Nick, Julia said, looking from his face to the photo on his license, then back at him again. Or do you prefer Nicholas?
My friends call me Mr. Edwards.
I think Ill introduce you as Nick, she said, because thats what people are going to call you anyway. But Ill be the one person that calls you Nicholas.
If you say so.
I say so, she said, and took hold of his arm. But when were upstairs, she said, Ill go right on calling you Keller.
She came upstairs with him every evening, then returned to her bed in the first-floor den in case her father needed her during the night. Both professed regret at the enforced separation, but on reflection Keller realized he was just as happy to wake up alone. He had a hunch Julia probably felt the same way.
One night, after theyd finished their lovemaking but before she slipped out of his bed, he mentioned something that had been on his mind a while. Im running out of money, he said. Im not spending much, but theres none coming in, and whats left wont last too much longer.
She said she had a little money, and he said that wasnt really the point. Hed always paid his own way, and wasnt comfortable otherwise. She asked if that was why hed mowed the front lawn the day before.
No, I was getting something from the car the gun, still in the glove compartment, which hed finally gotten around to relocating to his dresser drawer and I saw the mower, and earlier Id noticed the grass needed cutting, so I went and did it. An old man with one of those aluminum walkers watched me for a few minutes and asked me what kind of money I got for a job like that. I told him they didnt pay me a dime, but I got to sleep with the lady of the house.
You didnt tell him that. Did you? You just made that whole thing up.
Well, not all of it. I really did mow the lawn.
And did Mr. Leonidas stop and watch you?
No, but Ive seen him around, so I put him in the story.
Well, he was the perfect choice, because hed have told his wife, and his wife would have broadcast it to half the city before youd put the mower back in the garage. What am I going to do with you, Keller?
Oh, youll think of something, he said.
And in the morning she poured his coffee and said, I was thinking. I guess what you have to do is get a job.
I dont know how to do that.
You dont know how to get a job?
Ive never actually had one.
Youve never
I take
that back. When I was in high school I worked for this older guy, hed get jobs cleaning out peoples attics and basements, and hed make his real money selling what he got paid to haul away. I was his helper.
And since then?
Since then, the kind of work Ive done and the people Ive worked for, you dont need a Social Security card. Nick Edwards applied for one, incidentally. It should turn up in the mail any day now.
She thought for a moment. Theres a lot of work in the city these days, she said. Could you do construction?
You mean like building houses?
Maybe something a little less ambitious. Working with a crew, renovating and remodeling. Putting up Sheetrock, spackling and painting, sanding floors.
Maybe, he said. I dont suppose you need a graduate degree in engineering for that sort of thing, but it probably helps if you know what youre doing.
You havent been doing it in a while, so your skills are a little rusty.
That sounds good.
And they did it a little differently where you come from.
That too. Youre not too bad at making up stories yourself, Miss Julia.
If I do a good job, she said, theyll let me sleep with the gardener. I think its time for me to make a couple of phone calls.
26
Now they had half the place Sheetrocked, and the next step would be painting, walls and ceiling, and when that was done theyd work on the floors. How was he with a roller, and how did he feel about ladders? He was fine with ladders, he said, and hed be okay with a roller, though he might be a little rusty at first. You just take your time, Donny said. Be no time at all before it all comes back to you. I just hope ten bucks an hour is all right with you cause thats what Im paying.
He started with the ceiling, he knew enough to do that, and hed used a paint roller before, painting his own apartment in New York. Donny had a look from time to time, and gave him a tip now and then, mostly about how to position the ladder so he wouldnt have to move it as often. But evidently he was doing okay, and when he took the occasional break he managed to watch the others nailing sections of Sheetrock in place and covering the seams with joint compound. It didnt look all that tricky, not once you knew what it was you were supposed to do.
He worked seven hours that first day and left with seventy dollars more than hed started with, and an invitation to show up at eight the next morning. His legs ached a little, from all that climbing up and down the ladder, but it was a good ache, like youd get from a decent workout at the gym.
He stopped to pick up flowers on the way home.
That was Patsy, Julia told him, after hanging up the phone. Patsy Morrill, he remembered, was a high school classmate of Julias; her name had been Patsy Wallings before she got married, and Donny Wallings was her kid brother. Patsy had called, Julia told him, to say that Donny had called her to thank her for sending Nick his way.