JК
Bag of Bones :: Кинг Стивен
Страница: 55 из 425Visits to the sick… helping out with the annual volunteer fire department blood drive… womaning a booth during Summerfest in Castle Rock… and stuff like that was only where she had started. She didn’t do it in any ostentatious Lady Bountiful way, either, but unobtrusively and humbly, with her head lowered (often to hide a rather sharp smile, I should add—my Jo had a Biercean sense of humor). Christ, I thought, maybe old Bill had a right to sound reproachful. “People miss her,” I said. “Ayuh, they do.”
“I still miss her a lot myself. I think that’s why I’ve stayed away from the lake.
That’s where a lot of our good times were.”
“I s’pose so. But it’ll be damned good to see you down this way. I’ll get busy. The place is all right—you could move into it this afternoon, if you was a mind—but when a house has stood empty the way Sara has, it gets stale.”
“I know.”
“TII get Brenda Meserve to clean the whole shebang from top to bottom. Same gal you always had, don’t you know.”
“Brenda’s a little old for comprehensive spring cleaning, isn’t she?”
The lady in question was about sixty-five, stout, kind, and gleefully vulgar. She was especially fond of jokes about the travelling salesman who spent the night like a rabbit, jumping from hole to hole. No Mrs. Dan-vets she. “Ladies like Brenda Meserve never get too old to oversee the festivities,” Bill said. “She’ll get two or three girls to do the vacuuming and heavy lifting. Set you back maybe three hundred dollars.
Sound all right?”
“Like a bargain.”
“The well needs to be tested, and the gennie, too, although I’m sure both ofem’s okay. I seen a hornet’s nest by Jo’s old studio that I want to smoke before the woods get dry.
Oh, and the roof of the old house—you know, the middle piece—needs to be reshingled. I shoulda talked to you about that last year, but with you not using the place, I let her slide. You stand good for that, too?”
“Yes, up to ten grand. Beyond that, call me.”
“If we have to go over ten, I’ll smile and kiss a pig.”
“Try to have it all done before I get down there, okay?”
“Coss. You’ll want your privacy, I know that. . just so long’s you know you won’t get any right away. We was shocked when she went so young; all of us were. Shocked and sad. She was a dear.” From a Yankee mouth, that word rhymes with Leah. “Thank you, Bill.” I felt tears prickle my eyes. Grief is like a drunken house guest, always coming back for one more goodbye hug.
“I still miss her a lot myself. I think that’s why I’ve stayed away from the lake.
That’s where a lot of our good times were.”
“I s’pose so. But it’ll be damned good to see you down this way. I’ll get busy. The place is all right—you could move into it this afternoon, if you was a mind—but when a house has stood empty the way Sara has, it gets stale.”
“I know.”
“TII get Brenda Meserve to clean the whole shebang from top to bottom. Same gal you always had, don’t you know.”
“Brenda’s a little old for comprehensive spring cleaning, isn’t she?”
The lady in question was about sixty-five, stout, kind, and gleefully vulgar. She was especially fond of jokes about the travelling salesman who spent the night like a rabbit, jumping from hole to hole. No Mrs. Dan-vets she. “Ladies like Brenda Meserve never get too old to oversee the festivities,” Bill said. “She’ll get two or three girls to do the vacuuming and heavy lifting. Set you back maybe three hundred dollars.
Sound all right?”
“Like a bargain.”
“The well needs to be tested, and the gennie, too, although I’m sure both ofem’s okay. I seen a hornet’s nest by Jo’s old studio that I want to smoke before the woods get dry.
Oh, and the roof of the old house—you know, the middle piece—needs to be reshingled. I shoulda talked to you about that last year, but with you not using the place, I let her slide. You stand good for that, too?”
“Yes, up to ten grand. Beyond that, call me.”
“If we have to go over ten, I’ll smile and kiss a pig.”
“Try to have it all done before I get down there, okay?”
“Coss. You’ll want your privacy, I know that. . just so long’s you know you won’t get any right away. We was shocked when she went so young; all of us were. Shocked and sad. She was a dear.” From a Yankee mouth, that word rhymes with Leah. “Thank you, Bill.” I felt tears prickle my eyes. Grief is like a drunken house guest, always coming back for one more goodbye hug.