He waited in the kitchen while Julia checked on her father. He couldnt sit still and walked around, opening doors, peering into cupboards. Everythings close to perfect, he thought, and now youre about to screw it up.
It seemed to him that she was taking forever, but then she came up behind him and stood looking over his shoulder. All these sets of dishes, she said. Things accumulate when a family lives in the same place forever. Therell be some yard sale here one of these days.
Its nice, living in a place with a history.
I suppose.
He turned toward her and smelled her perfume. She hadnt been wearing scent earlier.
He drew her close, kissed her.
25
I guess it all came back to you, he said. Been a while, has it?
Ages.
Same for me.
Oh, come on, she said. You, running around the country, having adventures everywhere?
The running around Ive been doing lately, the only women who spoke to me were asking me did I want to supersize that order of fries. Imagine if they asked you that at a good restaurant. Sir, would you care to supersize that coq au vin?
But before Des Moines, she said. Ill bet you had a girl in every port.
Hardly. Im trying to remember the last time I was with anybody. All I can tell you is its been a long time.
My daddy asked me if we were sleeping together.
Just now?
No, he never even stirred. I think Lucille let him get at the Makers Mark. The doctor doesnt want him drinking, but he doesnt want him smoking, either, and I say what difference can it possibly make? No, this was a couple of days ago. You an that fine-looking young man sleeping together, chère ? Youre still a young man to Daddy, even the way I got your hair fixed.
He asked me, too.
He didnt!
That first time you left me alone with him. He came right out and asked me if I was sleeping with you.
I dont know why I should be surprised. Its just like him. What did you say?
That I wasnt, of course. Whats so funny?
Well, thats not what I told him.
He propped himself up on an elbow, stared at her. Why on earth would you
Because I didnt want to tell him one thing and then have to go back and tell him another. Oh, come on, dont tell me you didnt know this was going to happen.
Well, I had hopes.
Well, I had hopes. You must have known when you asked me out to dinner.
By that time, he said, they were high hopes.
I was afraid youd make a move that first night. Inviting you to stay here, and after I did it struck me that you might think that was more of an invitation than I had in mind. And that would have been the last thing I wanted just then.
After what happened in the park? It was the last thing I would have suggested.
All I wanted, she said, was to do a favor for someone who had saved my life. Except
Except what?
Well, I wasnt thinking this consciously at the time. But looking back, I might not have dragged you home if you didnt look real cute.
Cute?
With your full head of shaggy dark hair. Dont worry, youre even cuter now. She reached to stroke his hair. Theres only one thing. I dont know what to call you.
Oh.
I know your name, or at least the names they put in the paper. But I havent called you by
name, or asked what to call you, because I dont want to say the wrong thing sometime with other people around. And you were talking about getting a new set of ID.
Yes, I want to get started on that.
Well, you dont know what name itll be, do you? So I want to wait until you do and start out calling you by your new name.
That makes sense.
But it would be nice to have something to call you at intimate moments, she said. There was a moment before when you said my name, and I have to say it gave me a little tingle.
Julia, he said.
It works better in context. Anyway, I dont know what to call you at moments like that. I could try cher , I suppose, but it seems sort of generic.
Keller, he said. You could call me Keller.
In the morning he backed his car out of the garage and visited cemeteries until a tombstone inscription provided him with the name of a male child whod died in infancy forty-five years ago. He copied down the name and date of birth, and the next day he headed downtown and asked around until he found the Bureau of Records.
Got to replace everything, he told the clerk. I had this little house in St. Bernards Parish, so do I have to tell you what happened?
Id say you lost everything, the woman said.
I went to Galveston first, he said, and then I headed up north and stayed with my sister in Altoona. Thats in Pennsylvania.
Seems to me Ive heard of Altoona. Is it nice?
Well, I guess its okay, he said, but its good to be home.
Always good to be home, she agreed. Now if you could just let me have your name and date of birth oh, youve got it all written down, havent you? That saves asking you how to spell it, not that Nicholas Edwards presents all that much of a challenge.
He went home with a copy of Nicholas Edwardss birth certificate, and by the end of the week he had passed a driving test and been rewarded with a Louisiana drivers license. He counted up his cash and used half of what he had left to open a bank account, showing his new drivers license as ID. A clerk at the main post office had passport application forms, and he filled one out and sent it, along with a money order and the requisite pair of photos, to the office in Washington.