He was expecting no answer at all, or maybe coo-wheeeet! , but on the third ring someone picked up. And then a voice hed never expected to hear again said, I just hope this isnt another damn telemarketer in Bangalore. Well? Whoever you are, say something.
32
Flagstaff, Arizona?
How did oh, the area code. Well, not Flagstaff, but thats close enough. Flagstaffs got an airport, but it might be easier to fly to Phoenix and drive up. Or for all I know youre close enough to drive the whole way. Where are you, anyway?
In for a penny, in for a pound. New Orleans, he said, but as far as coming out there, its not easy for me to get away.
Youre all right, arent you? Not under lock and key, for Gods sake.
No, nothing like that, but its complicated.
Oh? In that case Ill come to you. The only thing to stop me is a hair appointment, and that shouldnt be too hard to get out of. Give me your number, Ill get right back to you Keller? Whered you go?
Im here.
So?
I just got this phone, he said, and theres got to be a card somewhere with the number on it, but I dont know what happened to it.
Thats the last word in unlisted numbers, Dot said, where even the owner himself cant track it down. But dont get too cocky, because somewhere in India theres a little guy whos going to call you on it and try to sell you Viagra. Heres what well do. You call me. Give me an hour, and by then Ill know when Im getting in and where Im staying. And dont worry if you cant find my number. Just press the Redial button and that clever little phone of yours will do the rest.
An hour later he learned that she wouldnt be coming for three days, and he thought hed wait a day or two to figure out what to tell Julia. He drove home and Julia met him in front of the house. She said the weather forecast was for rain but it didnt feel like rain, and what did he think? He said he couldnt really say one way or the other. She said neither could she, not really, and was there something on his mind?
Dots alive, he said.
The weather forecast turned out to be on the money. It started raining late that afternoon and kept raining on and off for the next three days. It never reached downpour proportions, but it never quite cleared up, either, and he had to use the windshield wipers driving downtown to Dots hotel.
She had booked herself into the Intercontinental. He brought his new cell phone along and called her after hed turned his truck over to the valet, and she met him in the lobby and took him up to her room. Two other guests shared the elevator with them, so they didnt say a word until they got off on her floor.
Not that those two would have noticed, she said. What do you figure, cheaters or honeymooners?
I wasnt paying attention.
Neither were they, Keller, which was my point. It doesnt matter. My God, look at you. You look different, but I cant put my finger on it.
My hair.
There you go. The whole shape of your face is different. What did you do?
Cut it differently, raised the hairline. Lightened it a little.
And glasses. Those arent bifocals, are they?
They took a little getting used to.
Theyre taking me a little getting used to, and
youre the one whos wearing them. I like the effect, though. Very studious.
I see better, he said. But you, Dot, you look way different.
Well, Im older than I used to be, Keller. What do you expect?
But she didnt look older, she looked younger. Her hair had been dark years ago, when they first met, and by the time hed left for Des Moines there was far more salt than pepper in the mix. Now the salt was all gone it was easier, as he well knew, to turn gray hair dark than to reverse the process and along with the gray shed lost twenty or thirty pounds. The pants suit she was wearing, a far cry from her usual at-home attire, showed off her new figure, and she was wearing lipstick and eye makeup for the first time he could recall.
Ive got a personal trainer, she said, if you can get your mind around that one, plus a sweet little Vietnamese girl who does my hair once a week. I closed on my condo out there expecting to lie in the sun like a beached whale and sit up nights with a box of soft-center chocolates, and will you look what happened to me?
You look terrific, Dot.
So do you. What did you do, take up golf or something? You never used to be so big in the shoulders.
Its probably from swinging a hammer.
A garrotes quieter, she said, but I dont suppose it does as much in terms of muscular development. She called room service, told them to send up two big pitchers of iced tea and two glasses, then hung up the phone and looked at him. Weve got a lot of catching up to do, havent we?
He went first, starting with their last conversation in Des Moines and bringing her all the way to his new life in New Orleans. She listened carefully, interrupting now and then for amplification, and when he was done she sat there shaking her head. You were going to retire, she said, and here you are doing manual labor.
I didnt know what I was doing at first, he said, but its not that hard to pick up.