’s offer to work in the Washington office was seen by most people as an act of pity. But they were wrong. Few Congressional offices worked as smoothly and efficiently as Jess’s office.
While Joel ate, the three of us gossiped about the latest D.C. rumors. Half of them were outright lies started by bitter enemies, but some of them were at least funny, especially a high-ranking congressman so fed up with the bathroom wait at a fancy party (apparently he was too drunk to realize there were two other bathrooms on the first floor of the mansion) that he pissed in a goldfish bowl.
It was always fun to hear Joel laugh. Even his eyes gleamed. The high drama and high silliness of Washington had given him his own world to play in. And find acceptance in. Even a few of the people on the other side — the ones who showered at least once a month and visited their dentists at least once a decade — admired and liked Joel. He’d also made a good number of friends through the Alcoholics Anonymous meetings that many Hill staffers attended. Joel went four times a week.
Abby said, ‘You know they’ll hit us with something at the debate. Have one of their questioners try to put Jess on the spot with something reprehensible.’
Joel said, ‘Dorsey’s people love hanging abortions on other candidates. In this district you’ve got almost a majority who are right-to-life.’
Abby said, ‘They also like that three-way thing.’
‘Wrong district. Won’t work here. Very conservative voters. That’s unthinkable to them. They wouldn’t believe it.’ He slipped out of the booth. ‘Well, if I don’t see you two before, I’ll see you at the debate. Thanks again for coming out here for a couple of days, Dev.’
‘My pleasure, Joel.’
After he’d gone, Abby said, ‘I’ve always wanted to date a boy like him. Just, you know, out of curiosity.’
‘What stopped you?’
‘Are you kidding? I couldn’t find any. I was in the wrong crowd.’
‘The curse of being a cheerleader.’
‘You’ll never let me live that down, will you, Conrad?’ But she’d started giggling.
‘You’re right,’ I said. ‘I never will.’