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found himself
detaching from human contact. It was good to be around people—it reminded him of
his humanity—but he just didn’t have the energy to cultivate any kind of
relationship with anyone.
    David looked up when Michael approached. “Good timing; the
steaks are ready.”
    “They were ready fifteen minutes ago,” Michael said, lifting
the corner of his mouth in a half-smile.
    “Just…” David mimed scraping the burned parts off with a
knife. “And smear it with sauce.”
    Michael laughed. While David put steaks on the plates,
Michael carted them over to the tables. While he trucked back and forth, he
noticed he had picked up a little shadow.
    He looked down to see his six-year-old grand-nephew staring
up at him with a grin. “Hello, Carl,” he said.
    “Hello, Great-Uncle Michael.” Carl waved his hand in a
sweeping motion.
    “Just call me Uncle Mike—I haven’t felt great in a long
while. Did you want to be my helper?”
    “Sure, Great-Unc—sure, Uncle Mike.”
    Michael handed him a plate with a thick steak hanging over
the lip, and watched while Carl balanced it and carried it over to the tables. All
the while, he stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth in concentration.
    Michael and David smiled while they watched him go.
    “Grandkids,” David said. “They’ll keep you young.”
    Then his smile faded. “Sorry, Michael. I know you and
Melanie tried hard.”
    “I guess it’s for the better,” Michael said after a while.
“I was always working fourteen-hour shifts. Barely had enough time for Melanie.
If I had kids they’d probably have grown up strangers, full of resentment.”
    When Carl came back for his second load, Michael said, “You okay,
sport?”
    “Yeah. Aunt Ginny says she only wants a half. And one that
isn’t a burnt offering.”
    With a laugh, David quickly sliced a steak in two and put
the slightly smaller portion on a plate, which Michael handed to Carl.
    “There you go. Steady now,” he added when Carl overbalanced
the plate.
    “You know,” David said, and there was an uncomfortable
quaver in his voice, “if you’re not doing anything, why don’t you swing by next
weekend? Andrea and I are going to a bridge tournament. There’s a lot of single
people our age there.”
    “I’m not ready.”
    Dave held up his hands. “Hey, don’t mean to push.”
    Michael shook his head. “I’m just not sure what to do with
myself is all. I always thought this would be my chance to travel the world
with Melanie.”
    “You can still travel.” David prepared another steak for
Carl when the young boy returned. “There are chartered tours for practically
every destination.”
    “Wouldn’t really be the same.”
    “You’ve got to get out of this funk,” David said. “I’m
saying this as your brother and your friend.”
    “I know. I appreciate it, really. I guess I just need to
figure things out. I can’t explain it.”
    David put his hand on Michael’s shoulder. “You don’t need to
explain a thing. Just know we’re here for you.”
    “Thanks, bro.” Michael didn’t need to force the smile he
gave David.
    When Carl came back for the last time, he said, “It’s just
you and Grandpa left, Uncle Mike. —And me.”
    “Well,” Michael said. “Looks like your grandfather saved the
juiciest steak for you, a reward for all your hard work.”
    Carl beamed as he took his prize back to the picnic tables,
shouting at his mom, “Look what I got.”
    David served the last two steaks, and he and Michael headed
to the table to fill their plates with potato salad, pickles and buns.
    While everyone ate, they shared jokes, gossiped, and just
basked in the familiarity of family.
    Michael’s appetite wasn’t what it used to be, and when he
had only finished half of his supper, he excused himself from the table to use
the washroom.
    “Don’t fall in!” someone joked, and Michael waved a hand in
the air as he went into his brother’s house.
    On the way to the