He nodded. “A grateful alcoholic doesn’t get drunk. That’s what they say.”
“And I’m grateful you don’t drink anymore. Maybe I don’t tell you all the time, but I am. So why don’t we say I’m trying to pay it forward, and leave it at that?”
He took his pipe from his mouth and swiped a hand across his eyes. “All right, we will. But I want to meet him eventually. Feel like it’s my duty. Do you understand that?”
I said I did. “Maybe when he’s a little bit down the road from the accident?”
He nodded. “That works. I love you, kiddo.”
“Love you, too.”
“As long as you understand you’re biting off a lot. You know that, right?”
I did, and I was aware I didn’t know just how much. I thought that was good. If I really knew, I might lose heart. “There’s that other thing they say in your program, about taking it a day at a time.”
He nodded. “Okay, but spring vacation will be over fast. You have to keep up with your studies no matter how much time you feel you have to spend up there. I insist on that.”
“Okay.”
He looked at the pipe. “This thing’s gone out. It always does.” He put it on the porch rail, then leaned down and scratched the thick fur on the nape of Radar’s neck. She raised her head, then lowered it again. “This is a damn good dog.”
“She is.”
“Fell in love with her, didn’t you?”
“Well… yeah. I guess so.”
“She’s got a collar but no tag, which means Mr. Bowditch hasn’t paid the dog tax. My guess is she’s never been to the vet.” Mine, too. “Never been vaccinated for rabies. Among other things.” He paused, then said, “Got a question, and I want you to think about it. Very seriously. Are we going to end up on the hook for this? The groceries, the dog meds, the safety bars?”
“Don’t forget the urinal,” I said.
“Are we? Tell me what you think.”
“He told me to keep track and he’d take care of the expenses.” This was half an answer at best. I knew it and Dad probably did, too. On second thought, strike the probably.
“Not that we’re exactly in a hole on his account. A couple of hundred dollars is all. But the hospital… do you know how much a week’s stay in Arcadia costs? Plus the operations, of course, and all the aftercare?” I didn’t, but as an insurance adjuster, Dad did.
“Eighty thousand. Minimum.”
“There’s no way we could be on the hook for that, could we?”
“No, that’s all him. I don’t know what kind of insurance he has, or if he has any. I checked with Lindy and he has nothing with Overland. Medicare, probably. Beyond that, who knows?” He shifted in his seat. “I checked him out a little bit. I hope that doesn’t make you mad.”
It didn’t, and didn’t surprise me, because checking people out was what my father did for a living. And was I curious? Of course. “What did you find?”
“Almost nothing, which I would have said was impossible in this day and age.”
“Well, he doesn’t have a computer or even a cell phone. Which lets out Facebook and any other social media.” I had an idea that Mr. Bowditch would have sneered at Facebook even if he did have a computer. Facebook was snoopy.
“You said there were initials on the toolbox you found. A.B., right?”
“Right.”
“That fits. The property at the top of the hill comprises an acre and a half, which is a hell of a good patch. It was purchased by someone named Adrian Bowditch in 1920.”
“His grandfather?”
“Maybe, but given how old he is, it could have been his father.” Dad plucked his pipe off the porch rail, gave the bit a chew or two, then put it back. “How old is he, anyway? Does he really not know, I wonder?”
“I guess it’s possible.”
“When I saw him back in the old days—this was before he more or less holed up—he looked about fifty. I’d give him a wave and sometimes he’d flip a hand back to me.”
“Never spoke to him?”
“Might have said hi, I guess, or passed a word about the weather if it was worth commenting on, but he wasn’t the conversational type. Anyway, that would have made him roughly the right age for Vietnam, but I couldn’t find any military record.”
“So he didn’t serve.”
“Probably didn’t serve. I probably could have found out more if I was still working for Overland, but I’m not and I didn’t want to ask Lindy.”