Wrapped in Rain(92)

Mutt sat in Peppy's chair, and Peppy almost didn't recognize him. I didn't need to tell him the story. He already knew most of it. Peppy cut his hair, shaved his neck, and even shaved his face. When he finished, Mutt looked better than I'd seen him in a long time. Peppy dabbed both hands with a liberal dose of Clubman's aftershave and slapped it on Mutt's neck and cheeks.

Jase tugged on my pant leg. "Unca Tuck, what's that?"

"Oh, that's the real deal. That's Clubman's. You probably need some of that. I think your mom will really like it." I knew this was not true and that I had in fact just told a bold-faced lie, because no woman in the history of womanhood had ever liked Clubman's aftershave. Only men did, but I figured Jase didn't need to know this, and once Katie got over the shock of his total absence of hair and the accentuated Dumbo look of her son, she'd go along with it. Peppy wiped Jase's neck and face and even ran a little through his hair.



I glanced at Mutt, who was engrossed in the guts of the buzzer, which were spread out across the floor.

"Tuck." Peppy slapped his chair with his apron and blew off the remaining hair with a blow dryer. "How 'bout it? Have you come to your senses yet?"

"I thought maybe I'd just let you trim the edges."

"That's what I figured. Still rebelling, are you?"

"Something like that."

"Have a seat."

Peppy cut my hair and even managed to honor the trim rule. While I paid, Mutt replaced the last screw, walked over to Peppy's station, plugged the buzzer back in the wall, and sprayed down the back side with disinfectant spray. He clicked it on and held it to his ear. It looked and sounded brand-new. He handed it to Peppy and tried to force the words percolating in his brain down through his mouth. After a minute of struggling with his lips, he said, "F-f-f-fourteen years."

Peppy smiled. "Mutt, I've always preferred the feel of this one in my hand. Thank you." He put his hand on Mutt's shoulder. "It really is good to see you." Mutt blinked several times, and his eyes began darting back and forth. He fumbled with his hands, nodded, and finally shoved his left hand into his pocket, where it wrapped around whatever happened to be in there. I had a pretty good idea what it was.

The three of us walked out Peppy's door into the sunshine, where Jase reached up and grabbed both our hands. Mutt held Jase's hand out in front of him like a glass of water, afraid to spill any. An older lady, possibly in her late sixties, attractively dressed in a knee-length purple skirt and white top and carrying a black pocketbook, hobbled our way on two crutches. The crutches matched her skirt and shoe. I say "shoe" because that was her most distinguishing feature-she only had one leg. Jase watched her until she was directly in front of him. He let go of our hands and stood directly in front of the lady.



She stopped and said, "Well, hello, young man." Jase stooped, inched closer, leaned at the waist, and then just squatted on his heels so he could look directly up her skirt. It didn't faze her in the least. She laughed. "If you're looking for my leg, it's not there." I wanted to crawl in a hole and die.

"Well"-Jase looked again-"what happened to it?"

She looked down and smiled. "It got sick and the doctors had to cut it off."

"Will it grow back?"

I broke in. "Ma'am, I'm real sorry. He's just five and..."

She balanced on her crutches and gently placed her hand on my arm. "Son, I wish we all had so few inhibitions." Skillfully, she knelt down, squatting on her one heel, and looked in Jase's face. "No, it won't grow back, but that's okay. I have another one."

Jase nodded. "Oh. Well, okay."

I reached down, helped the lady stand, and nodded as she shuffled by.

Truly I say to you, unless you become like one of these ...

I herded Jase into the truck and tried to let the diesel drown out Miss Ella.

Tucker that's a brave little boy you got there. Not afraid of the truth.

I got a feeling you're about to make a point.

I was just wondering if you knew what you were doing.

Not really.



Well, from where I'm sitting, you look like you're giving a spelling lesson.

I parked the truck next to the barn and watched Jase run into Miss Ella's cottage without me. "Go ahead, buddy," I encouraged in a whisper, "she's going to love it." Jase ran inside, slammed the door, and two seconds later, I heard a bloodcurdling scream. That's when I started backpedaling to the house. Katie screamed again from inside the house. "Tucker Rain! If I live to be a hundred ..." I didn't wait to hear the rest. I hopped through the fence, tripped, and before I knew it, Katie was on top of me. She pounced hard and fast, surprising me how someone so slender could be so strong. I started laughing so hard I couldn't talk. Katie had pinned my hands to the ground and had her knees digging into my rib cage. "Tucker, you had no right to do that."

"Well, you weren't going to. Somebody had to."

.Why?"

Jase stood on the porch pounding his fist into his glove. "Come on, Unca Tuck, let's play catch."

"Now," I said to Katie, whose face was red and towering over me, "if you'll excuse me, I need to play catch with that good-looking kid with the crew cut."