“You tell her Aunt Sookie said hi to her, and to Coby, too.”
“I will.” And Arlene sauntered off to her car, her flaming hair puffing in a waving mass above her head, her full body making her waitress outfit look like one big promise.
All my energy drained away as Arlene’s car bumped down the driveway through the trees. I felt a million years old, alone and lonely. This was the way it was going to be from now on.
I didn’t feel hungry, but the clock told me it was time to eat. I went into the kitchen and pulled one of the many Tupperware containers from the refrigerator. It held turkey and grape salad, and I liked it, but I sat there at the table just picking at it with a fork. I gave up, returning it to the icebox and going to the bathroom for a much-needed shower. The corners of closets are always dusty, and even a housekeeper as good as my grandmother had been had not been able to defeat that dust.
The shower felt wonderful. The hot water seemed to steam out some of my misery, and I shampooed my hair and scrubbed every inch of skin, shaving my legs and armpits. After I climbed out, I plucked my eyebrows and put on skin lotion and deodorant and a spray to untangle my hair and anything else I could lay my hands on. With my hair trailing down my back in a cascade of wet snarls, I pulled on my nightshirt, a white one with Tweety Bird on the front, and I got my comb. I’d sit in front of the television to have something to watch while I got my hair combed out, always a tedious process.
My little burst of purpose expired, and I felt almost numb.
The doorbell rang just as I was trailing into the living room with my comb in one hand and a towel in the other.
I looked through the peephole. Bill was waiting patiently on the porch.
I let him in without feeling either glad or sorry to see him.
He took me in with some surprise: the nightshirt, the wet hair, the bare feet. No makeup.
“Come in,” I said.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
And he came in, looking around him as he always did. “What are you doing?” he asked, seeing the pile of things I’d put to one side because I thought friends of Gran’s might want them: Mr. Norris might be pleased to get the framed picture of his mother and Gran’s mother together, for example.
“I cleaned out the bedroom today,” I said. “I think I’ll move into it.” Then I couldn’t think of anything else to say. He turned to look at me carefully.
“Let me comb out your hair,” he said.
I nodded indifferently. Bill sat on the flowered couch and indicated the old ottoman positioned in front of it. I sat down obediently, and he scooted forward a little, framing me with his thighs. Starting at the crown of my head, he began teasing the tangles out of my hair.
As always, his mental silence was a treat. Each time, it was like putting the first foot into a cool pool of water when I’d been on a long, dusty hike on a hot day.
As a bonus, Bill’s long fingers seemed adept at dealing with the thick mane of my hair. I sat with my eyes closed, gradually becoming tranquil. I could feel the slight movements of his body behind me as he worked with the comb. I could almost hear his heart beating, I thought, and then realized how strange an idea that was. His heart, after all, didn’t.
“I used to do this for my sister, Sarah,” he murmured quietly, as if he knew how peaceful I’d gotten and was trying not to break my mood. “She had hair darker than yours, even longer. She’d never cut it. When we were children, and my mother was busy, she’d have me work on Sarah’s hair.”
“Was Sarah younger than you, or older?” I asked in a slow, drugged voice.
“She was younger. She was three years younger.”
“Did you have other brothers or sisters?”
“My mother lost two in childbirth,” he said slowly, as if he could barely remember. “I lost my brother, Robert, when he was twelve and I was eleven. He caught a fever, and it killed him. Now they would pump him full of penicillin, and he would be all right. But they couldn’t then. Sarah survived the war, she and my mother, though my father died while I was soldiering; he had what I’ve learned since was a stroke. My wife was living with my family then, and my children . . .”
“Oh, Bill,” I said sadly, almost in a whisper, for he had lost so much.
“Don’t, Sookie,” he said, and his voice had regained its cold clarity.
He worked on in silence for a while, until I could tell the comb was running free through my hair. He picked up the white towel I’d tossed on the arm of the couch and began to pat my hair dry, and as it dried he ran his fingers through it to give it body.