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De
“Everybody’s delicate, son, if you poke them hard enough.”
“Really? Not me,” De
Of course they thought of sending him to therapy. Or Abby did, at least. All along she had thought of it, but now she grew more insistent. De
Red had trouble believing this story. “He just walked in?” he asked Abby. “He just went along with it?”
“Of course,” Abby said breezily, and then her eyes filled with tears. “Oh, Red,” she said, “can you imagine what a hard time he must be having, if he let me do that?”
De
This was in 1990, late 1990. In early 1991, De
The girl was named Amy Lin. She was the wishbone-thin, curtain-haired, Goth-costumed daughter of two Chinese-American orthopedists, and she was six weeks pregnant. But none of this was known to the Whitshanks. They had never heard of Amy Lin. Their first inkling came when her father phoned and asked if they had any idea of Amy’s whereabouts. “Who?” Abby said. She thought at first he must have dialed the wrong number.
“Amy Lin, my daughter. She’s gone off with your son. Her note said they’re getting married.”
“They’re what?” Abby said. “He’s sixteen years old!”
“So is Amy,” Dr. Lin said. “Her birthday was day before yesterday. She seems to be under the impression that sixteen is legal marrying age.”
“Well, maybe in Mozambique,” Abby said.
“Could you check De
“All right,” Abby said. “But I really think you’re mistaken.”
She laid the receiver down and called for Jea
“Oh, clearly the man is bonkers,” Abby said. “And so imperious! He introduced himself as ‘Dr. Lin.’ He had that typical doctor way of ordering people about.”
Naturally, they didn’t find a note, or anything else telltale — a love letter or a photograph. Jea
But Jea
“Dr. Lin has it all wrong,” Abby said with finality. She picked up the receiver and said, “It appears that you’re wrong, Dr. Lin.”
So it was left to the Lins to locate the couple, after their daughter called them collect to tell them she was fine although maybe the teeniest bit homesick. She and De
The Lins drove to Elkton to retrieve them, returning directly to the Whitshank house to hold a two-family discussion. It was the first and only time that Red and Abby laid eyes on Amy. They found her bewilderingly unattractive — sallow and unhealthy-looking, and lacking any sign of spirit. Also, as Abby said later, it was a jolt to see how well the Lins seemed to know De
“Well, it’s different with daughters,” Red said. “You know how we generally get to meet Mandy and Jea
“No,” Abby said, “that’s not what I’m talking about. This is more like he didn’t just meet her family; he joined it.”
“Rubbish,” Red told her.
Abby didn’t seem reassured.
They did try to talk with De
In fact, the Whitshanks never saw Amy again, and as far as they could tell, De
It wasn’t right, Abby said. They hadn’t had him long enough. Children were supposed to stick around till eighteen, at the very least. (The girls hadn’t moved away even for college.) “It’s like he’s been stolen from us,” she told Red. “He was taken before his time!”
“You talk like he’s died,” Red told her.
“I feel like he’s died,” she said.
And whenever he did come home, he was a stranger. He had a different smell, no longer the musty-closet smell but something almost chemical, like new carpeting. He wore a Greek sailor’s cap that Abby (a product of the sixties) associated with the young Bob Dylan. And he spoke to his parents politely, but distantly. Did he resent them for shipping him off? But they hadn’t had a choice! No, his grudge must have gone farther back. “It’s because I didn’t shield him properly,” Abby guessed.
“Shield him from what?” Red asked.
“Oh … never mind.”
“Not from me,” Red told her.
“If you say so.”
“I’m not taking the rap for this, Abby.”
“Fine.”
At such moments, they hated each other.
And then De
Not even that famous phone call changed things, because they never did talk it out with him. They never sat him down and said, “Tell us: gay, or not gay? Just explain yourself, is all we ask.” Other events followed too fast. He didn’t stay long enough in one place. After Christmas he used his return ticket to go back to Mi