So Long, Chester Wheeler(29)

Chapter Nine:




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Personal

When we woke the following morning, things felt different between us. And not in a good way.

Maybe our relationship was only what it always had been for him. How would I know? I wasn’t inside that hard head of his, nor did I wish to be. But for me . . . it’s hard to explain. It felt almost as though I’d been standing outside my loathing for Chester in the few days I’d cared for him. Treating it all like an irritating game.

Now it didn’t feel like a game at all. Now it was personal.

I had been sleeping in my underwear for pure ease. I rose and pulled on pants, a T-shirt, and a heavy sweatshirt.

Chester stared at me the whole time.

“Now who needs a blindfold?” I said.

“I wasn’t looking at you like that.”

“What were you looking at me like?”

“Just trying to figure you out.”

“The answer is not in my underwear.”

“You sure? That seems to be a key puzzle piece with your people.”

“Shut up, Chester.”

It came out hard and cold. And strong. Even more so than I’d meant it to sound. He buttoned his lip immediately.

I got into the cupboard and took down a box of the cereal Chester liked. Basically crunchy sugar. I was just going into the minifridge for milk when he spoke up again, still in bed and under the covers.

“I don’t want cereal,” he said.

“What do you want?”

“Bacon and eggs and fried potatoes. And pancakes. And toast.”

“We’re in a Winnebago, Chester. We don’t have anything nearly that fancy with us.”

“I want to get out and go into a restaurant and eat.”

My feet stopped moving, more or less of their own accord. My right hand instinctively came up to my forehead and began massaging. I had a mean headache behind my eyes.

“I thought you wanted to get on the road and get miles behind us.”

“First I want a real breakfast.”

“You do realize how hard it is for me to get you from here to the wheelchair and vice versa, right?”

“You have to get me down anyway. I have to take a dump.”

“Chester . . .”

“What?”

“Could you please talk like a human being?”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, your majesty. Did I offend your delicate sensibilities? I need to do a number two. My bowels are moving. I have need of the powder room. People say ‘dump,’ Lewis. Deal with it.”

“Fine,” I said. “I’ll get behind the wheel, and we’ll find a coffee shop. And we’ll have breakfast, and you can use their bathroom.”

“Finally,” he said. “You remember who you work for.”

I got behind the wheel without comment.

I hadn’t bothered to hook up any utilities the night before. The water hose, the sewer hose had stayed in their places. We had run on the cabin battery instead of plugging into power. Because it had been dark, I hadn’t really been sure I knew how, and anyway the point was just to sleep.

I left Chester right where he was in bed and pulled out of our spot. I drove very slowly to the exit. Then when I got back to the street I turned east and drove.

Chester halfway sat up in bed and peered around.

“You’re going the wrong way,” he said.

“No I’m not.”

“You’re going east.”

“Right. I know.”

“We need to go west.”

“No,” I said. “We’re not going west. We’re going back to Buffalo.”

“Wait,” he said, his voice rising. “Wait, wait. Stop driving a minute.”

I pulled over to the curb and put the beast in park. I sat a bit, waiting for him to start.

“What’re you doing, Lewis?”

“I’ll tell you what I was doing. I was taking a very disagreeable, very awful man to see his ex-wife, thousands of miles away. I was getting paid to look after him, but all I really had to do was sit at his house for ten hours and then go home. The rest of it was just a pure favor. Just me trying to be a nice guy. But then this terrible man, he decided he could order me around, and pretty rudely at that, just because his daughter is paying me a basic salary. So now I don’t want to do it anymore. And it was always optional. It was never a job requirement. I make the same money whether I go or I don’t. So we’ll be back in Buffalo by nightfall.”

I reached for the gearshift, but he shouted to stop me.

“No, wait!”

I waited.

“Yes?” I asked after a time.

“Don’t go back.”

“Why shouldn’t I?”

“I won’t say stuff like that again.”

“I was looking for a little more.”

“How do I know what you’re looking for?”

“You will if you think about it. Because you’re a human being. At least, I assume you are, deep down in there somewhere. And you’d better start accessing your decent human side if you want to get all the way to Arizona and back. Think about it, Chester. What do I need you to say?”