At Last (The Idle Point, Maine Stories)(9)

Del stepped between the woman and child. "I'll show her, thank you kindly."

"You're busy," Ruth said, the nervous smile flickering. "Besides, I love having a little girl around."

"If you don't mind me saying so, missus, Mr. Chase doesn't feel the same way."

Ruth waved her hand in the air. "He's all bluster, Del. Surely you know that. He's just one for schedules and appointments. I wouldn't worry about him."

"I wouldn't either if he was my husband," Del said although that wasn't entirely true. He was the kind of man who demanded obedience from everyone. "I need this job, Mrs. Chase. I can't afford to make him angry."

She didn't wait for an answer. She turned instead and shooed Gracie into the house for cookies and milk.





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By the time Gracie settled in at the kitchen table, Noah had finished his milk and cookies and gone upstairs to play. Gracie painstakingly colored some pictures in the Barbie coloring book Gramma Del had given her for her last birthday, but secretly she was listening for Noah. The house was as big as the school where she went to kindergarten, almost as big as the food store on Main Street. You could fit her room at home into the bathroom and still have space enough for the kitchen and hallway too.

She'd never thought about what it meant to be rich. Gramma Del and Daddy said the Chases were rich and that they were poor and when she asked why, her daddy had just said, "Because that's the way it's always been," and opened another bottle. It was very quiet in the Chase house. The only sound was Gramma Del singing to herself as she washed lettuce at the sink and sliced red, juicy tomatoes.

"Can I play with Noah?" she asked, pushing away the coloring book.

"You stay right here and keep me company," Gramma said.

"I want to watch cartoons."

"You'll watch cartoons when we go home."

"The cartoons'll be over when we get home."

"Then read one of your story books, Graciela. I'll be finished here in two shakes of a lamb's tail."

She didn't want to read a storybook. She wanted to find Noah and watch cartoons and turn somersaults down the long hallway.

"Does Noah have a puppy?" she asked, swinging her legs back and forth.

"No puppies," said Gramma.

"Bet he has kittens," she said. "Lots and lots of kittens." She would fill up the big house with puppies and kittens and parakeets.

"No puppies, no kittens." Gramma wiped her hands on the dishrag tucked into the waistband of her apron and turned toward Gracie. "Mr. Chase doesn't like disruption."

"What does that mean?"

"It means he doesn't like dogs or cats or nosy little girls who should mind their own business."

"Is he a bad man?"

"He's a man," Gramma said with a sour look on her face. "That's all you need to know."





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Most days Mrs. Chase was there waiting at the bottom of the school steps for Gracie and Noah. She had asked Gracie to call her Aunt Ruth, but Gramma Del had said, "Not while I'm breathing," and that was that. Gracie had been afraid that Mrs. Chase would be angry but Noah's mommy never seemed to be anything but sweet and pleasant, just like all the mommies on TV. Nobody ever yelled in Noah's house. They all whispered. The air never smelled of cigarettes and beer. It seemed to Gracie that all the flowers in Idle Point found their way to Mrs. Chase and made the house smell like springtime. Gracie asked Gramma Del if they could have flowers too but Gramma made one of her faces and said she didn't have time for such nonsense. Then she bent down right in front of Gracie's nose and said, "Don't you go getting too big for your britches, missy," which puzzled Gracie for days.

She hated it when Mrs. Chase was busy and she sent that prune-faced housekeeper instead. The housekeeper didn't even hold their hands when they crossed the big street between the school and the post office. The only good part about housekeeper days was the way Noah always reached for Gracie's hand as they stepped off the curb and held it tight until they made it safely to the other side. Other than that, he didn't pay much attention to her in school or at home. She told herself she didn't care but that was only because she would die if he knew how much she wanted to be his friend. Everybody liked Noah. They all wanted to be his best friend and sit with him at lunch and nap next to his blanket in the afternoon. Gracie wanted that too but she didn't think it was ever going to happen.