“It’s not the place, Doctor. And no, I don’t have a death wish. It’s my unit. We may not all like each other, but we’re brothers. When I was in country, I knew everything about those guys, and they knew me. We were family. I knew who I was, and where I fit in.” He hesitated. “Where am I now?”
She felt a lurch in her chest, seeing his eye suddenly shine, but she let him finish.
“My brothers need me. And I need them. That’s why I have to go back.”
fourteenSASSY
After about six minutes of boiling, Sassy dumped the noodles into the colander then grabbed milk from the fridge. She lined the bottom of the empty pot with milk and threw in some butter—did anyone actually measure that?—then she tore open the little envelope and poured in the orange dust.
Tom Duncan, she thought for the hundredth time since she’d gotten home. Great.
She slid the noodles into the pot, stirred everything to her preferred consistency of cheesy, then she reached for a bowl and… stopped herself. Why bother? She’d just have to wash it after. She slid a spoon from the drawer, carried the pot to the table, and dug in.
Tom Duncan and his stupid question.What’s jail like?She wished she’d had a good answer for him. She doubtedhe’dever see the inside of a cell, with his expensive suit, new-smelling car, and flashing blue eyes. He looked like the perfect capitalist. Just like her father. Honestly. Couldn’t they see how old-fashioned they were? How the world was changing, and they needed to change with it? How old was he, anyway? Thirty?
She huffed and ate a spoonful of her dinner, barely tasting it. What a lousy day.
Her gaze went to the television, which wasn’t turned on, then to thecheery pot of calendula on top of the console. The late-afternoon sun was spilling over the orange flowers like a golden spotlight, and from her seat across the room, she thought she saw one of the buds starting to open. It should cheer her, but not even that was working.
So now she’d be working for Tom Duncan. He was not a fan of hers, obviously. He couldn’t be, not after everything she had thrown at him at the police station, then in the car. Talk about starting off on the wrong foot. She would have to go in to work on Monday, sit at her desk, and keep quiet. Maybe, over time, he’d get past her behaviour, and things between them would get better.
She pictured that curl at the side of his mouth. Even with sunglasses covering his eyes, she could tell he’d been laughing at her. That charming smile must work wonders on the poor suckers buying homes from him.
She took another bite of Kraft Dinner then pushed the pot to the side. She’d lost her appetite. With a sigh, she folded her arms on the table and dropped her head onto them, trying not to cry. She needed another love-in, like at Queen’s Park. An afternoon of sunshine and laughter with friends, maybe in Yorkville. She could bring her guitar and play for the people there like she had at Chez Monique.
She groaned, feeling a pang of loss. That dreamy part of summer was over. So much time had passed since that perfect afternoon, but it felt like months, not weeks. Then she’d blown her job, and pushed a cop… She wasn’t looking forward to whatever was around the next bend, but it had to be better than how she was feeling right now.
Someone knocked on the door, and she debated answering. If Mrs. Levin or Mrs. Romano showed up, all cheery and sweet, she wasn’t sure she could handle it. But Sassy wasn’t the kind of person to hide away from friends, so she went to answer.
“Davey!” she said warmly, then she remembered how he’d let her down and turned back to her living room. “Nice of you to stop by.”
He followed her inside, eyed the pot of noodles, but couldn’t seem to sit down. Figuring he’d join her, she sat on the couch and pulled her feet up, sitting cross-legged.
He stopped walking, but didn’t look at her. “You’re okay?”
“Yeah,” she said, hurting. He wasn’t usually so callous, and she needed his support. “I thought you’d come see me in jail.”
He didn’t meet her eyes. “Yeah. I got caught up in stuff.”
She resented his cavalier attitude. Sure, he’d been busy, but she needed the focus to be on her. She’d been injail, after all. Davey hadn’t come to rescue her, and he should have. Why was he skimming over that?
“My dad bailed me out,” she said coolly, making no mention of Tom. “So don’t worry about me. It’s all cool.”
He started to pace again, his eyes on the parquet floor.
“What’s wrong?” she asked at last.
His head dipped side to side like a boxer’s. “I’m ticked off at you.”
“What? Why?”
He dropped onto the couch, staring at the television’s grey screen, his expression pinched. Sassy grabbed his scruffy chin, turning him to face her.
“Why?”
“The protest, man. What you did totally made us look bad. I mean, we’re supposed to be about peace, and you, well, people say hippies are a problem, and because of what you did, they think they’re right. Why’d you have to go and do that?”
She hadn’t seen him angry before. At least, not at her. Her annoyance at being left to rot in jail was swiftly replaced by guilt. She hadn’t even thought of how her little performance might affect the entire movement she was trying to support.
