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“Oh, Maggie,” she says, sla a cupboard “What’s the matter now?”
My ht I’d come by”
“Do you have to bring that dog with you everywhere you go? Honestly, he’s like the security blanket you had when you were three”
I stare at ht Is Dad around?”
“Why? Do you need so?”
“No, he’s just my father, and I love him,” I answer
“Fine He’s in the cellar”
Dad has a little corner in the base to do so constructive He likes to make birdhouses, and the yard outside is full of tiny creations in every style and color iourd, southwestern, apart His corner has stacks of tiny pieces of wood, a shelf of tools and six or seven birdhouse books He also has a stash of Robert Ludlum novels and a tiny radio Dad’s bomb shelter, we call it
“Hi, Daddy,” I say
“Go talk to yourme a kiss “She says you only come here to see me”
“I’m scared of her today She’s in quite a mood”
“Tell me about it Go”
“Coward,” I tell hio upstairs
“Mo the kettle on
“When are you going to stop wasting your ti out a chair and sla herself into it
Okay So it’s going to be one of those days A “Christy Good, Maggie Bad” day
“I don’t think I’nedly “I really love it, you know”
“We didn’t send you to college to be a waitress,” she snaps “Christy ed to find a decent career Why can’t you?”
“Right” I sit down “I do own the diner, too And run it And cook”
“Well, it’s not as if you bought it You just took it over froaret” The use ofquite heinous If she calls aret Christine, I’m dead
“It’s not like you went to cooking school,” Molass “You just crack eggs and sling hash and fry bacon Look at your hands, Maggie! Don’t you know people judge you by your hands? Hands make the man, they say”
Do they, I wonder? “It’s actually clothes, Mom ‘Clothes make the man Naked people have little or no influence on society’”
“What? What are you babbling about?”
“It’s a Mark Twain quote” She looks blank “And I one to culinary school,” I continue, “but the food at Joe’s is great You know that”
“So what? Are you going to spend the rest of your life in that greasy little diner?”
“It’s not greasy!”
“That’s your opinion,” she snaps
“Why are you on h clenched teeth “Have I done so? I just came to see you and Dad, and you’re all over me”
“You’d better do so lady And fast If you want to have a faful with your life, you’d better stop hiding out at the diner”
I study her These are the kinds of lectures I’ve heard all h school, it was Don’t Becoht) In college, it was Study Soht on the lish major at least allows me to quote the classics better than Mummy here, it hasn’t done much to further my career) We’ve since moved on to That Diner is a Dead End and
These lectures tend to bounce off s, but no real dae Doesn’t mean I like them, of course But today, she seems more worked up than usual
“Why do you hate the diner, Mom?” I ask “It was your dad’s”
“Exactly,” she snaps
“So? Now it’s a faht even win best breakfast in Washington County I’d think you’d be kind of happy about that”
“Oh, that silly contest is pointless And yes, it was o to college, o back there, like soh school dropout You pay that cook of yours ie?”
“Because he has five kids, Mom,” I tell her patiently
“So? If he doesn’t have the sense to use birth control?”
“Okay That’s enough I’et up and open the cellar door “Daddy, stay down there It’s not safe up here Love you, you big chicken”
“Love you, too, baby”
“I only hat you want, Maggie,” entler “I want you to meet?”
“?so with her “I know, Moot him, okay? In fact, you’re the one who picked Christy for hi into ry “And yes, I want to marry someone nice and have kids, but if it doesn’t happen, it’s not the end of the world, right? I’ll be that helpful spinster daughter everyone drearuel into your ive you that nice morphine overdose when the tiive it to you now Gotta go”
I tell myself that I don’t mind, but rip I pedal slowly and carefully so ht be the wind
Back at Joe’s, Colonel flops down into the bed behind the register and yawns I squat down to give hi his beautiful white cheeks repeatedly “I love you, puppy,” I tell hi the salt deposits on my cheeks
“Hey, boss,” Octavio calls “Beautiful day, isn’t it?”
Judy approachessoonna win this year” Judy showing optimism is a near-biblical event, so my mood must be written clearly over my face
As I’ the last bit of cleanup, I decide to drop in on Christy Before the thought is fully forliie? Want to run some errands with me?” my sister asks
“Sure,” I say “Just let rill”
I finish rease under ernails But my hands are a little better The painful cracks that appear atI’ll have to find out where Malone got that cream
Christy is waiting on the sidewalk “I heard you’re wasting your life, slaving away for nothing,” she says