Read The Stories of Richard Bausch for Free Online Page B

take the day off,” he said. “Fact is, they were proud to give it to me.”
    She turned and looked at him. “What is it?”
    “You see something?”
    “Okay.”
    “Well, do you?”
    She turned back to the mirror. “Gabriel, I don’t have time for games.”
    “This is serious.”
    She said nothing, concentrating on what she was doing.
    “Did you hear me?”
    After a pause, she said, “I heard you.”
    “Well?”
    Now she looked at him. “Gabriel, what in the world?”
    “Want to watch some TV?” he said.
    “What’re you talking about. Look at you. Did you get in a fight?”
    “I had a rough night,” he said.
    “I can see that.”
    “Look into my eyes.”
    Diane came to the doorway of the room. “Cal and I are going over to my place for a while. I think we’ll stay over there tonight.”
    “What a good idea,” Aldenburg said.
    Diane smiled, then walked away.
    Eva gazed at him.
    “Look into my eyes, really.” He stood close.
    She said, “You smell like a distillery. You’re drunk.”
    “No,” he said, “I’m not drunk. You know what happened?”
    “You’ve been drinking at this hour of the morning.”
    “Listen to me.”
    She stared. He had stepped back from her. “Well?” she said.
    “I saved human lives today.” He felt the truth of it move in him, and for the first time paused and looked at it reasonably in his mind. He smiled at her.
    “What,” she said.
    “You haven’t heard me,” he told her. “Did you hear what I said?”
    “Gabriel,” Eva said. “I’ve been thinking. Once again, I had all night to think. I’ve done a lot of thinking, Gabriel.”
    He waited.
    “Quit smiling like that. This isn’t easy.” She gathered her breath. “I’m just going to say this straight out. Okay?”
    “Okay,” he said.
    “I’m—I’m splitting.”
    He looked at her hands, at the mirror with her back and shoulders in it, at the floor with their shadows on it from the bright windows.
    “Diane has room for me in her house. And I can look for a place of my own from there. After she and Cal are married—”
    Aldenburg waited.
    His wife said, “It’s a decision I should’ve made a long time ago.”
    “I don’t understand,” he said.
    “Haven’t you been listening?”
    “Haven’t
you?”
he said. “Did you hear what I just told you?”
    “Oh, come
on,
Gabriel. This is serious.”
    “I’m telling you, it
happened,”
he shouted.
    “Gabriel—” she began.
    He went back to the living room, where Cal and Diane were sitting on his couch. Diane had turned the television on—a game show. They did not look at him when he came in. They knew what had been talked about, and they were feeling the awkwardness of it. He went to the door and looked out at the street. The sun was gone. There were heavy dark folds of cloud to the east. He turned. “I thought you were going over to your house,” he said to Diane. He could barely control his voice.
    “We are. As soon as Cal finishes this show.”
    “Why don’t you go now.”
    “Why don’t you worry about your own problems?”
    “Get out,” Aldenburg said. “Both of you.”
    Cal stood and reached for his cane. Aldenburg turned the TV off, then stood by the door as they came past him. “Look, if it makes any difference,” Cal said to him, “I argued against it.”
    Aldenburg nodded at him but said nothing.
    When they were gone, he went back into the bedroom, where Eva had lain down on the bed. He sat on the other side, his back to her. He was abruptly very tired, and light-headed.
    “Do you want to tell me what happened?” she said.
    He said, “Would it make the slightest bit of difference?”
    “Gabriel, you knew this was coming—”
    He stood, removed his shirt. He felt the scorched places on his arms. Everything ached. He walked into the bathroom and washed his face and hands. Then he brushed his teeth. In the room, Eva lay very still. He pulled the blankets down on his side of the bed.
    “I’m not asleep,” she