11/22/63: A Novel (87 page)

“Hide it
where
?”

“It doesn’t matter, because that part already happened. That part’s the past.” I put my hands over my face because the light in the room was suddenly too bright.

“Stop thinking about it now,” she said, and snatched the newspaper story away. “Relax, or you’ll get one of your headaches and need one of those pills. They make you all sloppy.”

“Yes,” I said. “I know.”

“You need coffee. Strong coffee.”

She went into the kitchen to make it. When she came back, I was snoring. I slept for almost three hours, and might have remained in the Land of Nod even longer, but she shook me awake. “What’s the last thing you remember about coming to Dallas?”

“I
don’t
remember it.”

“Where did you stay? A hotel? A motor court? A rented room?”

For a moment I had a hazy memory of a courtyard and many windows. A doorman? Maybe. Then it was gone. The headache was cranking up again.

“I don’t know. All I remember is crossing the state line on
Highway 20 and seeing a sign for barbecue. And that was miles from Dallas.”

“I know, but we don’t have to go that far, because if you were on 20, you stayed on 20.” She glanced at her watch. “It’s too late today, but tomorrow we’re going for a Sunday drive.”

“It probably won’t work.” But I felt a flicker of hope, just the same.

She stayed the night, and the next morning we left Dallas on what residents called the Honeybee Highway, headed east toward Louisiana. Sadie was at the wheel of my Chevy, which was fine once the jimmied ignition switch had been replaced. Deke had taken care of that. She drove as far as Terrell, then pulled off 20 and turned around in the potholed dirt parking lot of a side-o’-the-road church. Blood of the Redeemer, according to the message board on the fading lawn. Below the name, there was message in white stick-on letters. It was supposed to say HAVE YOU READ THE WORD OF ALMIGHTY GOD TODAY, but some of the letters had fallen off, leaving AVE YOU REA THE WORD OF AL IGHTY GOD TOD Y.

She looked at me with some trepidation. “Can you drive back, honey?”

I was pretty sure I could. It was a straight shot, and the Chevy was an automatic. I wouldn’t need to use my stiff left leg at all. The only thing was . . .

“Sadie?” I asked her as I settled behind the wheel for the first time since August and ran the seat as far back as it would go.

“Yes?”

“If I fall asleep, grab the wheel and turn off the key.”

She smiled nervously. “Oh, believe me.”

I checked for traffic and pulled out. At first I didn’t dare go much above forty-five, but it was a Sunday noon, and we had the road pretty much to ourselves. I began to relax.

“Clear your mind, Jake. Don’t try to remember anything, just let it happen.”

“I wish I had my Sunliner,” I said.

“Make believe it
is
your Sunliner, then, and just let it go where it wants to go.”

“Okay, but . . .”

“No buts. It’s a beautiful day. You’re coming into a new place, and you don’t
have to worry about Kennedy being assassinated, because that’s a long time from now. Years.”

Yes, it was a nice day. And no, I didn’t fall asleep, although I was plenty tired—I hadn’t been out for this long since the beating. My mind kept returning to the little side-o’-the-road church. Very likely a black church. They probably swung the hymns in a way the white folks never would, and read THE WORD OF AL IGHTY GOD with lots of hallelujah and praise Jesus.

We were coming into Dallas now. I made lefts and rights—probably more rights, because my left arm was still weak and turning that way hurt, even with the power steering. Soon I was lost in the side streets.

I’m lost, all right,
I thought.
I need someone to give me directions the way that kid did in New Orleans. To the Hotel Moonstone.

Only it hadn’t been the Moonstone; it had been the Monteleone. And the hotel where I’d stayed when I came to Dallas was . . . it was . . .

For a moment I thought it was going to waft away, as even Sadie’s name sometimes still did. But then I saw the doorman, and all those glittering windows looking down on Commerce Street, and it clicked home.

I had stayed at the Adolphus Hotel. Yes. Because it was close to . . .

It wouldn’t come. That part was still blocked off.

“Honey? All right?”

“Yes,” I said. “Why?”

“You kind of jumped.”

“It’s my leg. Cramping up a little.”

“None of this looks familiar?”

“No,” I said. “None of it.”

She sighed. “Another idea bites the dust. I guess we better go back. Want me to drive?”

“Maybe you better.” I limped around to the passenger seat, thinking
Adolphus Hotel. Write that down when you get back to Eden Fallows. So you won’t forget.

When we were back in the little three-room efficiency with the ramps, the hospital bed, and the grab-handles on either side of the toilet, Sadie told me I ought to lie down for a little while. “And take one of your pills.”

I went into the bedroom, took off my shoes—a slow process—and lay down. I didn’t take a pill, though. I wanted to keep my mind clear. I had to keep it clear from now on. Kennedy and Dallas were just five days apart.

You stayed in the Adolphus Hotel because it was close to something. What?

Well, it was close to the motorcade route that had been published in the paper, which narrowed things down to . . . gee, no more than two thousand buildings. Not to mention all the statues, monuments, and walls a putative sniper could hide behind. How many alleys along the route? Dozens. How many overpasses with clear fire lines down to passby-points on West Mockingbird Lane, Lemmon Avenue, Turtle Creek Boulevard? The motorcade was going to travel all of those. How many more on Main Street and Houston Street?

You need to remember either who he is or where he’s going to shoot from.

If I got one of those things, I’d get the other. I knew this. But what my mind kept returning to was that church on Route 20 where we’d turned around. Blood of the Redeemer on the Honeybee Highway. Many people saw Kennedy as a redeemer. Certainly Al Templeton had. He—

My eyes widened and I stopped breathing.

In the other room the telephone rang and I heard Sadie answer, keeping her voice pitched low because she thought I was asleep.

THE WORD OF AL IGHTY GOD.

I remembered the day I had seen Sadie’s full name with part of it blocked out, so all I could read was “Doris Dun.” This was a harmonic of that magnitude. I closed my eyes and visualized the church signboard. Then I visualized putting my hand over IGHTY GOD.

What I was left with was THE WORD OF AL.

Al’s notes.
I had his notebook!

But where? Where was it?

The bedroom door opened. Sadie looked in. “Jake? Are you asleep?”

“No,” I said. “Just lying quiet.”

“Did you remember anything?”

“No,” I said. “Sorry.”

“There’s still time.”

“Yes. New things are coming back to me every day.”

“Honey, that was Deke. There’s a bug going around school and he’s caught a good case of it. He asked if I could come in tomorrow and Tuesday. Maybe Wednesday, too.”

“Go in,” I said. “If you don’t, he’ll try to do it himself. And he’s not a young guy anymore.” In my mind, four words flashed on and off like bar neon: THE WORD OF AL, THE WORD OF AL, THE WORD OF AL.

She sat down next to me on the bed. “Are you sure?”

“I’ll be fine. Plenty of company, too. DAVIN comes in tomorrow, remember.” DAVIN was Dallas Area Visiting Nurses. Their main job in my case was to make sure I wasn’t raving, which might indicate that my brain was bleeding after all.

“Right. Nine o’clock. It’s on the calendar, in case you forget. And Dr. Ellerton—”

“Coming for lunch. I remember.”

“Good, Jake. That’s
good.
”

“He said he’d bring sandwiches. And milkshakes. Wants to fatten me up.”

“You
need
fattening up.”

“Plus therapy on Wednesday. Leg-torture in the morning, arm-torture in the afternoon.”

“I don’t like leaving you so close to . . . you know.”

“If something occurs to me, I’ll call you, Sadie.”

She took my hand and bent close enough so I could smell her perfume and the faint aroma of tobacco on her breath. “Do you promise?”

“Yes. Of course.”

“I’ll be back on Wednesday night at the latest. If Deke can’t come in on Thursday, the library will just have to stay closed.”

“I’ll be fine.”

She kissed me lightly, started out of the room, then turned back. “I almost hope Deke’s right and this whole thing is a delusion. I can’t bear the idea that we know and still might not be able to stop it. That we might just be sitting in the living room and watching on television when somebody—”

“I’ll remember,” I said.

“Will you, Jake?”

“I have to.”

She nodded, but even with the shades drawn, I could read the doubt on her face. “We can still have supper before I go. You close your eyes and let that pill do its work. Get some sleep.”

I closed my eyes, sure I wouldn’t sleep. And that was okay, because I needed to think about the Word of Al. After a little while I could smell something cooking. It smelled good. When I’d first come out of the hospital, still puking or shitting every ten minutes, all smells had revolted me. Now things were better.

I began to drift. I could see Al sitting across from me in one of the diner booths, his paper cap tilted over his left eyebrow. Photos of smalltown bigwigs looked down at us, but Harry Dunning was no longer on the wall. I had saved him. Perhaps the second time I’d saved him from Vietnam, as well. There was no way to be sure.

Still holding you back, isn’t he, buddy?
Al asked.

Yes
.
He still is.

But you’re close now.

Not close enough. I have no idea where I put that goddam notebook of yours.

You put it someplace safe. Does that narrow it down any?

I started to say no, then thought:
The Word of Al is safe. Safe. Because—

I opened my eyes, and for the first time in what felt like weeks, a big smile creased my face.

It was in a safe deposit box.

The door opened. “Are you hungry? I kept it warm.”

“Huh?”

“Jake, you’ve been asleep for over two hours.”

I sat up and swung my legs onto the floor. “Then let’s eat.”

11/17/63 (Sunday)

Sadie wanted to do the dishes after the meal she called supper and I called dinner, but I told her to go on and pack her overnight case instead. It was small and blue, with rounded corners.

“Your knee—”

“My knee can stand up to a few dishes. You need to hit the road now if you want a full night’s sleep.”

Ten minutes later the dishes were done, my fingertips were pruney, and Sadie stood at the door. With her little bag in her hands and her hair curling around her face, she had never looked prettier to me.

“Jake? Tell me one good thing about the future.”

Surprisingly few things came. Cell phones? No. Suicide bombers? Probably not. Melting ice caps? Perhaps another time.

Then I grinned. “I’ll give you two for the price of one. The cold war is over and the president is a black man.”

She started to smile, then saw I wasn’t joking. Her mouth dropped open. “Are you telling me there’s a
Negro
in the
White House
?”

“Yes indeed. Although in my day, such folks prefer to be called African-Americans.”

“You’re serious?”

“Yes. I am.”

“Oh my God!”

“A great many people said that exact thing the day after the election.”

“Is he . . . doing a good job?”

“Opinions vary. If you want mine, he’s doing as well as anyone
could expect, given the complexities.”

“On that note, I think I’ll drive back to Jodie.” She laughed distractedly. “In a daze.”

She walked down the ramp, put her case in the cubby that served as her Beetle’s trunk, then blew me a kiss. She started to get in, but I couldn’t let her go like that. I couldn’t run—Dr. Perry said that was still eight months away, maybe even a year—but I limped down the ramp as fast as I could.

“Wait, Sadie, wait a minute!”

Mr. Kenopensky was sitting next door in his wheelchair, bundled up in a jacket and holding his battery-powered Motorola in his lap. On the sidewalk, Norma Whitten was making her slow way down toward the mailbox on the corner, using a pair of wooden sticks more like ski poles than crutches. She turned and waved to us, trying to lift the frozen side of her face into a smile.

Sadie looked at me questioningly in the twilight.

“I just wanted to tell you something,” I said. “I wanted to tell you you’re the best damned thing that ever happened to me.”

She laughed and hugged me. “Ditto, kind sir.”

We kissed a long time, and might have kissed longer but for the dry clapping sound on our right. Mr. Kenopensky was applauding.

Sadie pulled away, but took me by the wrists. “You’ll call me, won’t you? Keep me . . . what’s that thing you say? In the loop?”

“That’s it, and I will.” I had no intention of keeping her in the loop. Deke or the police, either.

“Because you can’t do this on your own, Jake. You’re too weak.”

“I know that,” I said. Thinking:
I better not be.
“Call me so I know you got back safe.”

When her Bug turned the corner and disappeared, Mr. Kenopensky said, “Better mind your p’s and q’s, Amberson. That one’s a keeper.”

“I know.”
I stayed at the foot of the driveway long enough to make sure Miz Whitten got back from the mailbox without falling down.

She made it.

I went back inside.

The first thing I did was to get my key ring off the top of the dresser and pick through the keys, surprised that Sadie had never shown them to me to see if they’d jog my memory . . . but of course she couldn’t think of everything. There were an even dozen. I had no idea what most of them went to, although I was pretty sure the Schlage opened the front door of my house in . . . was it Sabattus? I thought that was right, but I wasn’t sure.