Winter Loon(71)

“I need Wes to come home. I don’t want to be there by myself when Gip shows up. I’m too old for this shit.” Her face drooped. The knit sweater she wore over her housedress was buttoned lopsided. Her thick stockings sagged at the knees. She was dissolving into a puddle of old age.

“Let’s get you home,” I said.

“You two going to be okay?” Mona asked.

What could I say? I shook my head and shrugged.

“You sure you don’t want some tea or coffee? I can put a pot on,” Mona said.

Ruby looked like a kitten in a box. I could tell she didn’t know what to make of this kindness. She was the center of attention, surrounded by people who would help her if she asked, despite the fact she’d never shown kindness to them. How long had it been since anyone showed her real concern?

“Don’t want to be a burden on you all. Just want this over. Want to be in my own home.” She stood up and handed me the keys. “I thank you for offering, though.”

“I’ll walk them out,” Jolene said.

We got Ruby settled. I hugged Jolene and kissed her forehead. “Sorry about all this,” I said.

“Don’t be. It’s okay. Call me when you hear anything.”

As we pulled away, Jolene raised her hand and waved. Ruby stared at her. “They’re good people, aren’t they,” she said.

“Yes. They are.”

Ruby said to wake her up when Gip came home. I slept on the couch. My plan was to call the cops if Gip came in. He never showed.



THE NEXT NIGHT, JOLENE CAME over with dinner Mona had made for the two of us. “I wanted to bring it by before Ruby got home from work. She probably doesn’t want me here much.”

“It’s okay. Stay. She won’t care.”

I was right. Ruby walked in looking ten years older. She set her purse by the door, turned on the television, and sat down in the recliner.

“Jolene brought dinner by, Ruby. Mona made it.”

“Not hungry. Tired, yes. Hungry, no. Any word from your grandfather?” She pushed backward. Her feet went up and her eyes closed like a doll’s.

“Nothing,” I said.

Ruby had been sleeping in the recliner for an hour when the phone rang. She bolted upright. “Don’t you get that. I got it.”

Our side of the conversation was only “yes” and “yup” until Ruby put the phone back in the cradle. “Gip was at the Covered Wagon. Bartender there said he was drunk as a skunk. I best go get him.”

“Let me go with you.”

“Fine. But I’m driving.” The keys were already in her hand.

I rolled my eyes at Jolene.

“Should we call the police or something?” Jolene asked.

Ruby was already out the door.

“Would you tell Mona and Troy? I think we’re going to need help.”

When we got outside, all that was left of the Plymouth was taillights. Ruby was gone.



I WENT WITH JOLENE BACK to her house for reinforcements. Troy piled into the Bronco, and the three of us drove through town. Troy said we probably ought to go to the police station, but we never made it that far. The Plymouth was up on a curb on a side street, a tow truck maneuvering behind it. Two cop cars were stopped in the street, their blue lights strobing the drugstore and radio station windows. Ruby was standing head down next to an officer. An ambulance was pulling away.

“Wes, maybe you ought to let me deal with this,” Troy said.

“No,” I said. Ruby looked up and saw me. I expected to see panic. What I saw was calm.

“That’s my grandson, officer. That’s Wes,” Ruby said. “The one I was telling you about.”

The officer looked down at his notebook. “You’re Wes?” he asked.

I couldn’t imagine how I fit into this equation. How were Ruby and Gip blaming me for whatever it was that was happening here?

“It’s your grandfather. There’s been an accident. Your grandmother here has been asking for you.”

“What happened, Ruby?”

“He got hit by a car,” she said, motioning to the Plymouth, which was being pulled up by the tow winch.

“What?”

“I couldn’t find him, then all of a sudden he steps out in front of the car. I thought I was hitting the brake, but I guess I hit the gas instead. He busted the windshield and rolled off. I sort of hit him again and pinned him up against that telephone pole.”

“Wait. You’re the one who hit him? Jesus, Ruby!”

She spit through her toothless gums, her voice childlike, frantic. “It was an accident! They wouldn’t let me ride in the ambulance with him. They made me walk the line. Right here in front of everybody.”

“I told your grandmother we’d take her over to St. Pat’s. You probably ought to ride with her,” the officer said.

I broke away from the officers and Ruby and went back over to the truck, head hung.

Jolene threw her arms around my neck. “What happened?”

I told them, trying to keep in check the shackled hopelessness I could hear in my own voice. “I have to go. To the hospital. I’ll ride with Ruby.”

“We can drive you, Wes,” Troy said. “It’s no problem.”

“I want to go with you. I could help,” Jolene said.