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It was full dark. Multicolored lights were strung all across the eaves of her parents’ house. A silly plastic light-up snowman was posed on the front steps. A
Before she could change her mind and turn around to head home, Ruth was opening the aluminum storm door, but instead of surprise or pleasure at seeing her only daughter, A
She jumped out of the car and ran to the door. “Mom? What is it? Is it Leonard? Is he okay?”
Ruth’s face was pale. “Leonard’s fine. Have you talked to Mason?”
“No,” A
Ruth held out her own phone. “Here. You need to call him.”
A
Ruth shook the phone in her daughter’s face. “You are not listening. Honey, you need to call Mason right this minute. It’s Gle
Her mind was a blank. Her hands were trembling. Ruth dialed and handed her the phone.
“Mason? I just got to Mama’s. She said…”
“It’s Dad,” Mason said. He sounded calm, detached even. “It’s bad. They think he’s had a heart attack. We’re at Passcoe Memorial.”
“Oh my God,” A
“We’re not sure. Mom found him on the floor of the bedroom when she got home this afternoon. They’re working on him, but … we just don’t know anything. Dr. Kaufman is in with him.”
“I’m so sorry,” A
“All right,” he said. “I’ve gotta go. The nurse is coming out to talk to us.”
“Call me,” A
* * *
She found Mason alone in the waiting room at the hospital, slumped forward in one of those hard-backed green chairs. Even with the harsh fluorescent overhead lights the beige room was wreathed in shadows. He didn’t look up when she sat down and called his name.
“Where’s Sallie?” she asked, looking around the room. “And Pokey?”
“Pokey had to go home,” Mason said, his voice a monotone. “To nurse the baby. Mama’s in the room with Dad. They tried to make her leave, but she raised holy hell and threatened to sue everybody, so they finally let her stay.”
“What about Davis?”
Mason shrugged. “He went up to Boone early this morning, to go skiing. Phone reception is lousy up there.”
“Is there … any change?”
“No,” Mason said. He sat up and stared at the television. “It’s not good,” he said bleakly. “Dr. Kaufman says his brain had likely been without oxygen for at least an hour or more by the time Mama found him. The EMTs managed to get his heart started in the ambulance, but Dr. Kaufman told us, even if he does make it, he won’t be the same. You know.”
A
“Okay,” Mason said. “That’s nice. Mama will appreciate it.”
They sat like that, not talking for another hour. Finally, she could stand the silence no more. “I’m go
“No thanks,” Mason said.
She got up and walked over to the coffee station in the corner, taking her time with sugar packets and instant creamer. She was about to sit down again when Sallie Bayless appeared in the doorway.
She was still dressed in the elegant black cashmere sweater and slacks she’d been wearing hours and hours ago, when A
“Mama?” Mason stood.
She nodded. “He’s gone. They did everything they could, but your daddy is gone, son.” She burst into tears, and threw herself into her oldest child’s arms, while A
* * *
The next few days and weeks after the funeral were a blur.
Gle
After two weeks, Sallie’s doctor prescribed sleeping pills, and Mason came home. To the lumpy pullout sofa.
He plunged into the work of settling his father’s estate and came home exhausted and ashen-faced from endless meetings with the lawyers. If A
But things were not fine. Without confiding in his son, Gle
At the same time, Quixie’s sales had taken a worrisome dip. Vitamin waters, energy drinks, and flavored bottled iced teas were eroding their share of the soft drink market.
And A
9
The nurse who’d wheeled Sophie back to the exam room beckoned. “Dr. Kaufman wanted me to tell you that he’s go
They found Sophie clutching a teddy bear, with an IV-drip tube co
Mason laid his cheek against Sophie’s. “Hey kiddo,” he said softly. “Dr. Max is go
Her eyelashes fluttered. “Daddy?” she said woozily. “I got a new bear.”
“I see that,” Mason said.
A
Clenched in the palm of her hand was an empty glass vial, probably from some drug that had been injected into her IV tube. Sophie was a magpie. From the moment she’d first started to crawl, she had a habit of picking up random small items. A misplaced earring, paper clip, discarded gum wrapper, all of these were treasures to Sophie, who would carefully tuck them in a pocket or hide them under her pillow. Or more often than not lately, in her treasured pink plastic pocketbook.
“It’s a baby bottle. For my new bear,” Sophie said.
“I’ll keep it for you,” A
“Mittens,” Sophie said. “I’m sooo sleepy.”
“You rest,” Mason told her. “And when you wake up, I’ll be right here.”