“Where is he?” I started to push past them, but Sal grabbed me by the wrists. “Just relax, John.”
“He’s staying, Dad, at least for now,” Karen said. “It’s for the best. We’ll get him registered, then we’ll be back. We know you don’t want to leave him, we know you can’t. So we’ll handle it. You’ll see him again this afternoon. Everything is going to be fine.”
Mindy started to cry, and Karen took her hand and continued. “We saw the home yesterday, and you’re right, it’s a nice place, it’s a beautiful place. They have the gym and the pool, and the attendants seem nice. And the café has lots of pickles. And they have those special bikes he can ride, those big bikes.” She stopped and looked away. “He’ll be happy there, we think.”
“When they get back, I’m going to rent a boat,” Sal said. “He’ll love it. I’m gonna bring some food on board. A little wine. We’ll have dinner on the boat. I got those cigars.”
“What are you talking about? Food, boat!” I pried myself away from Sal. “He’s not staying, I was wrong. He can’t stay. Mary? Mary? Say something! I was wrong. I’ve been thinking about this. I was wrong. This place is too far away. It’s crazy. I don’t know what I was thinking. He can’t stay here, he can’t. It’s ridiculous. It’s so far!”
Mary couldn’t meet my eyes. She looked down, and then she, too, was crying. Karen took her hand too. “Dad,” she said. “This whole trip, we saw how hard it is. We barely made it here. Let’s stick to the plan.”
“We can’t leave him! We can’t! I’m just going to take him out again.”
“Daddy,” Karen said. “Please. Just stay here. Please. Please.” They all turned and walked away.
I tried to follow, but Sal grabbed me by both wrists, this time much harder. “They don’t want you to make a scene up there, John. You got to take it easy on this. You’ll get Ethan all excited. We’ll take a walk, get some coffee. It’s going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay. But you gotta do what I say now. Do what I say, and don’t make this hard, because I ain’t letting go. I ain’t letting go.”
*
Sal took me to a coffee shop in downtown Camden, and pushed me down and into my seat. I was still in shock.
“So.” Sal rested his huge bear arms on the table. “How you doing there?”
I glanced out the window. It was sunny out. Nice outside.
Sal raised his cup, tiny, toylike in his bear hands. “It’s not like you haven’t left him before, John,” he said “Those two weeks at that camp up in Wisconsin. That special-needs place. He loved that place. You told me yourself, he didn’t want to come back. This place is just like that camp, but a lot nicer. I went up there before you got here. Ate lunch in the dining room. They let me eat there. Got good food, an indoor pool. They come into town every day. Shop, eat. They integrate with the community pretty well. The nuns, they told me that. Some of them even have jobs.” He took a sip of his coffee.
“Ethan is never going to have a job.”
“So? That’s some big tragedy? Who wants a fucking job?” He smiled, drank more of his coffee. “Mary said you gonna take a trip or something. Drive around the country, maybe head out West. You ever been to Vegas? I can put you up there. The Mirage. I’m comped there. One of my clients. Won’t cost you nothing but room tax. Place is okay, ain’t the Wynn, but it’s okay. Nothing wrong with the Mirage.”
“I’m not going there.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.” I looked out the window again. The streets were crowded with people in shorts and wide-brimmed hats. A day in Camden, Maine, a day in paradise for them. I closed my eyes. I hated this town.
“I’m not leaving him,” I said.
“Hey, you’ll visit.”
“I should be up there now.”
“You don’t need to be nowhere right now except sitting in that chair. Let the girls handle it. You done enough. You got everyone this far. Let someone else do some lifting. Besides, you want to break down up there, get everyone upset? Ethan? You’re in no condition.”
“When did you all plan this?”
“Plan what?”