Read Online Daddy Lenin and Other Stories by Guy Vanderhaeghe - Free Book Online
Authors: Guy Vanderhaeghe
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made a polite and minimal dent in my food, I excused myself, Mr. Koenig grunted, and I carried my plate back out to the kitchen. Mrs. Koenig was nowhere to be seen; her hunger appeased, she had disappeared.
The prospect of another dining experience at the Koenigs’ kept me on edge all the next afternoon. Around four o’clock I heard a knock at the door. This was surprising, my family never had visitors. I parted the curtains, looked out, and saw Sabrina Koenig on the step, visible to anyone who might be passing by, a brown paper bag clutched to her chest. I rushed to the door, wrenched it open, and barked, “
What!
” straight into her face.
She didn’t flinch; she grinned. “Hello, Billy Dowd, today’s your lucky day,” she said.
“Get in here.” The instant she crossed the threshold, I slammed the door, panicked somebody might see me and her together.
“Where’s the kitchen?”
I pointed. I didn’t know what else to do. She set off in her halting, wincing stride. After a few moments of bewildered indecision, I followed, found her unpacking canned goods, fresh vegetables, and a package of meat.
I asked her what she thought she was doing.
“Making a trial run.”
“Trial run of what?”
Sabrina toyed with the groceries, shifting them about on the countertop as if she were trying to arrange them in a pattern that matched the logic of her thoughts. “I thought I’d cook for you tonight. You like your supper, then we can work out a deal. Maybe.”
“What kind of deal?”
“Ma cashed your daddy’s cheque today. Fifty bucks. Which is way, way too much money. She took him to the cleaners. What is he, stupid?”
“Yeah. Pretty much.”
“I pinched the money out of her dresser, used some of it to buy these groceries.”
My mind was revving frantically, but it wasn’t going anywhere, was still stuck in neutral. “And what kind of shit are you in when she finds out you stole it?”
Sabrina dismissed that with a wave of the hand. “I’ve got a clean record as far as Ma’s concerned. She won’tsuspect me. It’ll get pinned on the twins. They deserve some payback; the creeps have been helping themselves to my babysitting money for years.”
“I still don’t get it.”
“Okay, so here’s what I was thinking,” she said, adopting the bright, chirpy tone in which things get explained to very small children. “What if I make you your suppers over here? I’m a decent cook, better than Ma. We can both eat pretty well on fifty bucks, and there’ll be a little cash left over for me. You know, call it wages. Plus, I get some peace and quiet for a few hours of the day. It’s a madhouse over there.” Sabrina faltered for a second at the comparison, probably recalling where my mother happened to be, then resolutely kept going. “And your old man has already paid for it all so he isn’t out anything. Just Ma. And she was screwing him anyway.”
I considered this. “Yeah, but aren’t they going to miss you at home? Wonder where you are?”
“It is to laugh. Everybody comes and goes just as they like at our house. Maybe you noticed that last night? No twins, no Jenny. Nobody gets missed over there.”
I had one more objection, a big one. “But someone’s going to see you. I mean, going in and out of here.”
Sabrina lifted her gaze to the backyard, surrounded by an eight-foot-high lilac hedge Mother never let Father trim because she said she didn’t want
anyone spying on her
. A Great Wall of China to hold the snoopy barbarians at bay.
Sabrina gave me a knowing smile. “I watched you leave last night, Billy Dowd. Weaving and ducking down the alley like some cat burglar making his getaway. Just so nobody would see you’d been at our place. You think I can’t dolikewise? Those lilacs will give me all the cover I’ll need. Don’t worry, your precious reputation is safe with me.”
I flushed and blurted, “You’re wrong. I wasn’t weaving and ducking because –”
She cut me off.
The prospect of another dining experience at the Koenigs’ kept me on edge all the next afternoon. Around four o’clock I heard a knock at the door. This was surprising, my family never had visitors. I parted the curtains, looked out, and saw Sabrina Koenig on the step, visible to anyone who might be passing by, a brown paper bag clutched to her chest. I rushed to the door, wrenched it open, and barked, “
What!
” straight into her face.
She didn’t flinch; she grinned. “Hello, Billy Dowd, today’s your lucky day,” she said.
“Get in here.” The instant she crossed the threshold, I slammed the door, panicked somebody might see me and her together.
“Where’s the kitchen?”
I pointed. I didn’t know what else to do. She set off in her halting, wincing stride. After a few moments of bewildered indecision, I followed, found her unpacking canned goods, fresh vegetables, and a package of meat.
I asked her what she thought she was doing.
“Making a trial run.”
“Trial run of what?”
Sabrina toyed with the groceries, shifting them about on the countertop as if she were trying to arrange them in a pattern that matched the logic of her thoughts. “I thought I’d cook for you tonight. You like your supper, then we can work out a deal. Maybe.”
“What kind of deal?”
“Ma cashed your daddy’s cheque today. Fifty bucks. Which is way, way too much money. She took him to the cleaners. What is he, stupid?”
“Yeah. Pretty much.”
“I pinched the money out of her dresser, used some of it to buy these groceries.”
My mind was revving frantically, but it wasn’t going anywhere, was still stuck in neutral. “And what kind of shit are you in when she finds out you stole it?”
Sabrina dismissed that with a wave of the hand. “I’ve got a clean record as far as Ma’s concerned. She won’tsuspect me. It’ll get pinned on the twins. They deserve some payback; the creeps have been helping themselves to my babysitting money for years.”
“I still don’t get it.”
“Okay, so here’s what I was thinking,” she said, adopting the bright, chirpy tone in which things get explained to very small children. “What if I make you your suppers over here? I’m a decent cook, better than Ma. We can both eat pretty well on fifty bucks, and there’ll be a little cash left over for me. You know, call it wages. Plus, I get some peace and quiet for a few hours of the day. It’s a madhouse over there.” Sabrina faltered for a second at the comparison, probably recalling where my mother happened to be, then resolutely kept going. “And your old man has already paid for it all so he isn’t out anything. Just Ma. And she was screwing him anyway.”
I considered this. “Yeah, but aren’t they going to miss you at home? Wonder where you are?”
“It is to laugh. Everybody comes and goes just as they like at our house. Maybe you noticed that last night? No twins, no Jenny. Nobody gets missed over there.”
I had one more objection, a big one. “But someone’s going to see you. I mean, going in and out of here.”
Sabrina lifted her gaze to the backyard, surrounded by an eight-foot-high lilac hedge Mother never let Father trim because she said she didn’t want
anyone spying on her
. A Great Wall of China to hold the snoopy barbarians at bay.
Sabrina gave me a knowing smile. “I watched you leave last night, Billy Dowd. Weaving and ducking down the alley like some cat burglar making his getaway. Just so nobody would see you’d been at our place. You think I can’t dolikewise? Those lilacs will give me all the cover I’ll need. Don’t worry, your precious reputation is safe with me.”
I flushed and blurted, “You’re wrong. I wasn’t weaving and ducking because –”
She cut me off.
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