The Fives Run North-South by Dan Goodin Read Free Book Online

still hated it. Though it could be the medication.
    Trying to look down at his well - bandaged hand, he said: “Feel fine now.”
    I was alone with him in his hospital room. Suze had been here since her arrival a few hours before me and was taking some time strolling to the cafeteria for a snack. Don’t think she had expected he’d come around this soon after the second surgery, because she’d hate that she wasn’t here for it.
    “Pretty stupid of me, hey, Dad?” he said.
    “At my age, it would have been stupid,” I said. “For you, not so much.”
    He grinned softly. “Surprised you made it,” he said. “Not like it’s that serious.”
    “Any excuse to get away.”
    “Yeah,” he said, looking again down at his hand. “And for me, any excuse to get out of my Fundamental Physics test.”
    I sat down, stretching my stiff neck as I settled into the visitor’s chair; a chair shaped more for a potbellied pig than a grown human man. Easy to see why Suze needed a break.
    “Thanks, Dad.”
    “For what?”
    “No speeches about being more responsible. You know, the old ‘don’t dance on the roof while drunk’ speech every dad has to give his kid at least once in life.”
    “I got it out of my system while you were unconscious,” I said. “Besides, I’m proud you took out your nonwriting hand. Gets you back to the books more quickly.”
    “No one writes in school any more. We type now. Or point - and - click .”
    “Yeah, we used ink quills back in my school days. Wrote by candlelight.”
    He gave a polite chuckle that tuned into a cough. “Damn, my throat’s dry. Can you ring up one of those ladies in their pajamas to get me a drink?”
    “Sure.” I stood up.
    Then he looked around. “Dad?” he said.
    “Yes?”
    “Where’s Mom?”
    “Took a walk. She’ll be back in a bit.”
    “Can I tell you something? Don’t freak out.”
    “Sure.”
    “I said the same thing to her before they took me in.”
    “No sweat, Scrapper. What’s up?”
    His expression stole the smile from my face. He was a bit frightened. His mouth moved slightly as if trying to preform the words.
    “Whatever it is, you can speak your mind,” I encouraged him.
    “Well, I just want to say I know I’m a lucky guy. Had a great family life for the most part. Better than most. I just think I have to say this.”
    “What?”
    “I’m out of the house now. Don’t plan on coming back. For good, anyway.”
    “Either way, we have no plans to convert your bedroom into a workout room or anything.”
    “I know. I’m just saying. I want you to know if you and mom are staying together because of me, you don’t need to. If a divorce is going to make each of you happier, that’s what I want. I’d hate to think you’re making an unnecessary sacrifice for my sake.”
    I wanted to push back a little, to ask him why he’d be thinking that way. Maybe send him a clear message that he was off base and that we were in it for the long haul. Sure, I’d even surprised myself the day the red SUV cut me off by allowing the thought of divorce to dance around my skull for the first time. But that’s as far as it had gone; and it’d clearly rooted itself more firmly in his thoughts based on what I was seeing. That was unnerving but strangely reassuring. I put my hand on his shoulder.
    “Appreciate hearing that. But today’s about you and getting you back to dancing on rooftops. Less steep ones next time, you think?”
    Only later did it occur to me to wonder how Suze had reacted to him.

    It was getting darker in the hospital room, and my head was getting heavy and fuzzy as I sat in the potbelly pig chair beside Peter’s bed. Suze was curled up asleep on a smallish couch under the window. She’s great in situations like this. I’d watched her comfort Peter, take charge of the nurses, and draw information out of the doctors in a way that I’d have been incapable of. I admired her for that and for the good it was doing my son. Soon I’d