Read Online Walking Across Egypt by Clyde Edgerton - Free Book Online

daughter and son-in-law might be willing to come live with Mattie if Robert thought that would be a good idea, though she, Alora, did not want to be one to pry. It was just that when a seventy-eight-year-old woman sat for six or eight hours in a broken chair then somebody in the family ought to think about doing something in the line of getting assistance, that it would be a drastic step to put Mattie in a rest home, of all places—somebody as mentally fit as she was. Robert had then called Elaine, who said Alora should tend to her own business. Robert had defended Alora and told Elaine she should spend more time with their mother because they were both women.
    "Let me fix everybody some coffee," said Mattie. She mentally checked off what she had to offer to eat: pie, ice cream, pound cake, fudge, peanuts. "Who wants iced tea? Or a Coke."
    "I'll take a Coke," said Robert.
    Robert, thought Mattie. Ladies first. I taught you better than that. "Ladies?"
    "I'd like coffee," said Alora.
    "Okay, I'll heat some water."
    "No, don't go to any trouble, Mattie."
    "It's not any trouble."
    "Tea, unsweetened if you've got it," said Elaine.
    You know what kind of tea I make, thought Mattie. "I think I've got some instant up here I can make," she said. "Robert, you say you want Coke?"
    "That's right."
    "Finner?"
    "Coke's fine. So you got hung up on the ladder?" he said to Robert.
    "Sure did."
    "That old wooden ladder from out behind the garage?"
    "That's the one."
    "You didn't check it out to see if it was rotten?"
    "Nope, didn't think to."
    "Mother, you need some help?" said Elaine, standing, starting to the kitchen.
    "No, I'll get it; you keep your seat."
    Elaine came into the kitchen anyway.
    "I got it," said Mattie. "You go back and sit down. Talk a little." Talk a little to the people you grew up beside but don't hardly ever speak to now that you got a degree, thought Mattie.
    "I guess you heard about your mama falling through the chair," Finner said to Robert, in the den.
    "Yeah, I did."
    "How'd you know about that?" Mattie asked from the kitchen.
    "Alora just told me," Robert lied. "Just a minute ago."
    "Well, it was right funny in a way," said Mattie. "I wadn't planning on telling anybody, but it got out."
    "The rocking chair?" said Elaine, pretending not to know.
    "Yes, the rocking chair—the one we just brought in. The dogcatcher fixed it. He's the one got me out. He come after the dog."
    "The dog?"
    "Oh, that's right, you didn't know about the dog."
    "How long were you in the chair?" asked Robert.
    "A few hours." Nobody had to know about "All My Children."
    No one spoke.
    "Well, Robert, how's your work going?" Alora asked. She was sitting across from him.
    "What kind of dog?" Elaine asked her mother in the kitchen.
    "Fine," said Robert. "Been a little slow lately."
    "A little fice," said Mattie.
    "You didn't call the SPCA?"
    Mattie thought about Wesley. "Where they keep the juvenile delinquents?"
    "No, that's the YMRC. The SPCA is the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals."
    "I wadn't being cruel to him. I just needed the dog-catcher. I can't keep up this place and a dog, too. You know that. I'm surprised I kept him as long as I did."
    "Mother, they would have tried to save the dog's life."
    "Here, take this Coke over to Robert and Finner and pour some peanuts out of that jar into this bowl."
    "Did you hear what I said, Mother? The dog will be put to sleep now if nobody picks him up within thirty days."
    "Why don't you go get him, take him home. You could use a dog. Here, the coffee's ready. Get those peanuts over there, would you? Pour them in here." The whole family hadn't been together with neighbors since Paul died, thought Mattie, and Elaine wants to talk about a dog. Mattie carried a cup of coffee to Alora.
    Alora was talking to Robert about the dogcatcher. "Well, Finner would've shot him sure as the world. We keep a loaded pistol under Finner's pillow. You figure it'll be night if you ever need one. And I take it