A Way With Words - Chapter 36
This chapter is taking a while to get right. I’m still working on the B part but I’m posting this half because it’s ready and it’s a bit long anyway.
August 1988
After the day he saw Lureen in the alley, Ennis was careful not to watch her when Don was around. At first he thought she was hiding her relationship with Color Separation Guy to avoid teasing from her co-workers. But on reflection, he didn't think the women at East West would be jealous if they knew Lureen had snagged him. What he couldn't forget was her expression of despair when she was in his arms. Why?
He was sure Jack Twist was the key to understanding what was going on with Lureen. He recalled the snatch of conversation he'd heard between Lureen and the East West bookkeeper his first week at the magazine, something about keeping "him" on her health coverage. Didn't Jack have health insurance through the law firm he worked for?
After a few days of watching and wondering, he looked up John Twist in the White Pages. He was listed on Cherry Street in Somerville. There was also a listing for L Newsome with a different number at the same address. He took out of his desk drawer the list of ten things he knew about Jack that he'd written early in the year. Seeing it reminded him of those months when Kaj used to call him at work several times a week, and he felt a pang. He shook his head and added to the list:
11. Jack has expensive bike and kit but knows shit about cycling
12. Has a Red Sox cap and knows shit about baseball
13. Jack and Color Sep. guy have similar looks
14. Lureen having secret affair w/ CSG. Why sad? Jack know?
That night he called one of the Cherry Street numbers. Jack sounded so surprised to hear Ennis' voice that he had to double check that he hadn't rung Lureen's number. Then he remembered that their phone calls had been going in only one direction.
He asked Jack right off if he wanted to go watch a cricket match on Sunday. There was a long pause. God, he really sucked at this. He should have started out with something standard like, Hey, how's it going? He thought back to all the times he'd heard Joe on the phone. Hadn't he learned anything from him?
"Sure," Jack said finally. "Where? I didn't know anyone played that around here."
"Franklin Park. I watched some Indians play there once." He paused. "Maybe Laura would like it. My girlfriend has to work, though."
"No, it'll just be me. What time?"
Ennis explained where they played and which T stop was closest to that part of the park. They agreed to meet on the Orange Line platform at Downtown Crossing if they didn't see each other on the Red Line first.
"Be sure and wear white," Ennis said before hanging up, "or they won't let you watch."
Jack was wearing a white button down shirt and khaki pants when Ennis found him on the Orange Line station platform on Sunday in the early afternoon. His jaw appeared to have two days worth of stubble, which meant he’d been clean-shaven at least once since Ennis had last seen him. He almost resembled the man in the wedding picture now, minus the smile.
"Sorry, these pants are the lightest ones I-" Jack stared at Ennis' black jeans and black MISSION OF BURMA t-shirt. "Asshole." The corners of his mouth twitched.
"Beard gone for good, then, I hope?" Ennis stroked his own chin when Jack looked at him quizzically. "I mean, it was looking a bit scruffy for a law office."
"Yeah, they made me choose: neatly trimmed beard or none. So I shaved it off, since it's hot now. But I don't touch a razor on weekends."
The train for Forest Hills arrived just then. It was crowded for a Sunday, full of families and tourists. The day was sunny and hot, so city dwellers who hadn't gone away on vacation, or couldn't go, were heading for green oases near the end of the Orange Line - the arboretum, Franklin Park, Jamaica Pond.
There were a lot of boisterous kids on their car, so by unspoken agreement Ennis and Jack moved to one end of it and stood holding onto a pole. Ennis watched a group of teenagers horsing around and was reminded of the day he and his freshman dorm-mates rode the T to Revere Beach.
"You ever been to the Arnold Arboretum?" Ennis asked Jack. It was a short walk from Forest Hills station.
"No."
Ennis suddenly regretted that he hadn't shown Kaj the arboretum. He was sure he would have liked it there. If he'd known that Sunday was to be their last day together, he would have brought him there instead of making him walk miles. They could've...
Jack hadn't expanded on his reply. Ennis glanced at their reflection in the subway car window and saw that he was looking back at him with a thoughtful expression.
"Not even on Lilac Sunday," Jack added.
"I went to that with my girlfriend one year," Ennis said, smiling a little at the memory. The event was always in late May, when the lilac blooms were at their peak. Ennis was pretty sure Jay had deliberately neglected to tell him that the tradition was to wear purple in the arboretum that day, just so she could take pictures of him all in black, surrounded by blooming lilacs and strollers clad in violet, lavender and indigo. None of those hues would suit Kaj, he decided.
"Does your girlfriend have a name?"
"Oh, uh.... Robin."
"Laura has a friend named Robin."
"Kaj had a dog named Robin." Ennis told him the Tamils' story about dogs being given English names in Sri Lanka ever since independence from Britain.
After that they didn't speak again until they got off at Green Street station.
"Can't believe I've never been here," Jack remarked as they reached the Glen Road entrance to Franklin Park.
"Where do you and Laura go to get away from concrete?"
"A few places. But never to this park."
Jack's vagueness only increased Ennis' determination to keep probing.
"Like where?" he insisted.
"Well, it depends on the day, doesn't it? The weather, and how much time you have."
He tried a different tack. "I live by Fresh Pond. You know it?"
"I know where it is."
Ennis barely managed to hide his exasperation. Jack Twist was maddening!
"I go for walks in Mount Auburn cemetery sometimes," Jack continued. "The entrance is just a few blocks from there."
A lump instantly formed in Ennis' throat. He hadn't been to that place since he'd brought Jay there on his bike after that visit to the hospital. It was the most beautiful cemetery he'd ever seen, with woods and rolling hills. Nothing like a graveyard. He decided to drop the subject.
They came around a bend in the path and emerged from the woods. Ennis spotted the cricket players in the distance, white on green. He'd approached from the opposite side last time; he recognized the trees he'd walked through.
The Indians were playing another team, one with a mix of races. It seemed like a proper game with two teams this time, not a practice. There were clusters of spectators, either standing and watching intently or sitting on blankets with their picnics and chatting. A few park benches faced the field and one was empty; they sat down on it to watch.
"So explain this game to me," Jack said.
Fuck. Why hadn't he done some research before they came? He could hardly remember any of the rules. The point of the outing was to solve the Lureen mystery, to draw out some information from Jack about "Laura." Now he really regretted never having learned to sail one of those little boats on the Charles. That would have been the perfect setting for this purpose, just them alone with no distractions.
"Um, the pitcher bounces the ball toward the batter and tries to make it hit that wooden thing sticking up behind him. The batter has to hit the ball and then he, well, runs to the other end of the field."
"And?"
"Uh... I'm not sure, actually. I was, well... I was hoping to learn the finer points today," Ennis finished lamely.
Jack frowned in confusion. "I thought you'd watched cricket here before."
Ennis looked back at the players, embarrassed. "Just once." He felt Jack's eyes on him, and his silence was the waiting kind.
"I watched Kaj play here in the spring."
He paused, waiting to see if Jack would follow up with a comment. He didn't. Christ, this guy had perfected the art of silence, making him fill it.
"They, uh, let me try hitting the ball with that canoe paddle bat when I told them I played baseball in college."
"What position did you play?"
"Catcher."
"I would've taken you for a pitcher," Jack said. "'Cause of your height."
Ennis looked at him sharply. "I was sure you didn't follow baseball."
Jack turned his attention to the players on the grass. "I don't."
Blowing up at him wouldn't get him anywhere, Ennis decided, so he changed tack.
"What made you decide to go to Rice?"
He watched Jack frown more deeply and waited. He could play this game too.
"This is going to sound stupid," Jack said slowly.
Ennis sat up straight on the bench, all ears.
"They had a good anthropology department, and we have family around Dallas. That's why my folks were okay with my going out of state. But mainly... because the name sounded exotic."
"Rice?"
"We never ate it. Only potatoes."
Ennis snorted with laughter. "You're joking!" He waited for Jack to laugh, but he just stared back dispassionately.
"The dudes expect spuds," Jack said matter-of-factly. "They're paying for a ranch experience and rice doesn't fit. So we only feed them potatoes, fried or mashed."
He'd meant he thought Jack was joking about choosing a college for such a ridiculous reason. Ennis did feel a spark of empathy, though.
"What did you give them to eat with the potatoes?"
"Venison. The guests thought we hunted it, but actually it was all roadkill."
"You mean... deer hit by cars?"
"The state police call the ranch whenever they've found a deer or an elk by the road, if it’s fresh. That happens most often in the fall, when the deer come down from the mountains and graze the grass beside the road. It stays green longer because of runoff. They mainly get hit at night. Soon as they get the call my father and uncle go right out. They gut it right there by the road, cut off the head, load it in the truck. Then they butcher it at home and freeze it for the next summer."
Ennis stared into space, picturing the bloody scene by the road. "That's cheating," he muttered.
"You can get a lot more meat that way than spending hours hunting, which we didn't have time for anyway. The guests are paying for an authentic experience, so you tell them what they expect to hear."
Ennis noticed that Jack alternated between the past and present tense when talking about the ranch. Kaj did the same when he told Ennis his surprising stories of Sri Lanka, but English wasn’t his first language and he made mistakes. I can't go back to where I came from, Jack had written. That was true for Kaj, and for himself but for different reasons. Why did Jack-
"You do what you have to do, say what you have to say to survive, Ennis."
"Someone's coming over."
The teams were changing places and one of the players had peeled off and was heading in their direction. It was Ravi, trotting toward them with a big smile. They rose to their feet in unison.
"Ennis! I never expect to see you here!"
"I didn't know you had joined a team. You look better in white than orange."
Ravi laughed. "I need this. I get a job in a nursing home. All day I am wearing ugly green!"
Ennis didn't need any explanation. He remembered what it had been like at the rehab center when his parents were there.
"Mister Twist!" Ravi turned to Jack, grabbed his hand and clasped it in both of his. "I thank you for everything!"
"I'm not your lawyer, you know," Jack replied. "And we didn't manage to win you asylum. It was Reverend Beers who got you out of detention."
"But you are helping me - both of you are helping me when you don't have to. You are my real friends."
Ennis glanced at Jack and went still at the sight of his straight, white teeth. Jack looked completely different when he smiled. His face lit up and he became handsome - every bit as good looking as the color separator man. And someone else. Ennis had to look away. That spring day flashed through him, when he'd come here and spotted Kaj lounging in the grass, his head thrown back, laughing, his throat a smooth curve, achingly beautiful. All the moments when he'd touched Kaj, both in life and dreaming, lined up and joined together. Bare sole on his thigh, fingers massaging his feet, elbow hooked around his neck on the bridge, palm sliding down his back, hand on his cock... lips and tongues meeting, rolling in his arms for a flicker of time. There was no puzzle here, no. The picture was a seamless whole, not isolated pieces he could explain away.
As he gazed in their direction, the men in white blurred into becalmed sails on a green sea, Ravi drifting back towards them to rejoin the game. Ennis' thoughts moved forward too, to Monday morning and the travel agency on the corner; to the calendar on his desk - it was less than a month till Labor Day weekend.
He was going to have to talk to Jay. The thought made him immediately queasy. He could feel Elliot's cold skin under his hands, saw Jay's paper mask soaked with tears. His heart began to pound. He couldn't... he shouldn't-
"You alright?" Jack's voice came from behind him.
He turned and looked down gratefully at his friend, who was sitting again and wearing his usual serious expression. Jack had pulled him back from the edge.
"Yeah." He heaved a breath and sat down. "Just... remembering something." He looked at Jack sheepishly. "My mind tends to wander."
He slept badly all week, thinking too much. Kaj had sent two postcards from Toronto - one of the CN tower, another of brightly painted old shopfronts along Queen Street. The messages were ordinary - the weather is nice here, I'm doing fine - but to Ennis they were a plea. Jay saw the cards, said she was glad Kaj was settled in a nice city.
He'd realized something important during that cricket outing in the park. But when he'd arrived back at the apartment, Jay was there. She told him about her day, and the funny thing that had happened while she was taking a weather shot in South Boston. When she asked him where he'd been, he said he'd gone to watch Ravi play cricket. They’d grilled a fish on the back porch, chatting with the neighbors who were cooking burgers on their own. It was so easy to live life as usual. Not to mention safer.
How had that song gone, the one her father had been playing at Thanksgiving? The danger on the rocks is surely passed / Still I remain tied to the mast... He’d grabbed onto her when they’d met, because the connection had been real, but he couldn’t deny now that fear had played a role. Are you good together? You’re not just playing it safe? Is this what Jason Fell had meant? But how had he suspected?
He had to tell her, but when? His stomach churned, just thinking about it. In a few days she'd be going to New Orleans to cover the other party convention and would return on the 18th. He would talk to her when she got back, not before. She was already going to be suffering from the oppressive southern heat and the close proximity of Republicans. At the end of the month she would be leaving to travel with the Dukakis campaign. The two weeks between trips would give her time to get over the shock.
"Ennis, what's the matter?" Jay turned over to face him and put a hand out to rub his shoulder. "You've been tossing and turning every night."
"Just..." He heaved a breath. "Just work."
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No."
"You should quit that job. It's not what you're meant to do."
He knew she was getting impatient with him for settling for his nothing job. But what was he suited for?
"We should do a book together about Boston, like I've talked about," she said. "I'll take pictures and you write it."
"Maybe." It's what he always said.
"Are you depressed, babe?" He felt her rise up on one elbow. “You can tell me.”
"No. Sleepy now, though." He feigned a yawn and turned away from her.
They both stayed awake for a long time.
Lyrics to this song...
About Lilac Sunday...
About Mount Auburn Cemetery...
Chapter 36b >>
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August 1988
After the day he saw Lureen in the alley, Ennis was careful not to watch her when Don was around. At first he thought she was hiding her relationship with Color Separation Guy to avoid teasing from her co-workers. But on reflection, he didn't think the women at East West would be jealous if they knew Lureen had snagged him. What he couldn't forget was her expression of despair when she was in his arms. Why?
He was sure Jack Twist was the key to understanding what was going on with Lureen. He recalled the snatch of conversation he'd heard between Lureen and the East West bookkeeper his first week at the magazine, something about keeping "him" on her health coverage. Didn't Jack have health insurance through the law firm he worked for?
After a few days of watching and wondering, he looked up John Twist in the White Pages. He was listed on Cherry Street in Somerville. There was also a listing for L Newsome with a different number at the same address. He took out of his desk drawer the list of ten things he knew about Jack that he'd written early in the year. Seeing it reminded him of those months when Kaj used to call him at work several times a week, and he felt a pang. He shook his head and added to the list:
11. Jack has expensive bike and kit but knows shit about cycling
12. Has a Red Sox cap and knows shit about baseball
13. Jack and Color Sep. guy have similar looks
14. Lureen having secret affair w/ CSG. Why sad? Jack know?
That night he called one of the Cherry Street numbers. Jack sounded so surprised to hear Ennis' voice that he had to double check that he hadn't rung Lureen's number. Then he remembered that their phone calls had been going in only one direction.
He asked Jack right off if he wanted to go watch a cricket match on Sunday. There was a long pause. God, he really sucked at this. He should have started out with something standard like, Hey, how's it going? He thought back to all the times he'd heard Joe on the phone. Hadn't he learned anything from him?
"Sure," Jack said finally. "Where? I didn't know anyone played that around here."
"Franklin Park. I watched some Indians play there once." He paused. "Maybe Laura would like it. My girlfriend has to work, though."
"No, it'll just be me. What time?"
Ennis explained where they played and which T stop was closest to that part of the park. They agreed to meet on the Orange Line platform at Downtown Crossing if they didn't see each other on the Red Line first.
"Be sure and wear white," Ennis said before hanging up, "or they won't let you watch."
Jack was wearing a white button down shirt and khaki pants when Ennis found him on the Orange Line station platform on Sunday in the early afternoon. His jaw appeared to have two days worth of stubble, which meant he’d been clean-shaven at least once since Ennis had last seen him. He almost resembled the man in the wedding picture now, minus the smile.
"Sorry, these pants are the lightest ones I-" Jack stared at Ennis' black jeans and black MISSION OF BURMA t-shirt. "Asshole." The corners of his mouth twitched.
"Beard gone for good, then, I hope?" Ennis stroked his own chin when Jack looked at him quizzically. "I mean, it was looking a bit scruffy for a law office."
"Yeah, they made me choose: neatly trimmed beard or none. So I shaved it off, since it's hot now. But I don't touch a razor on weekends."
The train for Forest Hills arrived just then. It was crowded for a Sunday, full of families and tourists. The day was sunny and hot, so city dwellers who hadn't gone away on vacation, or couldn't go, were heading for green oases near the end of the Orange Line - the arboretum, Franklin Park, Jamaica Pond.
There were a lot of boisterous kids on their car, so by unspoken agreement Ennis and Jack moved to one end of it and stood holding onto a pole. Ennis watched a group of teenagers horsing around and was reminded of the day he and his freshman dorm-mates rode the T to Revere Beach.
"You ever been to the Arnold Arboretum?" Ennis asked Jack. It was a short walk from Forest Hills station.
"No."
Ennis suddenly regretted that he hadn't shown Kaj the arboretum. He was sure he would have liked it there. If he'd known that Sunday was to be their last day together, he would have brought him there instead of making him walk miles. They could've...
Jack hadn't expanded on his reply. Ennis glanced at their reflection in the subway car window and saw that he was looking back at him with a thoughtful expression.
"Not even on Lilac Sunday," Jack added.
"I went to that with my girlfriend one year," Ennis said, smiling a little at the memory. The event was always in late May, when the lilac blooms were at their peak. Ennis was pretty sure Jay had deliberately neglected to tell him that the tradition was to wear purple in the arboretum that day, just so she could take pictures of him all in black, surrounded by blooming lilacs and strollers clad in violet, lavender and indigo. None of those hues would suit Kaj, he decided.
"Does your girlfriend have a name?"
"Oh, uh.... Robin."
"Laura has a friend named Robin."
"Kaj had a dog named Robin." Ennis told him the Tamils' story about dogs being given English names in Sri Lanka ever since independence from Britain.
After that they didn't speak again until they got off at Green Street station.
"Can't believe I've never been here," Jack remarked as they reached the Glen Road entrance to Franklin Park.
"Where do you and Laura go to get away from concrete?"
"A few places. But never to this park."
Jack's vagueness only increased Ennis' determination to keep probing.
"Like where?" he insisted.
"Well, it depends on the day, doesn't it? The weather, and how much time you have."
He tried a different tack. "I live by Fresh Pond. You know it?"
"I know where it is."
Ennis barely managed to hide his exasperation. Jack Twist was maddening!
"I go for walks in Mount Auburn cemetery sometimes," Jack continued. "The entrance is just a few blocks from there."
A lump instantly formed in Ennis' throat. He hadn't been to that place since he'd brought Jay there on his bike after that visit to the hospital. It was the most beautiful cemetery he'd ever seen, with woods and rolling hills. Nothing like a graveyard. He decided to drop the subject.
They came around a bend in the path and emerged from the woods. Ennis spotted the cricket players in the distance, white on green. He'd approached from the opposite side last time; he recognized the trees he'd walked through.
The Indians were playing another team, one with a mix of races. It seemed like a proper game with two teams this time, not a practice. There were clusters of spectators, either standing and watching intently or sitting on blankets with their picnics and chatting. A few park benches faced the field and one was empty; they sat down on it to watch.
"So explain this game to me," Jack said.
Fuck. Why hadn't he done some research before they came? He could hardly remember any of the rules. The point of the outing was to solve the Lureen mystery, to draw out some information from Jack about "Laura." Now he really regretted never having learned to sail one of those little boats on the Charles. That would have been the perfect setting for this purpose, just them alone with no distractions.
"Um, the pitcher bounces the ball toward the batter and tries to make it hit that wooden thing sticking up behind him. The batter has to hit the ball and then he, well, runs to the other end of the field."
"And?"
"Uh... I'm not sure, actually. I was, well... I was hoping to learn the finer points today," Ennis finished lamely.
Jack frowned in confusion. "I thought you'd watched cricket here before."
Ennis looked back at the players, embarrassed. "Just once." He felt Jack's eyes on him, and his silence was the waiting kind.
"I watched Kaj play here in the spring."
He paused, waiting to see if Jack would follow up with a comment. He didn't. Christ, this guy had perfected the art of silence, making him fill it.
"They, uh, let me try hitting the ball with that canoe paddle bat when I told them I played baseball in college."
"What position did you play?"
"Catcher."
"I would've taken you for a pitcher," Jack said. "'Cause of your height."
Ennis looked at him sharply. "I was sure you didn't follow baseball."
Jack turned his attention to the players on the grass. "I don't."
Blowing up at him wouldn't get him anywhere, Ennis decided, so he changed tack.
"What made you decide to go to Rice?"
He watched Jack frown more deeply and waited. He could play this game too.
"This is going to sound stupid," Jack said slowly.
Ennis sat up straight on the bench, all ears.
"They had a good anthropology department, and we have family around Dallas. That's why my folks were okay with my going out of state. But mainly... because the name sounded exotic."
"Rice?"
"We never ate it. Only potatoes."
Ennis snorted with laughter. "You're joking!" He waited for Jack to laugh, but he just stared back dispassionately.
"The dudes expect spuds," Jack said matter-of-factly. "They're paying for a ranch experience and rice doesn't fit. So we only feed them potatoes, fried or mashed."
He'd meant he thought Jack was joking about choosing a college for such a ridiculous reason. Ennis did feel a spark of empathy, though.
"What did you give them to eat with the potatoes?"
"Venison. The guests thought we hunted it, but actually it was all roadkill."
"You mean... deer hit by cars?"
"The state police call the ranch whenever they've found a deer or an elk by the road, if it’s fresh. That happens most often in the fall, when the deer come down from the mountains and graze the grass beside the road. It stays green longer because of runoff. They mainly get hit at night. Soon as they get the call my father and uncle go right out. They gut it right there by the road, cut off the head, load it in the truck. Then they butcher it at home and freeze it for the next summer."
Ennis stared into space, picturing the bloody scene by the road. "That's cheating," he muttered.
"You can get a lot more meat that way than spending hours hunting, which we didn't have time for anyway. The guests are paying for an authentic experience, so you tell them what they expect to hear."
Ennis noticed that Jack alternated between the past and present tense when talking about the ranch. Kaj did the same when he told Ennis his surprising stories of Sri Lanka, but English wasn’t his first language and he made mistakes. I can't go back to where I came from, Jack had written. That was true for Kaj, and for himself but for different reasons. Why did Jack-
"You do what you have to do, say what you have to say to survive, Ennis."
"Someone's coming over."
The teams were changing places and one of the players had peeled off and was heading in their direction. It was Ravi, trotting toward them with a big smile. They rose to their feet in unison.
"Ennis! I never expect to see you here!"
"I didn't know you had joined a team. You look better in white than orange."
Ravi laughed. "I need this. I get a job in a nursing home. All day I am wearing ugly green!"
Ennis didn't need any explanation. He remembered what it had been like at the rehab center when his parents were there.
"Mister Twist!" Ravi turned to Jack, grabbed his hand and clasped it in both of his. "I thank you for everything!"
"I'm not your lawyer, you know," Jack replied. "And we didn't manage to win you asylum. It was Reverend Beers who got you out of detention."
"But you are helping me - both of you are helping me when you don't have to. You are my real friends."
Ennis glanced at Jack and went still at the sight of his straight, white teeth. Jack looked completely different when he smiled. His face lit up and he became handsome - every bit as good looking as the color separator man. And someone else. Ennis had to look away. That spring day flashed through him, when he'd come here and spotted Kaj lounging in the grass, his head thrown back, laughing, his throat a smooth curve, achingly beautiful. All the moments when he'd touched Kaj, both in life and dreaming, lined up and joined together. Bare sole on his thigh, fingers massaging his feet, elbow hooked around his neck on the bridge, palm sliding down his back, hand on his cock... lips and tongues meeting, rolling in his arms for a flicker of time. There was no puzzle here, no. The picture was a seamless whole, not isolated pieces he could explain away.
As he gazed in their direction, the men in white blurred into becalmed sails on a green sea, Ravi drifting back towards them to rejoin the game. Ennis' thoughts moved forward too, to Monday morning and the travel agency on the corner; to the calendar on his desk - it was less than a month till Labor Day weekend.
He was going to have to talk to Jay. The thought made him immediately queasy. He could feel Elliot's cold skin under his hands, saw Jay's paper mask soaked with tears. His heart began to pound. He couldn't... he shouldn't-
"You alright?" Jack's voice came from behind him.
He turned and looked down gratefully at his friend, who was sitting again and wearing his usual serious expression. Jack had pulled him back from the edge.
"Yeah." He heaved a breath and sat down. "Just... remembering something." He looked at Jack sheepishly. "My mind tends to wander."
He slept badly all week, thinking too much. Kaj had sent two postcards from Toronto - one of the CN tower, another of brightly painted old shopfronts along Queen Street. The messages were ordinary - the weather is nice here, I'm doing fine - but to Ennis they were a plea. Jay saw the cards, said she was glad Kaj was settled in a nice city.
He'd realized something important during that cricket outing in the park. But when he'd arrived back at the apartment, Jay was there. She told him about her day, and the funny thing that had happened while she was taking a weather shot in South Boston. When she asked him where he'd been, he said he'd gone to watch Ravi play cricket. They’d grilled a fish on the back porch, chatting with the neighbors who were cooking burgers on their own. It was so easy to live life as usual. Not to mention safer.
How had that song gone, the one her father had been playing at Thanksgiving? The danger on the rocks is surely passed / Still I remain tied to the mast... He’d grabbed onto her when they’d met, because the connection had been real, but he couldn’t deny now that fear had played a role. Are you good together? You’re not just playing it safe? Is this what Jason Fell had meant? But how had he suspected?
He had to tell her, but when? His stomach churned, just thinking about it. In a few days she'd be going to New Orleans to cover the other party convention and would return on the 18th. He would talk to her when she got back, not before. She was already going to be suffering from the oppressive southern heat and the close proximity of Republicans. At the end of the month she would be leaving to travel with the Dukakis campaign. The two weeks between trips would give her time to get over the shock.
"Ennis, what's the matter?" Jay turned over to face him and put a hand out to rub his shoulder. "You've been tossing and turning every night."
"Just..." He heaved a breath. "Just work."
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No."
"You should quit that job. It's not what you're meant to do."
He knew she was getting impatient with him for settling for his nothing job. But what was he suited for?
"We should do a book together about Boston, like I've talked about," she said. "I'll take pictures and you write it."
"Maybe." It's what he always said.
"Are you depressed, babe?" He felt her rise up on one elbow. “You can tell me.”
"No. Sleepy now, though." He feigned a yawn and turned away from her.
They both stayed awake for a long time.
Click to viewLyrics to this song...
About Lilac Sunday...
About Mount Auburn Cemetery...
Chapter 36b >>
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