Read Online Lark and Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips - Free Book Online Page A

hardly been out of this house except to the river or up and down Main Street in the wagon? Who says he wants to walk around? Who says he’s missing something? What’s so great about walking around on this earth, I wish someone would tell me. Social Services going to fix that, make it someplace a boy like him can walk around?
    Charlie can tell when I get to thinking about it. He’s got his back to me, cleaning the grill, but he looks over at me. “You feeling all right, Noreen?”
    The air seems hard to breathe, even in the restaurant. The heat presses right up against the big window, and the air conditioner over the door is gasping. “They might be right about that storm coming tomorrow,” I tell him. “My joints are paining me.”
    “Supposed to drop by forty degrees, cool off and blow hard. Rain in sheets, two, three days, starting this evening. They say half the town will flood. If they’re wrong, all that chili I made today will take up a lot of freezer space. Once the rain starts, we’ll have the city rescue workers in here, and the state people if they call them in. Noreen, you want to leave early?”
    “Think I will. The river is high. The alley will flood if it’s a major storm. It’s not like I haven’t been through it before.”
    “It’s what comes of living over there in the flood plain,” Charlie comments. “Want me to drive you?”
    “You’re the only one here. I’ll walk. I feel like a walk, unless Elise feels like a drive. Elise, you on break?”
    She nods. “I am, and I’m not going back to that store for a full hour. That idiot girl of mine was late coming in and she owes me.”
    Charlie’s in favor. “Fine. Why not bring everyone back here for dinner? I’ll wait table, treat you like prize customers.”
    “Not tonight. I’ll take some chili, and what’s left of the buttermilk chicken. Despite your faults, Charlie, you’re not a bad cook. Must be what keeps me around. I’ve got to be going.”
    Charlie reaches over, touches the face of the watch he gave me. It’s a strong, delicate watch, just the width of his big forefinger. He moves the band on my wrist, pressing and caressing at once. He took me to a jeweler to have it fitted just right, so it moves but doesn’t slide. “Right, it’s Sunday. You’ll be expecting Nick the gardener, coming by to fix things up. Mows on Sundays, doesn’t he? He takes an interest, does Nick.” Charlie shoots a glance at Elise, trolling for an ally, but Elise looks determinedly out the plate-glass window onto Main Street.
    “Nick? I don’t know what I would have done all these years without Nick, you being as occupied as you are. He’s like my brother.”
    “I didn’t say he takes an interest in you.”
    “Oh. You think he takes an interest in Lark? Well, Nick’s not blind, but he’s not stupid either. That’s just you, Charlie, standing guard.” Then I ask Elise, “How can I help being fond of him?”
    She shrugs, like it’s a real question.
    Charlie keeps on. “I’ve said it before. They all take an interest in Lark. The Tucci boys, and Nick is one of them, have run through a portion of the available girls and women in Winfield.
    Call it standing guard if you like. They’re family and not family, and they’re practically on top of you, all these years. That’s shaky territory, with those boys the ages they are.”
    “It’s all shaky territory. Show me territory anywhere around here that’s not shaky.”
    At the counter, Elise clears her throat and nods toward the plate-glass window. Sure enough, here comes Gladdy, in her summer hat. She has the look of a sparrow wearing a plate on its head, bobbing along in a quick step. “Here we are,” I tell Charlie. “I rest my case.”
    The door opens and the ring of the bell puts me in mind of Termite. One more sound that can’t tell what it means.
    “Afternoon, Gladdy,” Elise says. “Hot enough out there for you?”
    She waits a moment, to get her breath. Once in a while I