Cody’s look was so
humble and filled with gratitude that Jason was embarrassed. How
lucky I’ve been, he thought. How privileged my life has been! He wondered whether he could consider having his
mother ‘lucky’. He was—mostly—sure she
loved him. Well, she was quite fond of
him, he knew that. But she was so
obsessed with silly things. Once he
might too have been fussed about the things she thought important. But losing Brent—having Brent!—had taught him different. All the stuff which made her so happy or
unhappy, it didn’t matter. What mattered
was right here in this town, this house, these people. His grandam, Eleanor, Lou, and Keith, even
though Keith was with Esmé tonight. This
city which had accepted and embraced him from the first day he’d arrived in
her.
His heart too full
to speak, he stripped down to his trunks and slipped under the bedclothes.
“Aren’t you going
to brush your teeth?” asked Luigi, mocking.
“Not if you aren’t. But you’re welcome to use my toothbrush!”
“Ugh! You might have a deadly disease!”
“Prolly have, you
plonker. Something vile. Scrofulosity.
Your teeth will drop out. Or your
eyes will swell and pop. No, I
know! You’ll be touched by the ugly
stick! No longer the beautiful Luigi
DiPietro, just plain, fat, hideous LuLu.”
“What happened to
all that guff about the Shady Acres Retirement home?”
“Oh, the ugly
stick’ll only get you if you brush your teeth with my toothbrush.”
“Then I won’t!”
retorted Luigi, firmly.
“Wise man! Oh fount of wisdom and insight, joy of joys,
heart of my heart’s delight …”
“Shut up, you
idiot.”
No comments:
Post a Comment