Friday, August 21, 2009

smoothing it over

"Nick went to orientation." Lon thought they knew. "He left a little while ago."

Lon couldn't believe the sign of relief on Roger and Olivia's faces when he told them about Nick.

"He's actually talking to you?" Roger looked at Lon as if maybe he had the magic touch. As it was Lon was stuck on changing something on the truck's engine so it wouldn't be so noisy. He was keeping busy, trying not to think about Charlie, but ever since he'd seen Rosie, he kept thinking about Sarah's baby.

"Yeah, he talks. Some." Lon nodded about Nick.

"Did he look OK?" Olivia wanted to know.

"He looks a little banged up," Lon winced, thinking of Nick's nose.

Roger let it go. He had things to do and Lon didn't ask him. He liked being alone with his truck. It gave him time to think about a lot of things. He wasn't so sure if Ellie wanted to hear about Charlie.

"Well, of course, I want to hear about him," Ellie told him at lunch. She brought home ribs from the place close to Lydia's house. Some older black gentleman smoked them in his garage, and he'd sale them to you if he liked you. Lon was happy that the old timer liked Ellie.

"I worry about Charlie," Lon thought he might choke on the potato salad she brought from the deli. Lon knew he could make it better, but the ribs were divine.

"Do you even know where he is?"

Lon shook his head, no. He was afraid to even ask his Dad or Lonnie. He doubt they'd know anyway. As it was, Sarah was the forbidden word. No one talked of her anymore nor Charlie.

"How old is he?" Ellie asked.

"Seven maybe eight month." Lon told her. "He's probably sitting up by now, you know, getting in to stuff."

"Maybe you should call her Mom." Ellie suggested.

Lon hadn't thought of that.

6 comments:

  1. Glad they know where Nick is now. I hope Lon can figure out what to do about Charlie.

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  2. I'm thinking Lon should consider going to cooking school..if all else fails.

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  3. I really hope things won't go bad with Nick.

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