Read Online The Faculty Club: A Novel by Danny Tobey - Free Book Online Page B

could have gone worse. I felt someone looking at me. The tables around me were empty, except for an old, lonely-looking man sitting by himself. He was staring at me with inquisitive eyes under folds of pearly skin. He had a bad reddish toupee. He didn't look away when I saw him. He held my gaze, and finally I went over and sat down at his table.
    "Having fun?" he asked pleasantly.
    "Not really."
    He smiled.
    "Me neither. I don't like parties."
    "That makes two of us."
    He chuckled, and then we sat quietly for a while.
    "Are you a student?" he asked, after a bit.
    "I am. I'm a law student."
    "Oh," he said, as if he had guessed as much. "So, tell me, why law?"
    "That's easy," I said. "My grandfather."
    "A lawyer?"
    I nodded.
    "And you're close?"
    "We were."
    "Oh." He studied my face. "He passed?"
    "Last year."
    "I'm sorry. What was he like?"
    I smiled.
    "Tall. Really tall. He scared the hell out of people, he could seem really serious, but he was a teddy bear. He had this smile that was mostly in his eyes. Kids loved him. The first time I saw his wedding picture, I couldn't believe it. He and my grandmother looked like movie stars. He was that handsome. People were drawn to him. He was shy, but people always came up to him. It's hard to explain.
    "When I was a kid, I used to sit in a chair behind his desk and watch him talk to clients. He knew how to talk to people. He could joke with them, get them to open up. When people were upset, he could talk them through it. He was always calm. His eyes told you everything was going to be okay."
    "I bet he was excited you were going to law school."
    "I remember when he was sick . . ." I was startled to feel my eyes welling a little. I tried to swallow it down. "He said to me, 'I'm sorry I won't be around to help you.'"
    "What did you say?"
    "I told him . . ." I paused, pinched my nose, and closed my eyes. "I told him he already taught me everything I knew about being a good person." Why was I losing it in front of this guy? Why did I have so many
drinks
? "I told him I remembered a time we went to a football game. This small man in a bow tie took our tickets. And my grandpa said to him, 'I know you. You've worked here a long time, haven't you?' The man said yes. My grandpa said, 'You used to stand over there, but now you stand over here.' You have to understand, this is the guy who tore the
tickets.
Hundreds of people passed him every day and didn't say a word. I sawit in that guy's eyes. It
meant
something. My grandpa was telling that man he
mattered
. That's the kind of person he was."
    I didn't know what else to say.
    The man considered me for a minute. Then he looked behind me and said, "I think your ride is here, Mr. Davis."
    I turned around. Behind me was the man from the house, Mr. Bones, still wearing his jacket and open-collared shirt. He put his arm on my shoulder and said, "Time to go."
    I stood, but I turned back to the old man.
    "How did you know my name?" I asked him.
    "I know everything about you, Mr. Davis."
    I felt a chill pass through me, a shiver.
    "I know where you live. I know what you do. I just wonder . . ." He said this last part quietly, almost to himself. He looked down at his hands on the table, as if I were already gone.
    "Wonder what?" I asked him.
    Mr. Bones was tugging on my arm now. He had the blindfold in his other hand. He was unrolling it to put it on me.
    "Wonder
what
?" I asked.
    Mr. Bones was trying to pull me away. But the old man looked up and met my eyes. The tug on my arm paused.
    "I just wonder if you want it badly enough," he said.
    The blindfold came over my eyes, and I was left to ponder that question in the dark.
    I never saw the person come out of the shadows in the hallway in front of my door, after my walk home from 2312 Morland Street. It must have been four or five in the morning. I really had no idea. I was freezing. My ears were ringing from the cold. I just feltthe hands close over my eyes, smelled the alcohol, felt the warm breasts