Earth Colors Read Online Free PDF Page B

edge of my bed eating that peanut butter and jelly sandwich, wondering how soon Faye might be ready to leave.
    She opened one eye. “What time is it?”
    “Six-thirty.”
    She closed her eyes again. The baby stirred. She drew Sloane to her breast.
    I said, “Everything go okay yesterday?”
    She smiled without opening her eyes. “Yes. Very well.”
    I waited. When she said nothing more, I said, “So you got the job?”
    “Well, not yet. We’re sort of discussing terms.”
    Sort of . “Oh. Good.” But that wasn’t good. It meant that she was being encouraged to persist with the airplane game. And it meant we would be staying longer. “Well, um, you know I have things to do back in Salt Lake City.”
    Faye didn’t answer. I watched her and the baby in the dim early light. If we did stay another night, she might lend me her pass, and I might get an uninterrupted visit to the Whitney Gallery, even a glimpse of the Natural History Museum. I reminded myself also that mine was the easier part of the job. All I had to do was hang out with the baby and tour interesting exhibits while Faye jollied the client. I imagined some arrogant, retired captain of industry with clicking teeth and presumptions regarding Faye’s
availability. I shivered. I wanted out of here for all our sakes. Then I remembered the strange phone call and said, “I forgot to tell you: Someone phoned last night while you were out.”
    “Who?”
    “I don’t know. Some drunk who wanted you to keep somebody named Willie from messing with a painting. He told me all about his family. He said he was a ‘faggot’ and he lives someplace in Pennsylvania.”
    “Mount Joy?”
    “I think that’s what he said.”
    “Oh. That would be Hector.”
    “That would fit,” I said. “Perfect name. Typecasting.”
    “Right. He’s an actor.”
    “A bad one,” I said. “Hector the actor. What a name. Was the painting the same one you mentioned when you came in last night?”
    She didn’t answer for a moment, then said, “I quit trying to keep up with Hector’s hallucinations years ago. He sees a lot of pink elephants.”
    “In college. That’s where he said he knew you from.”
    “Right. In college.”
    “He said he made you a connection. Is this how you know the Krehbeils?”
    “Sure. We had a class together.”
    “And who’s Willie?”
    Faye glanced at me sharply for a moment and then closed her eyes again. The baby’s lips relaxed as she fell back asleep. Faye disconnected and rolled over, putting her back toward me. “Wake me again at eight, will you?”
    I gritted my teeth. That meant she wanted me to watch the baby while she slept. I took a breath and said, “No, Faye. I want to take a walk.”
    “Take the baby?” She made it sound pitiful.
    I thought of all the times I had nearly fallen asleep in my classes from being up too late or too early with the baby.
    A soft gray light was filtering in through the window blinds. It had been at about this time in the morning that Sloane Renee had been born, though closer to the fall equinox than the spring. I had been with them both, holding Faye’s hand, and had watched her little treasure, her little life-changer, slide out into the world. How much more could I do for her?

    I gazed at Sloane, who was doing her cherub impersonation, and decided, one more time, that it wouldn’t hurt me to show kindness to this little person and that big person. I said, “Deal, long as you give me an hour in the museum without her later on.”
    “Deal.”
    So I finished my sandwich and took a shower and dressed, shifted the sleeping baby into the carrier that doubled as a car seat, bundled her up with extra blankets, then hoisted her, the car keys and the backpack, and headed out into the cold.
    It was a clear, crisp morning, the kind of air that freezes the hairs inside your nostrils. Just a few high clouds traced the sky. Watching the ghosts of my breath, I loaded the baby into the car and headed up Sheridan