came in late with her little toy poodle and read her latest bodice ripper while eating oatmeal and drinking coffee. The dog sat on the seat beside her, its attention focused on her plate of food.
The four of them absorbed the silence for ten minutes, knowing the importance of what was about to be said.
Patrick had bounced the possibility of running the restaurant with Auntie Lin half a dozen times. One moment he was certain he could do it, the next he was convinced he'd be a sheer and utter failure. What he knew about running a restaurant he could write on the head of a pin. Eventually, somewhere in the middle of Nebraska, they'd agreed that he'd come in, look things over, sell the restaurant, and start a new life with the proceeds, maybe find a good school for Derrick, and somewhere for Natasha to embark on adulthood. But now, after looking at the town of Bombay Beach and talking with his father's two ex-girlfriends, the prospects for a sale seemed astronomically doubtful. Who would want to buy anything out here? Wasn't that the problem?
Patrick was beginning to come to terms with why his father had never returned. Maybe it was because he couldn't sell the business. Maybe he'd wanted to come home but couldn't. But the moment Patrick thought those things, he knew he was reaching, trying like always to find a reason why his father had left and never come back. Anything other than what he thought in the darkest hours of the night, when the trees scratched at the window and the house was quiet except for the creaking, that made the emptiness grow in his stomach until he felt like he could swallow the universe... the idea that it was him that made his father leave.
Patrick desperately wanted a drink. He'd snuck several in the bathroom but his flask was empty. He couldn't help but glance to the door. He remembered the store around the corner. He bet that they sold liquor. He itched to go out and get some.
Auntie Lin never said anything, but she didn't have to. Every time she looked, it was through his dead wife's eyes that she saw him - like judgment from the grave.
"So what's it gonna be?" Gertie asked.
"You selling or staying?" Maude asked.
Patrick snapped back to the situation at hand. He'd already had a confab with Auntie Lin, whose opinion he found himself counting on more and more. There was really nothing else to do. His job on the assembly line had dried up. There were no prospects other than to fight teenagers for cashier positions in supermarkets or as fry cooks at fast food franchises. With two kids as a single parent, no prospects and an opportunity to work and live in a new town standing before him, he'd be foolish to pass it up. In fact, as soon as they executed the will, the restaurant was theirs. Bottom line was that they had no place to live or work, and the restaurant and Bombay Beach offered both.
He stared into the eyes of the two older woman, knowing now just what to say.
"We're staying," he said.
Gertie broke into a huge smile.
"And us?" Maude asked. "You gonna ask us to stay on, too?"
This was something that they hadn't agreed on. Patrick wanted them gone, more because his father had chosen them over him than any other reason. Auntie Lin had argued that they shouldn't be punished for his father's choices and she was right, as usual.
Although they had a brightness about them, his father's ex-girlfriends were on the downhill side of everything good in their lives. Although they smiled hopefully at him, he couldn't help but notice their leathery-tanned skin, wrinkles yanking hard at the corners of their eyes, and gray hair eating away at the color. They were alone now. All each had was herself. In a strange way Patrick was also alone. He'd always had his father's ghost to haunt him before. Now that his father was dead, his ghost had passed on as well. The only way he had to learn about his father was from these two women sitting across the table, and he could either kick them to the curb or invite
The four of them absorbed the silence for ten minutes, knowing the importance of what was about to be said.
Patrick had bounced the possibility of running the restaurant with Auntie Lin half a dozen times. One moment he was certain he could do it, the next he was convinced he'd be a sheer and utter failure. What he knew about running a restaurant he could write on the head of a pin. Eventually, somewhere in the middle of Nebraska, they'd agreed that he'd come in, look things over, sell the restaurant, and start a new life with the proceeds, maybe find a good school for Derrick, and somewhere for Natasha to embark on adulthood. But now, after looking at the town of Bombay Beach and talking with his father's two ex-girlfriends, the prospects for a sale seemed astronomically doubtful. Who would want to buy anything out here? Wasn't that the problem?
Patrick was beginning to come to terms with why his father had never returned. Maybe it was because he couldn't sell the business. Maybe he'd wanted to come home but couldn't. But the moment Patrick thought those things, he knew he was reaching, trying like always to find a reason why his father had left and never come back. Anything other than what he thought in the darkest hours of the night, when the trees scratched at the window and the house was quiet except for the creaking, that made the emptiness grow in his stomach until he felt like he could swallow the universe... the idea that it was him that made his father leave.
Patrick desperately wanted a drink. He'd snuck several in the bathroom but his flask was empty. He couldn't help but glance to the door. He remembered the store around the corner. He bet that they sold liquor. He itched to go out and get some.
Auntie Lin never said anything, but she didn't have to. Every time she looked, it was through his dead wife's eyes that she saw him - like judgment from the grave.
"So what's it gonna be?" Gertie asked.
"You selling or staying?" Maude asked.
Patrick snapped back to the situation at hand. He'd already had a confab with Auntie Lin, whose opinion he found himself counting on more and more. There was really nothing else to do. His job on the assembly line had dried up. There were no prospects other than to fight teenagers for cashier positions in supermarkets or as fry cooks at fast food franchises. With two kids as a single parent, no prospects and an opportunity to work and live in a new town standing before him, he'd be foolish to pass it up. In fact, as soon as they executed the will, the restaurant was theirs. Bottom line was that they had no place to live or work, and the restaurant and Bombay Beach offered both.
He stared into the eyes of the two older woman, knowing now just what to say.
"We're staying," he said.
Gertie broke into a huge smile.
"And us?" Maude asked. "You gonna ask us to stay on, too?"
This was something that they hadn't agreed on. Patrick wanted them gone, more because his father had chosen them over him than any other reason. Auntie Lin had argued that they shouldn't be punished for his father's choices and she was right, as usual.
Although they had a brightness about them, his father's ex-girlfriends were on the downhill side of everything good in their lives. Although they smiled hopefully at him, he couldn't help but notice their leathery-tanned skin, wrinkles yanking hard at the corners of their eyes, and gray hair eating away at the color. They were alone now. All each had was herself. In a strange way Patrick was also alone. He'd always had his father's ghost to haunt him before. Now that his father was dead, his ghost had passed on as well. The only way he had to learn about his father was from these two women sitting across the table, and he could either kick them to the curb or invite
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