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Show 158 a doctor, well, so what, he was Helen's first boyfriend, nothing lasts, and he didn't kaa have relatives in Germany, so his people weren't killing her people, besides, they xaxx were killing Jews anyway, not Catholics. Red liked whiskey and cholcolate even better than wine and chocolate. "I'm fine," he told Bush. "So your family's going to make trouble for you about seeing a Polack. So whoever told you things were going to be easy." "Nobody," said Red. But nobody had ever told him they wouldn't be easy either. Red took Helen to the New York Lunch on lower Celebration where on Saturday nights you could get six hamburgers for a quarter so Red got a dozen and Helen ate one of them. Red wasn't used to giving up one of his hamburgers, but he liked Helen a lot and preferred when she let him know right out that she might eat one or two instead of saying she'd just have a bite or two of his because it v/as important for his stomach to know just how much it was going to get. After eating he felt better and told Helen that Emma threw her meat cleaver at him and v/hen Helen asked why he told her for the same xaaxaa reason Bush told the neighbors he was Irish. "Bush doesn't tell the neighbors you're Irish," said Helen. "Right," said Red. He wondered about French fries but didn't think he could afford them. "Don't worry," said Helen. "It doesn't matter. We love each other- " Red said, "Right." He looked at Helen. "She told me to never come back." "Right," said Helen. "Then who's going to help her pay the mortgage. " This Helen was no dummy. Red took her back to her house and played "When Jimmy Rogers Said Good-bye" and "The Yellow Rose of Texas." He sang everything he knew and then he sang it all over again. Afterwards they sat on the couch in the living room and Helen put her head on his chest and Red felt that deep, deep calm and knew he could go back home and Emma wouldn't say anything, he'd just wake up in the morning and have his coffee and oatmeal and hold storm windows for Whitey. |