Did she sit like this in her husband’s lap?
Her husband’s name was Norman. He drove a Prius, from the first year Priuses were manufactured. He had a twin sister, Eunice said, who was developmentally disabled.
Liam set Eunice gently aside and stood up. “You should go,” he told her.
Louise phoned on Friday morning and asked if he could watch Jonah. “My sitter has up and eloped,” she said, “without a word of notice.”
“Did she marry Chicken Little?” Liam asked.
“How do you know about Chicken Little?”
“Oh, I have my sources.”
“I could strangle her,” Louise told him. “Tomorrow’s Homecoming Day at our church and I promised I’d help decorate. Dougall says just take Jonah along, but that way I’d be more of a hindrance than a help.”
“Sure, bring him here,” Liam said.
“Thanks, Dad.”
In fact, he welcomed the diversion. It would be something to think about besides Eunice. He felt the two of them had spent this past couple of weeks in some cramped and airless basement.
Louise was beginning to look noticeably pregnant. Thin as she was, she had no place to hide a baby, Liam supposed. She wore a short skirt and a skimpy tank top, and her collarbones stuck out so far you could almost wrap your fingers around them. Behind her, Jonah trailed listlessly with an armful of picture books. “Hi there, Jonah,” Liam said.
“Hi.”
“Are we going to be coloring again?”
Jonah just gave him a look.
“Someone got up on the wrong side of bed today,” Louise murmured.
“Well, never mind; we’ll be fine,” Liam said. “Should I give him lunch? How long will you be gone?”
“Just till noon or so, I hope. It depends how many others turn up. We’re in charge of decorating the Communing Room; that’s where they’re feeding the Homecomers.”
Communing Room, Homecomers… It was almost a foreign language. But Liam was determined to avoid any appearance of disapproval. “Is this like Homecoming Day in high school?” he asked in his most courteous tone. “People coming back who’ve graduated or moved?”
“There’s nothing high-schoolish about it, Dad!”
“No, I just meant-”
“This is for sinners who’ve come to see the error of their ways. Which is a far cry from graduating, believe me.”
“Yes, of course,” Liam said.
“I don’t know why you have to try and pick a quarrel about these things.”
“It must be my contrary nature,” Liam said meekly. He followed her to the door. “Did you bring any snacks?” he thought to ask. “I don’t have all that much around that Jonah will eat.”
“He’s got Goldfish in his knapsack.”
“Oh, good.”
He saw her out and then returned to the living room. Jonah was still standing there, holding his armful of books. They studied each other in silence. “Well,” Liam said finally. “Here we are, I guess.”
Jonah heaved a deep sigh. He said, “I don’t think Deirdre’s going to take me to the State Fair now.”
“Why not? She could still do that.”
“She got married.”
“Married people go to the fair.”
“But my mom won’t ever speak to her again.”
“That’s just talk,” Liam said. “You know how your mom talks.”
“I didn’t really like Chicken Little anyway,” Jonah said confidingly.
“You didn’t?”
“He cheats at soccer.”
“How can you cheat at soccer?” Liam asked.
Jonah gave one of his shrugs. “I don’t know; he just does,” he said. “It’s very inappropriate.”
“Well, tell you what: let’s read some of those books you’ve brought. What did you bring?”
Jonah held the pile out. Dr. Seuss, Liam saw, and another Dr. Seuss, and a Little Bear book… He said, “Good! You choose which one we’ll start with.”
Before they could sit down, he had to help Jonah out of his knapsack. Then they settled in an armchair, Jonah squinched tightly into the few remaining inches on Liam’s right side. Jonah was wearing gym shoes today, incongruously large red high-tops. They stuck straight out in front of him, and the left one kept knocking into Liam’s right knee. He really should buy a sofa, Liam thought for the hundredth time. The image of Eunice came to mind, and he had a sudden hollow feeling.
He was going to be one of those men who die alone among stacks of yellowed newspapers and the dried-out rinds of sandwiches moldering on plates.
He opened the first book on Jonah’s pile and started reading aloud. The Cat in the Hat, it was. He knew it well. His daughters used to complain that he read too fast and so he made a point of taking his time, enunciating each word and adding plenty of expression. Jonah listened without reacting. His small head gave off a heated smell, like fresh-baked bread or warm honey.
Hop on Pop. Green Eggs and Ham. Father Bear Comes Home, which Jonah interrupted halfway through to announce that he had to pee. “Go ahead; I’ll wait,” Liam said. He was glad of the respite. Reading with expression was making his throat ache.
When Jonah came out of the bathroom he didn’t return to the armchair but went instead to his knapsack, which was lying on the floor. He pulled out a plastic bag of Goldfish crackers and sat down on the carpet to eat them, selecting each cracker one by one as if some were better than others. It wasn’t clear whether he’d tired of Little Bear or was merely taking a break. Liam marked their page, just in case. He said, “Would you like to work on your coloring a while?”
“I’m done with coloring,” Jonah said.
“You finished the book?”
“I stopped liking it.”
“Oh.”
Jonah turned the bag upside down, emptying the rest of the Goldfish onto the carpet along with a shower of orange dust. “You know Noah?” he asked Liam.
“Noah in the Bible?”
Jonah nodded.
“I know Noah.”
“He made about a hundred animals die,” Jonah said.
“He did?”
“He left them to drown. He only took two of things.”
“Oh. Right.”
“He took two giraffes and let all the rest drown.”
“Well, he didn’t have a whole lot of room, bear in mind.”
“Where’d he buy gas?” Noah asked.
“Excuse me?”
“Where’d he buy gas for his boat if he was the only guy in the world?”
“He didn’t need gas,” Liam said. “It wasn’t that kind of boat.”
“Was it a sailboat, then?”
“Why, yes, I guess it was,” Liam said. Although he had never noticed sails in the pictures, come to think of it. “Actually,” he said, “I guess he didn’t need sails either, because he wasn’t going anywhere.”
“Not going anywhere!”
“There was nowhere to go. He was just trying to stay afloat. He was just bobbing up and down, so he didn’t need a compass, or a rudder, or a sextant…”
“What’s a sextant?”
“I believe it’s something that figures out directions by the stars. But Noah didn’t need to figure out directions, because the whole world was underwater and so it made no difference.”
“Huh,” Jonah said. He seemed to have lost interest. He licked the tip of one finger and started picking up the crumbs from the carpet.
Liam thought of pointing out that this was only a sort of fairy tale, but he didn’t want Louise any madder at him than she already was.
Eunice said that sometimes, she wondered if Mr. C.’s memory trouble could be contagious.