All the Roads That Lead From Home (23 page)

Angelica
sat down next to him. The old man fussed. He plucked at the belt of his
bathrobe and moaned.

“What’s
wrong with him?” asked Angelica. She’s was afraid he was sick, or about to die.
That wouldn’t be good, if he just up and died on them. Mr. Dugan left and
returned quickly with glass of amber liquid.

“Maybe he
needs a little nip,” said Mr. Dugan.

“What if
he’s on medication?” asked Angelica.

“Won’t
hurt him.” Mr. Dugan brought the glass to the old man’s lips. The old man
tasted the liquid. His eyes squinted and a gurgle rose from his throat. Mr.
Dugan gave a thumb’s up. The old man nodded. He gave the old man another
swallow. Timothy and Foster wandered into the living room. They were bored,
now. The old man didn’t interest them anymore. Timothy picked up his coloring
from yesterday, and Foster considered putting another set of Band-Aids on his
eyes, then decided to wrap Thaddeus’s toes together with masking tape. He’d
done that before, and Thaddeus didn’t seem to mind at all.

The old
man held Angelica’s hand. His skin was very smooth, as if it hadn’t touched
anything rough in years and years. How long had he been like that? What, if
anything, did he remember of his past?

“Well, I’m
going back to my den for a little while, so you just sit here with him,” said
Mr. Dugan

“What if
he needs to go to the bathroom?” asked Angelica.

“You
better hope he doesn’t.”

The old
man had settled down. He fell asleep once more. Angelica’s phone buzzed. It was
Luann.

going
to the mall. want to come?

The old
man’s grip was surprisingly tight, so Angelica had to type with only one hand.

can’t.

why?

grandpa’s here.

oh. text me later.

k.

Timothy
got tired of coloring, and went up to his room. Foster doodled on the back of
an unopened bill. Thaddeus padded by, slightly impaired by the tape. Gradually,
Angelica relaxed. She wondered what Dwayne was doing. She could text him and
say,
guess whose hand I’m holding right now?
Then she wouldn’t explain,
and look sly when she saw him at school. That might shake him up. Dwayne needed
shaking up. Dwayne was too laid back. She wondered what the old man was like
when he was younger. Maybe he was as dull as toast until Caroline came along.
Then Caroline turned his head. Caroline made him change his mind about
everything. He went on breathing in a deep, steady rhythm. He might live quite
a few more years, Angelica thought. If he was well cared for, that is. Looking
after an old man like that wouldn’t be so hard, except for the bathroom issue.
It occurred to her that wiping someone’s ass might not be the easiest thing in
the world.

The old
man stirred, opened his eyes, and focused them hard on Angelica. He smiled. He
leaned towards her, and planted a dry kiss on her lips. In a thin, wobbly voice
he said, “Our love could light the world.”

Eventually
the police arrived and escorted the old man out. Angelica held his hand until
the very last minute. He was a resident of the Clearview nursing home, only a
half-mile away. An employee of the nursing home had come in a separate car and
told Angelica about the service she’d performed that day, and how heart-warming
it was to see a young person be so caring and responsible. Mr. Dugan emerged
from his den and stood with Angelica and the other children on the front porch
and waved good-bye. Angelica went to sit on her bed and think. Her mother would
be home the day after tomorrow, and school would start the week after that.
Time seemed like a slow, lazy river they were all floating along. Only the
river in the old man’s heart had flowed backwards, returning him to Caroline,
whoever she was. To love someone so much that you’d never forget her, even when
you’d forgotten everything else. That was something. That was worth having. As
she checked her phone again to see if Dwayne had texted her, already knowing
that he hadn’t, she decided that one day, no matter what, she would.

Anne Leigh Parrish
’s
short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in
The Virginia Quarterly
Review
,
Clackamas Literary Review
,
The Pinch
,
American
Short Fiction
,
PANK
,
Knee-Jerk Magazine
,
Prime Number
Magazine
,
C4
,
Eclectica Magazine
,
Storyglossia
,
Bluestem
,
and
r.kv.r.y.
, among other publications. Her awards include
The Pinch
2008 Literary Award in Fiction for “Surrogate”; First Place in the
American
Short Fiction
2007 Short Story Contest for “All The Roads That Lead From
Home”; and First Place in the 2003 Clark College Fiction Contest for “Fance.”

For more
information about Anne and her work, visit her website at
www.anneleighparrish.com
.

Cover artist
Lydia Selk
lives in Washington State with her husband. He gave her a digital camera about six years ago. That
gift ignited a passion. She tries to capture tiny stories whispered from
abandoned and decaying objects, from trees in the forest, or from the back
alleys in her hometown. See her work at www.flickr.com/photos/lydiafairy.