Part 17 (1/2)

'What?' Egg said. Mother and Dr. Blaze said that Egg's hearing was improving, although Father referred to Egg's 'deafness,' not to his 'hearing,' and concluded that Dr. Blaze must be deaf himself to think of Egg's condition as 'improving.' It was rather like Dr. Blaze's opinion of Lilly's dwarfism: that it was improving, too, because Lilly had had grown (a little). But everyone else had grown much more, and the impression, therefore, was that Lilly was growing grown (a little). But everyone else had grown much more, and the impression, therefore, was that Lilly was growing smaller smaller.

'Egg,' I said more loudly. 'Where is Sorrow?'

'Sorrow is dead,' Egg said.

'I know he's dead, d.a.m.n it,' I said, 'but where where, Egg? Where is Sorrow?'

'Sorrow is with Grandpa Bob,' said Egg, who was right about that, of course, and I knew there would be no cajoling the whereabouts of the stuffed terror out of Egg.

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve,' I said.

'Who?' Egg said.

'New Year's Eve!' I said. 'We're having a party.'

'Where?' he asked.

'Here,' I said. 'In the Hotel New Hamps.h.i.+re.'

'What room?' he said.

'The main main room,' I said. The big room. The restaurant, dummy,' room,' I said. The big room. The restaurant, dummy,'

'We're not having a party in this room,' Egg said.

With Egg's costumes all around, there was hardly room for a party in our room, I knew, but I let this observation pa.s.s. I was almost asleep when Egg spoke again.

'How would you dry something that's wet?' Egg asked.

And I thought to myself of the likely condition condition of Sorrow, after G.o.d knows how many hours in the open trash barrel, in the rain and snow. of Sorrow, after G.o.d knows how many hours in the open trash barrel, in the rain and snow.

'What is it that's wet, Egg?' I asked.

'Hair,' he said. 'How would you dry hair?'

'Your hair, Egg?'

'Anybody's hair,' Egg said. 'Lots of hair. More hair than mine.'

'Well, with a hair dryer, I suppose,' I said.

'That thing Franny has?' Egg asked.

'Mother has one, too,' I told him.

'Yeah,' he said, 'but Franny's is bigger. I think it's hotter hotter, too.'

'Got a lot of hair to dry, huh?' I said.

'What?' Egg said. But it wasn't worth repeating; an aspect of Egg's deafness was Egg's ability to choose when not to hear.

In the morning I watched him take off his pajamas, under which he wore - and had slept in - a full suit of clothes.

'It's good to be ready - right, Egg?' I asked.

'Ready for what?' he asked. There isn't any school today - it's still vacation.'

'Then why'd you wear your clothes to bed?' I asked him, but he let that pa.s.s; he was rummaging through various piles of costumes. 'What are you looking for?' I asked him. 'You're already dressed.' But whenever Egg detected that the tone I took toward him was a teasing one, he ignored me.

'See you at the party,' he said.

Egg loved the Hotel New Hamps.h.i.+re; perhaps he loved it even more than Father, because Father loved most of all the idea of it; in fact, Father seemed daily more and more unsure of the actual success of his venture. Egg loved all the rooms, the stairwells, the great unoccupied emptiness of the former all-girls' school. Father knew we were unoccupied a little too much of the time, but that was fine with Egg.

Guests would occasionally bring odd things they had found in their rooms to breakfast. The room was very clean,' they would begin, 'but someone must have left this... this something something.' The right rubber arm of a cowboy; the wrinkled, webbed foot of a dried toad. A playing card, with a face drawn over the face of the jack of diamonds; the five of clubs with the word 'Yuck' written across it. A small sock with six marbles in it. A costume change (Egg's policeman's badge pinned to his baseball uniform) hanging in the closet of 4G.

On the day of New Year's Eve, the weather was that thawing kind - a mist spreading over Elliot Park, and yesterday's snow already melting and revealing the grey snow of a week ago. 'Where were you this morning, John-O?' Ronda Ray asked me, as we were fussing with the restaurant for the New Year's Eve party.

'It wasn't raining,' I pointed out. A weak excuse, I knew - and she knew. I was hardly being unfaithful to Ronda - there was no one to be unfaithful with - but I dreamed of an imaginary someone else, about Franny's age, all the time. I had even asked Franny for a date with one of her friends, someone she would recommend -although Franny was in the habit of saying that her friends were too old for me, now; by which she meant that they were sixteen.

'No weight lifting this morning?' Franny asked me. 'Aren't you afraid you'll get out of shape?'

'I'm in training for the party,' I said.

For the party, we expected that three or four Dairy students (who were cutting their Christmas break short) would be spending the night in the hotel, among them Junior Jones, who was Franny's date, and a sister of Junior Jones, who was not not a Dairy student. Junior was bringing her with him for me - I was terrified that Junior Jones's sister was going to be as big as Junior Jones, and I was also eager to know if this was the sister who'd been raped, as Harold Swallow had told me; it seemed unjustly important to know. Was I to have a large, raped girl for a date or a large, unraped girl? - for either way, I was sure, she would have to be huge. a Dairy student. Junior was bringing her with him for me - I was terrified that Junior Jones's sister was going to be as big as Junior Jones, and I was also eager to know if this was the sister who'd been raped, as Harold Swallow had told me; it seemed unjustly important to know. Was I to have a large, raped girl for a date or a large, unraped girl? - for either way, I was sure, she would have to be huge.

'Don't be nervous,' Franny said to me.

We dismantled the Christmas tree, which brought tears to my father's eyes, because it had been Iowa Bob's tree; Mother had to leave the room. The funeral had seemed so subdued to us children - it was the first funeral we had ever seen, being too young to remember what was done about Latin Emeritus and my mother's mother; the bear called State o' Maine had not been given a funeral. I think that considering the noise attached to the death of Iowa Bob, we expected the funeral to be louder, too - 'at least the sound of barbells falling,' I said to Franny.

'Be serious,' she said. She seemed to think she was growing much older than me, and I was afraid she was right.

'Is this the sister who was raped?' I asked Franny suddenly. 'I mean, which sister is Junior bringing?' By Franny's look at me, I guessed that this question also put years between us.

'He only has one sister,' Franny said, looking straight at me. 'Does it matter to you that she was raped?'

Of course I didn't know what to say: that it did did? That one would not discuss rape with someone who'd been raped, as opposed to launching into the subject right away with someone who hadn't? That one would look for the lasting scars in the personality, or not look for them? That one would a.s.sume a.s.sume lasting scars in the personality, and speak to the person as to an invalid? (And how did one speak to an invalid?) That it didn't matter? But it did. I knew why, too. I was fourteen. In my inexpert years (and I would always be inexpert on the subject of rape), I imagined that one would lasting scars in the personality, and speak to the person as to an invalid? (And how did one speak to an invalid?) That it didn't matter? But it did. I knew why, too. I was fourteen. In my inexpert years (and I would always be inexpert on the subject of rape), I imagined that one would touch touch a person who'd been raped a little differently, or a little less; or that one would not touch her at all. I said that to Franny, finally, and she stared at me. a person who'd been raped a little differently, or a little less; or that one would not touch her at all. I said that to Franny, finally, and she stared at me.

'You're wrong,' she said, but it was the way she said to Frank, 'You're an a.s.shole,' and I felt that I would probably always be fourteen, too.

'Where is Egg?' Father bellowed. 'Egg!'

'Egg never does any work,' Frank complained, sweeping the dead needles from the Christmas tree aimlessly about the restaurant.

'Egg is a little boy, Frank,' Franny said.

'Egg could be more mature than he is,' Father said. And I (who was to be the maturing influence). . I knew very well why Egg was out of earshot. He was in some empty room of the Hotel New Hamps.h.i.+re, contemplating the terrible ma.s.s of wet black Labrador retriever, which was Sorrow.

When the last of Christmas had been swept and dragged out of the Hotel New Hamps.h.i.+re, we considered what decorations would be appropriate for New Year's Eve.

'No one feels very much like New Year's Eve,' Franny said. 'Let's not decorate anything at all.'