Read Online The Death of All Things Seen by Michael Collins - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Michael Collins
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Then she got to the reason she was calling really. Dad and Mom were selling their house and moving in with Sheryl. There were papers that needed to be signed and witnessed. There had always been an agreement that the house would be split between us, but then suddenly there wasn’t. They wouldn’t let me speak to Dad. I didn’t know what papers they were talking about. When I asked about what papers needed signing, Sheryl slammed the phone down.’
Joanne’s voice trailed off for a moment. ‘Sheryl has always had a way of making me out to be the bad guy .’ She made quotation marks with her fingers to signify the inconsequentiality and triviality of it. She was suddenly self-conscious. She looked at Norman. ‘Why is it the lives of others, or even our own, can mean nothing when we speak about them?’
Norman said softly, ‘I don’t believe that’s the case.’ In doing so, he advanced her right to continue.
Joanne nodded in a rallying sense of needing to tell it. ‘I wouldn’t have gone. I knew Sheryl, but Peter insisted. He hadn’t earned more than $12,000 a year adjunct teaching, and I could see he was seeking to find in Sheryl and Dave’s life a reason to feel more sure about his choices, when Sheryl and Dave weren’t to be messed with like that.’
Norman advanced the story by degrees. ‘So you went?’
Joanne nodded. ‘We went. Dave answered the door in a camouflage jacket. Sheryl had turned huge. She was in a church lady’s floral dress and pink slippers and busy in the kitchen. She didn’t say hi or anything. I saw Dad in a chair by the TV. He was already adrift of everything. He didn’t recognize me, and then he did recognize me, then didn’t again. He was sitting forward, watching a Bills game in a Bills sweater. Mom hardly said a word to me.
‘Dave started talking about Gulf War Syndrome. He and Sheryl were patriotic still, but in that rabidly anti-government way conservatives can get. Peter thought he saw an inroad when we had been there a half-hour and Dave hadn’t even bothered to take our coats. Peter had worked with veterans. He told Dave how he had used poetry to help with their PTSD, while Dave just wanted to talk about the NRA and protecting the Second Amendment. I could feel a disaster coming. Dave was talking to Dad and to Sheryl like we weren’t there. Then Peter said something about a constitutional democracy and the power of the ballot box, while just then Dave saw a doe and a fawn in the yard outside and pointed it out. Something about it struck Peter. I saw it then. It was a Thoreau moment he tried to write a poem about later, and then he denied it was about that Thanksgiving, when the poem, for Christ’s sake, was called “A Deer Comes to Thanksgiving”.
‘Peter asked Dave if he thought the deer had any concept of Thanksgiving. This was how Peter started his classes, asking open-ended, inane questions, while Dave just looked at Sheryl like they were sharing the funniest joke. Dave said, “First off, deer didn’t come over on the Mayflower , Professor !” That’s what they called Peter, Professor , like the Professor on Gilligan’s Island .
‘Meanwhile, Dad wanted a round of root beer floats for the kids. Sheryl said it would spoil dinner, but Dad got his way. I went down to the basement for the ice cream just to escape. Dave followed. He came up to me and said, “You know the problem with you? You need to get laid by a real man.” I had my head in the freezer. When I turned, I said, “I’d just as soon have you keep your opinions to yourself,” and he said, “You want to know something? Your sister is twice the woman you’ll ever be. What are you doing with that fruitcake ?” Then he reached into his pocket and presented me with a card. It turned out Dave was a card-carrying member of Promise Keepers . He explained it as a pact between God and men.
‘Upstairs, Sheryl’s middle daughter, Misty, was giving a command performance for Peter. I’d heard
Joanne’s voice trailed off for a moment. ‘Sheryl has always had a way of making me out to be the bad guy .’ She made quotation marks with her fingers to signify the inconsequentiality and triviality of it. She was suddenly self-conscious. She looked at Norman. ‘Why is it the lives of others, or even our own, can mean nothing when we speak about them?’
Norman said softly, ‘I don’t believe that’s the case.’ In doing so, he advanced her right to continue.
Joanne nodded in a rallying sense of needing to tell it. ‘I wouldn’t have gone. I knew Sheryl, but Peter insisted. He hadn’t earned more than $12,000 a year adjunct teaching, and I could see he was seeking to find in Sheryl and Dave’s life a reason to feel more sure about his choices, when Sheryl and Dave weren’t to be messed with like that.’
Norman advanced the story by degrees. ‘So you went?’
Joanne nodded. ‘We went. Dave answered the door in a camouflage jacket. Sheryl had turned huge. She was in a church lady’s floral dress and pink slippers and busy in the kitchen. She didn’t say hi or anything. I saw Dad in a chair by the TV. He was already adrift of everything. He didn’t recognize me, and then he did recognize me, then didn’t again. He was sitting forward, watching a Bills game in a Bills sweater. Mom hardly said a word to me.
‘Dave started talking about Gulf War Syndrome. He and Sheryl were patriotic still, but in that rabidly anti-government way conservatives can get. Peter thought he saw an inroad when we had been there a half-hour and Dave hadn’t even bothered to take our coats. Peter had worked with veterans. He told Dave how he had used poetry to help with their PTSD, while Dave just wanted to talk about the NRA and protecting the Second Amendment. I could feel a disaster coming. Dave was talking to Dad and to Sheryl like we weren’t there. Then Peter said something about a constitutional democracy and the power of the ballot box, while just then Dave saw a doe and a fawn in the yard outside and pointed it out. Something about it struck Peter. I saw it then. It was a Thoreau moment he tried to write a poem about later, and then he denied it was about that Thanksgiving, when the poem, for Christ’s sake, was called “A Deer Comes to Thanksgiving”.
‘Peter asked Dave if he thought the deer had any concept of Thanksgiving. This was how Peter started his classes, asking open-ended, inane questions, while Dave just looked at Sheryl like they were sharing the funniest joke. Dave said, “First off, deer didn’t come over on the Mayflower , Professor !” That’s what they called Peter, Professor , like the Professor on Gilligan’s Island .
‘Meanwhile, Dad wanted a round of root beer floats for the kids. Sheryl said it would spoil dinner, but Dad got his way. I went down to the basement for the ice cream just to escape. Dave followed. He came up to me and said, “You know the problem with you? You need to get laid by a real man.” I had my head in the freezer. When I turned, I said, “I’d just as soon have you keep your opinions to yourself,” and he said, “You want to know something? Your sister is twice the woman you’ll ever be. What are you doing with that fruitcake ?” Then he reached into his pocket and presented me with a card. It turned out Dave was a card-carrying member of Promise Keepers . He explained it as a pact between God and men.
‘Upstairs, Sheryl’s middle daughter, Misty, was giving a command performance for Peter. I’d heard
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