Torch Song by Kate Wilhelm Read Free Book Online Page B

therapy. A couple of years ago, the boy began to grow, until she couldn’t lift him. Roy stops in there every morning, gets the boy out of bed and into the wheelchair, and goes back later to give him a bath and get him back in bed.” He poured himself more wine and stood at the table, swirling it in his glass. “It’s been hell for her,” he said quietly. “She’s done it all alone.”
    Constance knew he was remembering the day of the wreck, when the infant Nathan had been thrown out of the car. She made a motion as if to reach for him, but, oblivious, he returned to his chair.
    â€œSo,” he said, “Roy was there the day Pete arrived. She went out and brought Pete back. The next day, while he was giving the boy his bath, she said she had to go out again, that Pete was leaving. They were fighting, he said, yelling at each other. Everyone in Cedar Falls probably saw her drive by with Pete; they all knew the ex-con was there, and they were afraid he might stay. They saw her drive back without him. Roy says if she sneezed, the whole town held its breath for fear they’d catch whatever she had. She scandalized them the first time she showed up at the supermarket with food stamps. She was a loner from day one and is still a loner. Roy thinks she has a boyfriend out there on the road, hopes she does. He said she comes home with presents now and then, but she doesn’t confide in him, hardly even talks to him except about Nathan. She’s real close with money, does things herself or lets them go for the most part, and she nurses the cars along. He says she takes the gangster car, Boseman’s Buick—they call him Grossman around these parts—out on the highway to keep it running well, because that’s her emergency car for when Nathan has to go to the hospital for a checkup or something. He’s had about a dozen operations over the years, and he has seizures. Other times, she drives a little red Datsun that’s twelve years old, Boseman’s wedding present. Everyone in Cedar Falls hates that Datsun. They don’t think a person like her should be allowed to live in a big, expensive house and let it go to ruin, and drive a heap like that around to shame them all.”
    His voice had gone very flat. “So there it is. Pete came and Pete went away. I think we’re back to where we started from, honey.”
    They were both silent then until Constance asked, “How much does this room cost?”
    â€œNinety per. It’s off-season. Why?”
    â€œI don’t know. It’s just that if she’s so broke, how can she afford to stay in motels every month, eat meals out for five or six days? How much money could she be making with that jewelry? It seems she must be spending it all just to survive on the road.”
    â€œIf it’s her therapy, maybe she figures it’s worthwhile even if she loses money,” he commented.
    She felt a twinge of annoyance with him. Someone had paid for that ramp, she thought, and the expensive wheelchair with a motor. The state didn’t provide that kind of chair. And the pricey sweater and earrings… and insurance for two cars, utilities for a house that size… Even as she thought this, she felt disgust for herself rising. So what if Marla had a rich friend? Or what if she was into something illegal herself? Her devotion to her son was real; her care in preparing his food, her steadfast refusal to surrender him to anyone, to risk losing him, that made up for a lot. She had no doubt that Nathan would have died long ago without her constant attention.
    A few minutes later when Charlie said maybe they should think about food pretty soon, she agreed readily. No more brooding about Marla and Pete, she told herself. Think food thoughts, she added, remembering the Victorian house they had seen. Not being on an expense account did not mean they had to eat at McDonald’s, she also told herself, and