Wide Blue Yonder Read Online Free PDF Page B

with wreaths of hibiscus and offerings of food and tea and tiny bottles of Coca-Cola. Children in school uniforms lined up to sing songs. The plant’s managing committee strung a banner across the main entrance, WELCOME TO MOST FAMOUS AND BEAUTIFUL LADY . She had accomplished many solid, productive, useful things. She had done what she could. You did what you could, but there was still the rest of India. And there was still Uncle Harvey.
    Elaine said, “I know what Frank says about Harvey. But what do you think happened to him?”
    Ed did the cheek-puffing thing again and his eyes searched the ceiling, as if he needed a space clear of color in order to gather his thoughts. “Did you know that he was in the school glee club? Harve? Sang at all the assemblies. Tenor, I think he was.” Elaine must have looked impatient, because he raised a hand. “What I’m saying is he was as normal as pie. Just like anybody else. Or normal enough. Quiet. His brother, that was Frank Senior, he was the one everybody remembers. The war hero. Harvey was always sort of, ‘Oh, him too.’”
    The door to the shop opened, a customer. Elaine said, “Be rightwith you,” and Ed was left dangling in mid-story. Elaine tried to prod him along. “By the time I knew Frank’s dad he was pretty sick. I don’t remember him saying anything about Harvey.”
    “Oh, he wouldn’t. None of his folks liked to talk about Harvey. They had that old-time religion. It didn’t allow for making mistakes.”
    The customer came up and stood behind Ed, making a point of waiting for her, so Elaine was forced to shoo Ed away just as he was on the verge of becoming interesting. He said good-bye and took himself briskly out the door. But glancing out to the sidewalk, Elaine saw him becalmed there, hands dangling at his side, squinting first in one direction, then the other.
    When she drove home that evening she was cautiously pleased to note that the dashboard light was off, as it had been for the last couple of days. She fixed herself a sandwich, then contemplated the telephone for a melancholy time. Calling her ex-husband was a necessary first step. She had to get Frank’s nominal permission before she embarked on any enterprise involving Harvey. She had learned over the course of her marriage, and especially after it, that the simplest matters could grow tentacles of suspicion and intrigue if she failed to take into account Frank’s sense of his own sovereignty and territorial rights. If, for example, she wanted to arrange a birthday party for their daughter (back in the days when Josie would have tolerated such a thing), it was best to proceed by complaining vaguely about birthday parties and how much trouble they were. At the time of the divorce settlement he had made a video of the house and its contents, complete with his narration: “Here you see the front vestibule, which, due to floor tile I installed in 1989, has appreciated at least twenty-five per cent in value.” He wanted to know why Josie had insisted on getting a driver’s license at age sixteen rather than the more insurable eighteen; had Elaine put her up to it? Every transaction waslike negotiating with the North Koreans. No one had forced her to marry the man. She picked up the phone and dialed.
    Teeny answered with her melodic, three-syllable hel-lo-o that sounded like a door chime. “Hi, Teeny, it’s Elaine. I have a question for Frank, is he there?”
    “Elaine. How are you? I can’t remember the last time we talked. Ages. You just keep so
busy
.”
    Teeny’s way of annoying Elaine was to adapt a particularly gracious tone, tinged with sympathy for the fact that Elaine had to work for a living. “I’m fine, Teeny. Yeah, I have been busy. I’m sure Frank’s busy too. This’ll only take a minute.”
    “Oh, he’s out by the pool. He just loves that silly float chair with the can holder built in. Paddles around like a big old water bug. Hang on while I walk the phone out to him.