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Show Motherlunge a novel 168 "She okay?" "Eh," he said. "She's not gonna die, is she?" X. was staring at me, his legs spread wide as he sat ramrod straight atop the fat fulcrum of his diaper. "Everybody's gonna die. And Judith"-another coughing fit-"just has the flu." "Oh. Good." Jack came back in the room with a warm bottle for Xavier, who eyed it lustily as it came ever nearer, his bottom gums awash in the tide of incoming spit. "But anyway, you think I should call Mom?" "If you want," Walter said. "She might be too busy, but yeah. That'd be nice. Call your mother. And tell Pavia.. .tell her that for a visit, I'm thinking about the Fall. Give a kiss to the baby. Now goodbye." He hung up without waiting for me to say goodbye. "Dad says they're thinking of coming to visit in the fall," I told Jack, who was feeding X. in his (Jack's) lap. "Both he and Dorothy." "I can't believe he can wait that long," Jack remarked without looking up, "He hasn't even seen Xavier yet." "Well that's the point, isn't it?" I said irritably. "He's coming to see him. He doesn't know what he's missing yet." I looked at Jack in his knit shirt and Chinos. At least our parents don't wear matching sweatsuits, I wanted to say, though this was only half true I remembered with a pang. So with an inner flounce, I turned away from my estranged brother-in-law and his co-child, and I dialed my mother's phone number. "Hello!" she answered breathlessly. "Oh, darling, it's wonderful to hear from you." |
