“Yes he does,” Troy said, putting his elbows on the table and raising himself. Troy was a little drunk. Maybe we all were a little.
“Why not?” I said.
“See? Sure. Les wants more. He’s like me.”
Nola was actually a pretty woman, with a kind of dignity to her that wasn’t at once so noticeable, and Troy was thrilled by her.
“All right,” Nola said, taking another sip.
“Whattt I tell you?” Troy said.
“I had really thought he was dying,” Nola said.
“Who?” I said.
“My husband. Harry Lyons. I don’t use that name now. Someone’s told you this story before, haven’t they?”
“Not me. Goddamn!” Troy said. “I want to hear this story.”
I said I hadn’t heard it either, though I had heard there was a story.
She had a puff on her cigarette and gave us both a look that said she didn’t believe us. But she went on. Maybe she’d thought about another drink by then.
“He had this death look. Ca-shit-ic, they call it. He was pale, and his mouth turned down like he could see death. His heart had already gone out once in June, and I had the feeling I’d come in the kitchen some morning and he’d be slumped on his toast.”
“How old was this Harry?” Troy said.
“Fifty-three years old. Older than me by a lot.”
“That’s cardiac alley there,” Troy said and nodded at me. Troy has trouble with his own organs now and then. I think they all moved lower when he hit the ground.
“A man gets strange when he’s going to die,” Nola said in a quiet voice. “Like he’s watching it come. Though Harry was still going to work out at Champion’s every day. He was an estimator. Plus he watched me all the time. Watched to see if I was getting ready, I guess. Checking the insurance, balancing the checkbook, locating the safe-deposit key. All that. Though I would, too. Who wouldn’t?”
“Bet your ass,” Troy said and nodded again. Troy was taking this all in, I could see that.
“And I admit it, I was,” Nola said. “I loved Harry. But if he died, where was I going? Was I supposed to die, too? I had to make some plans for myself. I had to think Harry was expendable at some point. To my life, anyway.”
“Probably that’s why he was watching you,” I said. “He might not have felt expendable in his life.”
“I know.” Nola looked at me seriously and smoked her cigarette. “But I had a friend whose husband killed himself. Went into the garage and left the motor running. And his wife was not ready. Not in her mind. She thought he was out putting on brakeshoes. And there he was dead when she went out there. She ended up having to move to Washington, D.C. Lost her balance completely over it. Lost her house, too.”
“All bad things,” Troy agreed.
“And that just wasn’t going to be me, I thought. And if Harry had to get wind of it, well, so be it. Some days I’d wake up and look at him in bed and I’d think, Die, Harry, quit worrying about it.”
“I thought this was a love story,” I said. I looked down at where the two men were playing an eight-ball rack. One man was chalking a cue while the other man was leaning over to shoot.
“It’s coming,” Troy said. “Just be patient, Les.”
Nola drained her drink. “I’ll guarantee it is.”
“Then let’s hear it,” I said. “Get on to the love part.”
Nola looked at me strangely then, as if I really did know what she was going to tell, and thought maybe I might tell it first myself. She raised her chin at me. “Harry came home one evening from work, right?” she said. “Just death as usual. Only he said to me, ‘Nola, I’ve invited some friends over, sweetheart. Why don’t you go out and get a flank steak at Albertson’s.’ I asked when were they coming? He said, in an hour. And I thought, An hour! Because he never brought people home. We went to bars, you know. We didn’t entertain. But I said, ‘All right. I’ll go get a flank steak.’ And I got in the car and went out and bought a flank steak. I thought Harry ought to have what he wants. If he wants to have friends and steak he ought to be able to. Men, before they die, will want strange things.”
“That’s a fact, too,” Troy said seriously. “I was full dead all of four minutes when I hit. And I dreamed about nothing but lobster the whole time. And I’d never even seen a lobster, though I have now. Maybe that’s what they serve in heaven.” Troy grinned at both of us.
“Well, this wasn’t heaven,” Nola said and signaled for another drink. “So when I got back, there was Harry with three Crow Indians, in my house, sitting in the living room drinking mai tais. A man and two women. His friends, he said. From the mill. He wanted to have his friends over, he said. And Harry was raised a strict Mormon. Not that it matters.”
“I guess he had a change of heart,” I said.
“That’ll happen, too,” Troy said gravely. “LDS’s aren’t like they used to be. They used to be bad, but that’s all changed. Though I guess coloreds still can’t get inside the temple all the way.”
“These three were inside my house, though. I’ll just say that. And I’m not prejudiced about it. Leopards with spots, leopards without. All the same to me. But I was nice. I went right in the kitchen and put the flank steak in the oven, put some potatoes in water, got out some frozen peas. And went back in to have a drink. And we sat around and talked for half an hour. Talked about the mill. Talked about Marlon Brando. The man and one of the women were married. He worked with Harry. And the other woman was her sister, Winona. There’s a town in Mississippi with the same name. I looked it up. So after a while — all nice and friends — I went in to peel my potatoes. And this other woman, Bernie, came in with me to help, I guess. And I was standing there cooking over a little range, and this Bernie said to me, ‘I don’t know how you do it, Nola.’ ‘Do what, Bernie?’ I said. ‘Let Harry go with my sister like he does and you stay so happy about it. I couldn’t ever stand that with Claude.’ And I just turned around and looked at her. Winona is what? I thought. That name seemed so unusual for an Indian. And I just started yelling it. Winona, Winona,’ at the top of my lungs right at the stove. I just went crazy a minute, I guess. Screaming, holding a potato in my hand, hot. The man came running into the kitchen. Claude Smart Enemy. Claude was awfully nice. He kept me from harming myself. But when I started yelling, Harry, I guess, figured everything was all up. And he and his Winona woman went right out the door. And he didn’t get even to the car when his heart went. He had a myocardial infarction right out on the sidewalk at this Winona’s feet. I guess he thought everything was going to be just great. We’d all have dinner together. And I’d never know what was what. Except he didn’t count on Bernie saying something.”
“Maybe he was trying to make you appreciate him more,” I said. “Maybe he didn’t like being expendable and was sending you a message.”
Nola looked at me seriously again. “I thought of that,” she said. “I thought about that more than once. But that would’ve been hurtful. And Harry Lyons wasn’t a man to hurt you. He was more of a sneak. I just think he wanted us all to be friends.”
“That makes sense.” Troy nodded and looked at me.
“What happened to Winona,” I asked.
“What happened to Winona?” Nola took a drink and gave me a hard look. “Winona moved herself to Spokane. What happened to me is a better question.”
“Why? You’re here with us,” Troy said enthusiastically. “You’re doing great. Les and me ought to do as well as you’re doing. Les is out of work. And I’m out of luck. You’re doing the best of the three of us, I’d say.”