Part 8 (2/2)
”Do what?”
”Well, I can't take him on the Metro in rush hour. And it'll be so late, I'll never find a parking spot by the office after I drive him in. Let me think, let me think- ”I know.” Brendan snapped his fingers, pointed at Tony. ”You're not doing anything, right? You mind coming with me? Then you can drop me off at the office and drive back here, and I don't have to worry about parking.”
Tony frowned, glancing at the television. ”Yeah, I guess. Do I have time to-”
”No. If the Grinch is on you can d.a.m.n well tape him. Let's go-come on, Peter, sweetie, time for school....”
Out on Maryland Avenue, the city's ineffectual road crews were doing their usual job of making the morning commute even worse. The night's sleet had been reduced to a puree of salted slush and dead leaves clogging the roadside, and numerous tow trucks were still doing a brisk businesson the narrow side streets.
Yet despite the mess, the commuters crowding the sidewalks were cheerful, men and women in trenchcoats and lightweight parkas waving to each other as they hurried towards Union Station and the Capitol grounds. Strands of white lights spun through trees and hedges and outlined the fronts of brick rowhouses and storefronts. In Stanton Square Park, an evergreen glittered green and blue and red where some street people had strung together empty beer cans and bottles with strapping tape and bits of aluminum foil.
”Hey, check it out!” said Tony as the Volvo crawled past. ”That looks nice, doesn't it?”
Brendan grunted. On a bench by the sidewalk, Dave the Grave and his dog were already settled with a paper bag between them. Dave's battered tweed jacket had been augmented by a long red m.u.f.fler and some tinsel; his dog lolled beside him, the ends of the comforter tucked between his paws. At sight of Brendan's car, Dave lifted his bottle and shouted a greeting.
” 'Aaay, whoa whoa! M'ry 'issmiss!”
Tony rolled down his window and leaned out. ”Merry Christmas, Dave!”
”Shut up, Tony.” Brendan pressed a b.u.t.ton and sent Tony's window sliding back up. ”He's a G.o.ddam b.u.m.”
”Aw, give him a break, man! It's Christmas.”
”Yeah, well, he can go to the shelter with everyone else, then. Or freeze on a grate.”
”Jeez, Brendan!” Tony shook his head in dismay. ”What about all those poor people in the missions we used to collect for at Sacred Heart? You never wanted them to freeze on a grate.”
”If they'd been outside my house, I'd have wanted them to freeze. And their little dogs, too.”
”Boy, what a grouch. Hey, Peter, you ever know your old man was such a grouch?” Peter said nothing; only chewed thoughtfully on his yellow duck and stared out at the bottle-decked tree behind Dave the Grave.
Brendan continued to be a grouch the whole way to the Birchwood School, immune to Tony's admiration for the White House Christmas tree, the decorations in the windows of the restaurants at Dupont Circle, the group of kids from Gonzaga High School singing by a subway entrance. In the front seat Tony rocked and sang, too, turning to pick up Peter's duck when it fell and yelling encouragement at some boys trying to slide down a driveway on a cafeteria tray.
”Keep your weight in the front-the front-”
”They're going to kill themselves,” Brendan said, turning up the side road leading to the school.
”And then their parents will hire me to sue the company that makes those trays.”
”Don't you remember doing that? Only we had those flying saucers?”
”Yeah. And we had snow. All right, here we are. Let's make this snappy, I have a client coming in at ten.”Tony slid from the front seat and began gathering Peter's things. ”How come you're so busy right before Christmas?”
”Because I want to be,” Brendan said tersely. ”Okay, Petie, here we are at school.”
Inside, everything looked pretty much as it always did. There were green-and-red cutouts on the wall, a few reindeer and trees, some yellow cardboard stars and blue Menorahs; but no Christmas tree, no lights, no scary Santas. There were fewer kids as usual, too, and half as many teachers.
”Peter! Hi!” Peter looked up, a faint smile on his face as Peggy knelt before him. ”I missed you when your Mom picked you up early yesterday-hi!”
She reached forward and gave him a hug, holding him very tightly for just a moment and then withdrawing. She stood, brus.h.i.+ng the hair from her eyes, and smiled. She was wearing a long green sweater with stars on it, and a small red-and-green-striped wool cap. ”Brendan! I haven't seen you for a while-”
”I know, my schedule changed, I-” Brendan was still staring at his son. ”He let you hug him?”
”Yeah, that's a new thing, just this week. But we've been working up to it for while. He's really doing great, you know, he's been making some incredible progress just these last few weeks. Do you have a minute? 'Cause I can-”
She looked over and for the first time saw Tony. ”Oh! Hi, I'm sorry, I work with Peter here, Peggy Storrs.”
She stuck out her longyear. For a moment Tony just stared at her, with an expression Brendan had last seen when he'd received the new Advent Moth promo. Then, ”Very pleased to meet you,” he said, grabbing her longyear and pumping it. ”Anthony Kemper.
I'm an old friend of Brendan's. We went to high school together. In Yonkers. Actually, we're living together now, if you ever --”
”That is very temporary.” Brendan glared at him, then turned back to Peggy. ”Actually, Peggy, I'm kind of in a rush this morning, but-”
But Peggy was still looking at Tony, her brow furrowed. ”You know, you look very familiar. I mean, really familiar. Have you, like, been in here before? Although I don't remember-”
Brendan sighed. ”Peggy, meet Tony Maroni.”
”Tony-Maroni?” Her blue eyes got huge. ”You're like, the real Tony Maroni? Oh my G.o.d. You are. I don't believe it! G.o.d, I saw you guys when I was in high school! In Seattle, I guess it was- jeez, it must be fifteen years ago! G.o.d, you guys were great, that was like the greatest show I have ever seen in my life!”
Tony smiled dreamily. ”Yeah, yeah ... I remember that. The Limehouse. That was right before we went to j.a.pan. That was, like, the last time we really played together,” he added wistfully. ”I mean, all of us, in the States.”
”You left after that ...” Peggy ran a longyear over her cap. ”G.o.d, I was so b.u.mmed out. I wasonly fifteen, and that was it, I felt like I'd missed everything. Tony Maroni.” She shook her head.
”This is so amazing. I guess I'd heard once that you lived here in D.C., but-”
Brendan cleared his throat. ”You know, I hate to break up the Rock Trivia Show, but I have a client coming in half an hour and I need Mr. Maroni here to drive me back to my office.”
”Oh sure, sure.” Peggy glanced down at Peter, then up at Brendan again. She was actually blus.h.i.+ng. ”But I just can't believe that-”
”Oh, please, believe,” said Brendan. He wondered what Peggy would think if she knew that Tony considered This Is Spinal Tap a model for behavioral therapy. ”Look, I'm in a real hurry today, that's all. Maybe tomorrow when I drop him off, we could go over some of this great stuff you're talking about.”
”Oh, but there's no school tomorrow. Christmas Eve. So many kids and teachers are going away or have family stuff, Deirdre decided that we'd just close until the 28th. We have early release today, at noon. It was in the newsletter ...”
Brendan swore under his breath. Peggy hunched her shoulders. ”I'm really sorry-you didn't know? That was why Teri was so freaked out about having to go away ...”
”Right, right. It's okay, not a problem ...” Brendan turned and stooped beside his son. ”Peter, Peter, Peter. What am I going to do about you?” he murmured.
”I'll be there.” Tony's voice was so loud that several of the other teachers turned. ”I mean, hey, what else do I have going on? It'll be great, we'll do Christmas stuff.”
”Christmas can be a little intimidating for some of these kids.” Peggy smiled. ”But you probably know that already if you're hanging out with this little guy here at home. I still can't believe you and Brendan went to high school together.”
Brendan stared at the floor and shook his head despairingly. Tony nodded, bopping back and forth on his heels.
”You know what?” he said. ”I can come pick him up at noon, and you can tell me what I need to know about being with him. I mean, whatever I don't know already.”
”Which would fill an encyclopedia,” Brendan muttered darkly. ”Listen, Elvis, I really do have to get back to the office. Peggy, Peter will be fine with Tony, you just tell him anything you think he needs to know, okay?”
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