Chapter 7.
"The Letter for Emily"
Chapter 7. The Neighbor’s Children.
The three of them stood just outside the split-rail fence in casual attitudes of men exchanging news.
“She’s up at Berkshire Medical,” said the easy-mannered man who had just parked in the empty drive next door to his mother’s house.
Jack and he had been speaking in low tones as Banning eased up and stood, listening.
“Yeah, Kathy and Mary Ellen gave me a list. Aw, I couldn’t remember all they told me to do. You know women,” Danny winked at them, drawing a crumpled list from a pocket in his shorts.
The other two men watched Danny and he continued.
“We’ll have to close the pool for now.”
“I went Saturday and took out everything that could spoil,” added Jack with a nod toward the silent house. “The milk, the eggs. I stacked the mail and newspapers on the kitchen table, just like you said…”
Danny looked up appreciatively with a grin that needed no words to elaborate.
“How’s Jean doing?” asked Pete.
“Well,” Danny began. “You heard the story. She went up to visit Kathy and Mary Ellen in New Hampshire, and they all went out in the car for a ride. They stopped to do some sightseeing, stretch their legs, and Jean said she didn’t feel right.”
Jack had heard it before, but paid careful attention. The details. He learned the details this time. He was not distracted as Banning folded arms on his chest, listening.
“She said it was her legs,” Danny went on. “It began with her legs.”
Danny illustrated with an upward movement of the fingers to indicate the sweep of paralysis from the knees.
“She has some movement of one arm.”
The other two stood gravely, and it was clear Danny would go on, not because he had to, but he wasn’t through with the story yet. The story that brought him from Massachusetts to River Falls.
“She has good upper body strength from golfing and bowling,” Danny acknowledged hopefully. “And her doctor tells us she will probably take time to recuperate. They think six months.”
“So she’ll be with you and Kathy while?” concluded Jack in sympathetic tones.
“We have room,” replied Danny, who seemed neither thrilled nor upset. It was just what a son-in-law should do, that was all there was to it.
Danny turned toward the quiet house. Banning shrugged at Jack, murmured something in low tones, and the men returned to their work.