Read Benediction for Free Online

Doris Thomas calling. I saw Frank.
    What did you say?
    I saw Frank.
    What do you mean?
    At the airport in Denver. He was in the lines at security where they make you walk
     back and forth between those straps and we kept passing each other and I knew right
     away it was him. He was wearing a cap so I couldn’t see the top of his head but it
     looked exactly like him. Like your husband used to look when he was that age.
    What did you say to him?
    I didn’t say anything to him. I didn’t want to embarrass either one of us.
    He was flying someplace?
    Yes. I just thought you’d want to know.
    When was this?
    Two weeks ago. I was on my way to Seattle to be with my daughter. She had her baby.
    Did he look okay?
    Frank? Yes, I think he looked okay.
    I mean, did my son look happy?
    Oh. I wouldn’t be able to say about that.
    She stood facing out across the fence and gate and the street to the empty lot on
     the other side. Inside the fence the shade under the silver poplar trees was shifting
     and moving on the grass. There were tears in her eyes now and she stayed for a long
     time crying quietly and thinking. Then she wiped her face and went back into the house.
     Lorraine was upstairs in her bedroom. At the foot of the stairs she called up to her.
     Will you come down now?
    Is something wrong?
    I want to tell you and Dad at the same time.
    What is it?
    She turned and went into the living room. Dad was sleeping and she went over and put
     her hand on his arm and held it there until he opened his eyes and looked up at her.
     Are you awake, honey? she said.
    I am now.
    I want you to hear something.
    Lorraine came into the room.
    I want to tell you both something, Mary said. About a phone call I just got from Doris
     Thomas. You remember her.
    No. I don’t, Dad said.
    Yes, you do. She had the daughter that moved out to Washington State. She and her
     husband lived over on Detroit Street until he died.
    Don Thomas.
    That’s right.
    He always talked a lot, said Dad.
    Well, I don’t know about that.
    They had a boy my age, Lorraine said. I never heard what became of him.
    What about this phone call? Dad said.
    Mary looked from her husband to her daughter. Doris said she saw Frank. At the airport
     in Denver.
    How could she see Frank?
    That’s what she said. She said she saw him at the airport.
    When?
    Two weeks ago.
    Why is she just calling now?
    Because she was in Seattle seeing her daughter. Her daughter had her baby. She just
     got back.
    What did he look like? Dad said.
    She said he looked like you when you were his age.
    I doubt that.
    That’s what she said.
    I doubt it.
    Dad, she said she saw him.
    I don’t believe any of this for a minute. It isn’t possible.
    But, honey, what if she did.
    No. Frank’s gone off someplace far away. He’s not coming back here or anywhere near
     here.
    I don’t think she saw him either, Mom.
    Oh why do you say that?
    I don’t think she could have. I don’t think Frank would be flying anywhere.
    Mary looked from one to the other, her eyes filling again with tears. Shame on you
     both, she said. Shame on you.
    She left the room and went out through the front hall to the porch and carried her
     broom to the swing and sat down.
    In the house Dad said, Go see about her, will you? She won’t talk to me now.
    Lorraine went out to the porch. Can I sit with you, Mom?
    No, I don’t want any company. I don’t want to speak to you or anybody else right now.

6
    T HE NURSE from hospice was a small active woman with beautiful teeth and shiny hair. She came
     into the living room on a sunny morning in her pink shirt and vest and blue jeans
     and came over to Dad, walking slowly so as not to surprise him, and he turned from
     the window to look at her. Lorraine brought her a chair and she sat down in front
     of Dad and took his hands and examined them, inspecting his fingernails, and smiled
     and he looked at her soberly, not smiling but not frowning as he sometimes did. She
     said, Mr. Lewis, how