Carver Imitation

I was sitting near the window watching Wes, so I saw Chefs car turn into the driveway. I walked outside, glancing up at the clouds that hung in the sky. Chef said he had news about Bobby in Washington, bad news. I said what kind of news, Chef? Wes said “Why didn’t Bobby just tell us himself? Chef said couldn’t call, you ain’t got a telephone. Bobby’s hurt an’ he’s coming here. Come here? I said. Chef said yes, coming here. Told him I’d pick him up from the bus station myself.

The look on Wes’s face showed the words I was thinking. We were making a new life in the old way. We loved Bobby and his sister, but having him here would get in the way of the quiet life we had made for ourselves, here at Chefs house. Wes left he first time, partly because of the children. He got a girlfriend when Cheryl was 12, said her incessant talking drove him mad. Wes said his girlfriend was quiet. I tried to be quiet for him now.

Wes said Chef, when’s that bus going to get here? Chef said tomorrow, round dinner time. I said that doesn’t give us much time to make up a bed and catch enough trout for the three of us. Wes said are you sure he wants to come here Chef? Chef said sure as day, he said he wanted to be with his family.

A family wasn’t something I though of us being in a long time, not since Cheryl and Bobby were little, not since before Wes left the first time. Now things aren’t the same. Things are new. Wes and I have each other. We love those children of ours, but they aren’t children and they aren’t ours, not anymore.

I said I better get inside and start fixing things up. Chef said I need to get home. Wes just stood there trying to make sense of this invasion on Chef’s house. Chef climbed back into his car and pulled out of the drive way. I went inside and Wes stood in the drive way.

I went into the kitchen and started to get things ready to make a meal. I wanted to show Wes that things were going to be the same. I could see him from over the sink, still standing. I washed the string beans. I dried them. I put them in a pot, and move it to the stove. Wes still stood in the driveway.

I walked outside. I said things will be the same. I said Wes come inside and have a meal. I said Bobby is our son, we need to care for him. Wes looked at me. Wes said the clouds are moving, looks like rain.