Sam spent a restless night at Annie’s and started home the next morning. It was noon when he walked into his house. Russ wasn’t in bed. He was sitting in the living room watching TV and drinking a beer. The tape across his bandaged nose extended onto his cheeks, his right eye was black and swollen, and his unbuttoned shirt revealed tape across his chest. He nodded hello to his dad, but didn’t speak.

Sam went to the icebox and got a beer, then sat in the chair beside the sofa. “How do you feel?”

Trying not to move his jaw, he mumbled, “Okay. Still sore.”

“How long before you’ll be up?” Sam asked.

“Doc says I can go back to work in a couple of days. No lifting for a week or two.”

“Have you talked to your boss?”

“Yeah. He said he could put me on light work for a while.”

During this conversation, Russ had not once removed his eyes from the TV. A steamy session was taking place between two partially clothed soap opera characters. Sam glanced at it, then back to his son. Unable to think of anything else to say, he got up and went to the kitchen. He made himself a smoked turkey sandwich, then called Art Pohly.

“Just got home from work,” Art said when he picked up.

“Can you do me a favor? I’d like you to drive me to Salem Hospital so I can pick up my son’s truck. I’ll tell you why on the way.” Art said he’d be right over.

“Your son okay?” he asked from his rolled down window as Sam approached the car. Sam shrugged and got in. As they drove to Salem, he explained what happened.

Art said, “I saw a bad fight the other day in the mall. First one I’d seen in years. It was not like TV or the movies. More brutal because it was real. These two twenty year olds were hitting each other and swearing a blue streak. And so incongruent — outside the Learning Center. I could hear their fists hit their faces. It was awful. I feel sorry for Russ.”

“It wasn’t Russ’s first fight. He’s been arrested twice for fighting, and those are the ones I know about. He can’t seem to keep his temper. And he does these damn fool things. This truck of his we’re picking up; he bought it brand new when they didn’t have a dime. When Teresa objected, he got mad at her, pushed her down, and broke her elbow. Then a week ago, he bought Jimmy an eight hundred dollar Siberian Husky. That was the night Teresa left him.” Sam looked at his friend, “And they’re in debt up to their ears. Teresa’s suing for divorce.”

“Is he staying with you?”

“For the time being. There’s only a bed and a couple of chairs at his house. She’s taken the rest.” Sam sighed. “Frankly, I don’t see how she’s stood it as long as she has.”

“How badly is he hurt?” Art asked. Then he quickly added, “What I’m really asking is how long before he’ll be able to go back to work?”

“In a day or two. He’s got a good job and he earns good money. I don’t know where it all goes. If they do divorce, he’ll have alimony and child support, plus car payments, rent and a credit card debt.”

“He needs help, Sam.”

“I know. I bailed him out once before and it looks like I’m going to have to do it again.”

“I don’t mean that kind of help,” Art said with a quick glance at his friend. “Has he ever had counseling of any kind?”

“He and Teresa had some marriage counseling a while back, but after three session, he quit going. You mean a psychiatrist?”

“Or a psychologist.”

Sam laughed disparagingly. “You’re probably right, but how do I get him to go?”

That evening Sam called Kathleen and asked if she would have lunch with him the next day. Her reaction was wary, but eventually she agreed. He met her at her Salem office.

“I’ve got two roast beef sandwiches from Munchies and two bottles of iced tea. Let’s go out to the Willows where we can sit and talk.”

“What about?” She said guardedly.

“I want to talk about Russ, but first about us. You’ve been getting mad at me a lot lately and I don’t know why. You’ve said things that piss me off and I don’t like being mad at you.”

She got in the car and sat as far from her father as she could, fuming in silence all the way to the Willows, a park located on Salem Harbor. They parked and walked to a picnic table on a low bluff overlooking the Salem Sound. A northerly breeze, cool for August, required them to set their bottles of iced tea on the papers their sandwiches were wrapped in so they wouldn’t blow away.
When she didn’t speak, Sam said, “Okay, what’s wrong?”

“First off,” Kathleen said, “you keep dragging me into your problems with Russ, dumping Teresa on me, taking off for God knows where and leaving me to worry about Russ. Don’t you think I have a life of my own?”

“Was it that hard driving to the hospital and taking him to my house?” Sam said annoyed.

“Yeah. It was. I had other plans. You always assume I’ll drop everything and rush to poor Russ’s aid.”

“He’s your brother for God’s sake. We have to pull together.”

“No. No. You’ve got that wrong,” Her voice dripped sarcasm. “We’ve all got to sacrifice for his sake. It’s always been that way. Russ comes first.”

Her words hit him hard. “That’s not true at all.”

“And where were you all this time? Gone for a whole week. You call that pulling together.”

Dammit, Sam said to himself, why am I always the one who’s wrong? “That night when Teresa left, I thought she’d be back the next day. And I hope you noticed that I didn’t let her go to your house, which she’d planned to do. Then I made Russ take the dog back. I thought the matter was finished.”

“It’s never finished with Russ.” She looked down, then quickly back at him. “And where were you?”

Sam sighed. “At Annie Haas’s house on the Deerfield River. I met her about three years ago when your mother and I were canoeing. She raises Newfoundlands. When Jimmy and I came upon the same spot two weeks ago, I suggested we stop. Jimmy fell in love with her two dogs. A storm came up so we had to spend the night.”

“Okay, that’s the first time. Why did you go back and stay a whole week?”

“It was only five days. She asked me to help with some puppies.”

“Are you two sleeping together?”

Sam was so surprised, he stumbled for words. “Wha . . ” Then he finally got out, “If we were, it’d be none of your business.”

“It is my business. You marry some young chick — that’s definitely my business. And Cynthia’s too.”

Astonished at the length to which her imagination had taken her, Sam laughed. “I’m not in love with Annie. We’re just good friends.”

“Then why did you stay so long?”

“Her pups had just been born and she had no one to help her take care of them. It’s a round-the-clock business when they’re little. Actually I had a lot of fun. And, as soon as I get Russ squared away, I‘m going back for another week, maybe more.”

“Well, don’t count on me to pick up the pieces around here. I won’t. I’ve had it, with Russ, with you and with everybody else.”

She dropped her head so he couldn’t see her face. Is she crying? Sam wondered. “What’s wrong, Kathleen?”

She was crying. When she tried to talk, her voice caught on each sob. “Naomi — she’s gone. I got home last night from taking Russ to your house and there was a note. She said that I was more involved with my family than with her. That week Teresa spent with us drove her up the wall.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.”

“I went up to the bedroom and all her stuff was gone.” She looked at her dad, tears running down her cheeks.

Kathleen picked up her bottle of iced tea to take a drink and the paper beneath blew away. “Shit!” she said. “I can’t even hold on to a piece of paper.”


Over the next few days, Russ brought the rest of his clothes, tools, fishing gear and toilet articles to his father’s house. The bed, table and two chairs he put in the garage. He gave notice to the landlord that he was leaving at the end of the month and got instructions on just what cleanup he needed to do to get his security deposit back. At work he was back to his old job putting up siding. All in all his life seemed to be falling into place. The place, however, was Sam’s house.

Sam watched his son’s encroachment with trepidation. The five days he’d spent with Annie were like a dream that had never happened. Would he ever be able to find that magic wardrobe again, or walk again through that looking glass?

“I see you’re moving in.” Sam said one evening.

“Yup. Back to my old room. I’ll save a bundle on rent.”

“Fine, except this is my house, not yours.”

Russ frowned. “What do you mean, yours. It’s mine, too.”

“No, it was, but you’re an adult and on your own. This is not your house and, if I say so, you’ll move out.” They had a staring contest for a few seconds, then Sam went on. “You can stay on one condition.”

“What’s that? I pay rent to my own father?”

“No, I’ll forego that. You can stay if you’ll start getting some counseling. If you won’t do that, you’re outta here.”

“Counseling? You mean a shrink?” He laughed derisively. “What for?”

“Russ, look at your life. You can’t control your temper. You get into fights. You put Teresa in the hospital. You spent twenty-eight thousand dollars you don’t have for a new truck. There was that Siberian Husky thing. You’re on the brink of bankruptcy.”

“Oh for Christ’s sake, guys get in fights all the time.” He looked at his father with disgust. “And what’s wrong with buying a truck? I’m a carpenter. I need a reliable truck.”

“Our doctor gave me the name of a psychologist, a Doctor Bresser.” He handed Russ a slip of paper. “I want you to call him tomorrow and make an appointment.”

“And if I don’t?” he said defiantly.

“I call the police and have you thrown out of the house.”

“I think you would.”

“You’re dammed right I would.”

Snarling, Russ grabbed his coat, charged out the door and jumped in his pickup. Tires squealing, he spun out of the driveway. He didn’t come home until after Sam was in bed.

The next morning Russ said nothing about where he’d been and Sam didn’t ask. They were having breakfast, when they heard a knock on the front door. Sam, certain it portended no good, opened it expecting to find a policeman. Instead, a short man in a worn suit asked, “Russell Langley?”

“Just a minute,” Sam said and called his son to the door.

The man gave Russ an envelope and asked him to sign a receipt for it. Russ looked at it suspiciously, but complied. The man left and Russ ripped open the envelope. “What’s this?” He read down the page. “It’s from her lawyer. About the divorce.” He read some more. “Listen to this. She wants a thousand dollars alimony a month, five hundred a month for Jimmy, half the security deposit from the house. And I get the ten thousand dollar debt we owe the credit card company.” His eyes dropped to the bottom of the page. “She letting me see Jimmy once a week if I behave myself.”

“You’d better get a lawyer fast.”

“Screw the lawyer,” he shouted and ran from the house.

Sam closed his eyes and let out a long breath. “This is not going to be good,” he said to the empty house.

Three hours later the phone rang. Is it the police or the hospital? Sam wondered. It was the hospital, someone calling to say that Russell Langley was in the emergency room.

By the time Sam got to the hospital, his son had been transferred to a ward. Sam was directed to the fourth floor nurses’ station where the nurse said, “Your son is in stable condition, Mr. Langley, but he’s still unconscious. If you’d like to go to his room, I’ll call the doctor attending him and ask him to meet you there.” Sam thanked her and walked down the hall to the room, entering cautiously. Russ was in the bed next to the window, his head bandaged and his face, swollen and discolored.

Sam touched the hand that lay outside the blanket, and shook his head. “What have you done to yourself?” There was no answer.

It was twenty minutes before the doctor arrived. “Mr. Langley, I’m Doctor Kurian.” He was slight with sharp features and had an Indian accent. “Your son has had an accident of some kind. The EMS driver and the policeman who brought him in found him in a truck which he’d driven into a guard rail. It doesn’t appear, though, that the injuries were sustained by the crash. He may have been beaten severely, then got in his car and was driving away when he went unconscious.”

“How badly is he hurt?”

“His vital signs are strong, but he has had a bad blow to the head. He may be unconscious for a few hours. Stay if you like or I’ll ask the nurse to call you when he comes to.”

Sam elected to go home and wait there. After half an hour of pacing, he called his son-in-law’s answering service and asked to have Claude call him as soon as possible. Fifteen minutes later, he called. “What is it, Dad?”

Sam told him what the doctor had said, then asked, “Do you know this Doctor Kurian? I think he’s Indian.”

“Never heard of him. I’m sure he must be all right, though, or he wouldn’t be part of the hospital staff.” The line was silent for a few seconds, then he said, “Poor Russ. He’s done it again. You say Doctor Kurian said his vital signs were good?”

“Yes.”

“I wouldn’t worry then. I’ll call Cynthia and tell her. I know she’ll want to know.” Sam said okay and hung up.

He did the dishes that were in the sink, tried to read the newspaper, checked his e-mail — none — and made his bed. It was the middle of the afternoon before the phone rang. The nurse said that his son had regained consciousness. Sam hurried to his car.

I wish I could let him stew in his own juice, Sam said to himself as he drove to the hospital. How many times have I raced to the hospital or the police station or the high school over the years? Maybe that was my mistake. Maybe I’ve been too quick to bail him out. Or maybe he’s sicker than any of us have realized. When Sam walked into Russ’s room he stopped short. Kathleen was sitting in a chair by Russ’s bed, holding his hand.

“Hi Pop,” she said smiling, “look who’s awake.”

He crossed the room and stood beside her. Russ opened his eyes slowly, then closed them. “Hi,” he said weakly.

“He’s still pretty groggy,” she said.

Sam put his hand on her shoulder. “How long have you been here?”

“Cynthia called me a couple of hours ago and I came right over. They said you were waiting at home, but I thought I’d stay rather than leave and come back.”

“What happened?” Russ asked feebly.

“You had an accident,” Sam said.

“My truck?” His voice gained strength.

“Yeah, but I don’t know it’s condition,” Sam said. “I’ll have to track it down.”

The nurse came in. “He’d better rest for a while. Could you come back this evening?”

As Sam and Kathleen walked to the elevator, she said, “I came, didn’t I?”

“You didn’t need to. I was just a phone call away.”

“I know, but I wanted to.”

Sam patted her gently on the shoulder as they entered the elevator.

The next day Russ was awake, but the doctor wanted to keep him two more days. Sam called his family doctor, Doctor Westford, who had given him the name of the psychologist. He told him the latest news about Russ. “If you’re at Salem Hospital today or tomorrow, would you mind calling on Russ and telling him he has to get in touch with the psychologist you suggested? I don’t know if it’ll do any good, but given the state he’s in, it just might.”

“I’ll give it a try.”

On the third day, Sam went to the hospital to bring his son home. He was wheeled to the door and assisted by an orderly into Sam’s car. On the way home he told his dad what he could remember.

“All I was trying to do was talk to Teresa,” he said. “I was standing outside the house calling to her to come out. Instead, her brothers came running out and jumped me. That’s the last I remember. I don’t even remember getting into my truck.”

“Doctor Kurian said it looked like one of them kicked you in the head.”

“It feels like it. How’s my truck?”

“It’s at the house. Not too bad. A dent in the front bumper, that’s all. You must not have been going fast.”

“I don’t remember any of it.”

“Did Doctor Westford come by to see you in the hospital?”

“Yeah. Said I need to see the psychologist. He stayed there until I called and made an appointment. It’s in two days.”