She got out her drawing pad and pencils and began to sketch, placing Queenie in the middle of the page, with the pigeons, looking like fussy old ladies, bobbing and pecking around her. On a whim, she pulled out colored pencils and began sketching in the Christmas tree lot, adding a border enclosing Spammy, the dog, and the pigeons with a semicircle of trees. She drew in the Tolliver Family Christmas tree sign festooned with a big red bow.
When she looked up from her work she saw a stooped figure in a long black coat slowly making his way down the sidewalk. Queenie got up and walked over to him, sniffling at the old man’s coat.
“She’s a smart girl, this one,” Heinz chuckled, pointing at her worktable. “So, what are you working on today?”
“Nothing, really,” she said.
“Will you let me see?”
Kerry shrugged and opened the sketchbook to this morning’s drawing. He put on a pair of spectacles and studied her work.
“It’s just a doodle,” Kerry said. “Not even a doodle.”
“No, no. I quite like it,” Heinz said. He turned to the page with the drawing of Queenie. “I like the expression on Queenie’s face while she watches the pigeons. You’re quite good with animals, you know. But tell me, how does all this fit into our story?”
“Our story?” Kerry raised an eyebrow.
“Certainly.” He stuffed his hand into his coat pocket and brought out a single dog biscuit. He extended his hand, palm out. Queenie crept closer, crouched, and after a moment, delicately swept the biscuit into her mouth with her tongue.
“Good girl,” Heinz said. He looked around the stand.
“Where is our young friend today?”
“It’s his mom’s week to stay with him, so I sort of doubt he’ll be hanging out here.”
She leaned in and lowered her voice. “I don’t think Gretchen approves of me.”
“Gretchen? The brunette?” He snorted. “She crosses the street when she sees me. Like I have something contagious. I don’t think she approves of me, either. So, you are in good company. And that reminds me. I don’t believe I know your name, young lady.”
“I’m Kerry,” she said, smiling. “Kerry Tolliver.”
chapter 20
Kerry had just sold a tree to the Moodys, a middle-aged couple whom she’d met the night before at the Christmas party, when Murphy came limping into the stand with his dobro tucked under his arm.
He wore only one shoe. His hair was wild, he was bleary-eyed, and his shirt was untucked and half unbuttoned.
“Hey, Debra, hey, Dale,” he said, giving a half-hearted nod to the customers.
“Morning, Murphy,” Debra Moody said. “We sure enjoyed your music last night.” Murphy gave a wan smile in return, then he slumped down onto his chair and sighed.
“Jesus, Murphy,” Kerry said after the Moodys walked away, “what happened? You look like you got hit by a truck. Or mugged. Or both.”
“I feel like I got hit by a truck full of muggers,” he moaned, massaging his forehead.
“I mean, it’s none of my business, but what did you and Claudia get up to last night?”
“Me and Claudia?” He opened one bloodshot eye. “Nothing. I wasn’t with her.”
“But I thought … the way you two were cuddling in the corner…”
“Nah. Get your mind out of the gutter, Kerry. I walked her back to her place, then I headed over to Augie’s Pub to play darts. Some guys I know turned up, and they begged me to play my dobro … and pretty soon it was after three, and I didn’t want to wake you up, so I just spent the night there.”
“In a bar?” She leaned over and sniffed her brother. He did indeed smell like beer. And barf.
“Well, on a couch down in the basement.” He shivered. “Kinda cold, ain’t it?”
“I guess so. What happened to your jacket? And your other shoe?”
“Damned if I know.”
Kerry tried to tamp down her mounting annoyance. She pointed at the stack of Christmas trees with SOLD tags attached. “You’ve got a bunch of deliveries to make. And I promised everyone they’d get their trees today.”
Murphy wiped his nose on the sleeve of his borrowed shirt. “I got it covered.” He looked up and nodded. “Here comes my helper now.”
A kid coasted toward them in the bike lane on a bright yellow twelve-speed bike. He had a wagon rigged to the back of the bike, and an eager smile.
“Hey, Murph!” the kid said as he braked. “Reporting for duty!”
“Vic, this is my sister Kerry. She’s helping me out this year.”
“Hello, ma’am,” the kid said, doing a stiff bow at the waist.
“Vic just got home from boarding school yesterday,” Murphy explained. “He’s gonna be delivering trees and doing whatever else we need for the next couple weeks.”
“Like an internship,” Vic said eagerly. He was maybe fourteen, at that loose-limbed gangly phase boys went through. He had white-blond hair cut short to the scalp, and just the slightest shadow of what might someday be a beard.
Kerry turned to her brother. “We need to talk.”
“Okay.”
“Alone.”
Murphy scratched his beard and groaned. “Hey, Vic, why don’t you start loading one of those trees there on your wagon. Okay, sport?”
While they were alone, Kerry unloaded on her brother.
“I can’t believe you have the nerve to show up here half dead and hungover. You said it’s our busiest day—and I’ve been working here all by myself. Also, I was worried about you. You couldn’t have called?”
Her brother blinked and dug in his pocket, bringing out his cell phone. “Sorry. It’s dead.”
“Figures,” she said. “Mom called me and woke me up at seven this morning. I had to lie to cover up for you.”
“What’d Mom want?”
“She wants to talk to you. I think she’s being deliberately evasive.”
“About what?”
“What else? Dad’s health.”
“Did you ask her how he’s feeling?”
“She says he’s okay, but I think she just doesn’t want me to worry about him.”
“Then don’t,” Murphy said. “They’re adults, Kerry. They can take care of themselves. Now, if there’s nothing else, I gotta get some sleep.”
“What about the kid?” she demanded. “We can’t afford to pay a helper, especially since our sales are off.” She pointed at the Brodys’ bustling stand. “They’re killing us.”
“Relax. We’re not paying Vic. He works for tips.” He massaged his temples again.
“You get tips?” Kerry had wondered why Murphy never complained about all the deliveries he had to make, and now she knew.
“Of course. This is New York City. Nobody works for free.”
“Like, how much?”
“Ground-floor apartment, around ten bucks. Unless it’s a rich old lady. They’re usually the cheapest. They open their wallets and moths fly out. If I gotta carry the tree up a couple flights of stairs, maybe twenty. The higher the floor, the higher the tip.”
“Susannah said you set up both her trees when you got to her apartment. She was very grateful.”
“Very, very grateful. She gave me fifty bucks, even though there’s an elevator in her building.”
Kerry decided not to mention the hundred-dollar tip she’d received for her custom-made wreath.
chapter 21