The woman returns, doling out salad and straightening the plates and
utensils. “Plates out,” she says, and begins to slice the ham.
“How come Bobby gets bigger pieces than me?” asks the little girl, staring
fiercely at her brother’s plate. Bobby only smiles good-naturedly and ruffles her
hair.
“Because he’s older and growing more than you,” says the woman, “but if
you finish that, I’ll give you more.”
“It’s all right, Lucy,” Bobby says, “You’ll be as big as me soon enough –
right, Sally?” Sally turns to me, giggling, and I can’t help but smile too. Mr. Blink
takes his seat at the head of the table, patting my head as he passes. He still
smells of cigar smoke.
“How was everyone’s day?” Mr. Blink asks. I begin to eat the ham,
immediately warmed by the sweet, comforting taste of home cooking.
40
“Bobby broke my kite today!” Lucy exclaims.
“I was teaching you how to fly it!” Bobby says. “I bought some wood for
her tree house, too.”
“Have you started building it?” asks his mother between sips of red wine.
“We’re still drawing the plans,” says Sally. She pops a green bean in her
mouth, notices me looking at her, and smiles.
“How about you, dear?” the woman asks her husband. “How was your day?”
“It was nice,” he says. “I went golfing, got the car washed, and had a nice
shave at the barbers. Then I picked Beaver up from the pool.” He reaches over
and squeezes my shoulder. He lets his hand rest there, and I don’t try to pull
away. “How was your day, honey?”
“It was nice,” she says, She twists and pulls at her pearl earring, stretching
her earlobe and then allowing it to retract. “Very nice. I took a nap – a long nap.
I’ve missed those. I had a dream, you know, about Lucy and Sally. They were
knitting something… something… it was like something I tried to teach them
to knit once. Except in the dream they knew how to do it themselves. Do you