Checker and the Derailleurs: A Novel by Lionel Shriver

Author:Lionel Shriver [Shriver, Lionel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780061711374
Google: I1mVeJ3OVNoC
Amazon: B0046LUF3Q
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2009-08-03T23:00:00+00:00

Checker has to tell Mrs. DeBruin that her daughter has tried to commit suicide

15 / It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City

Checker returned to the reception room to await Rachel’s mother. He knew only a few things about her from Rachel: she was divorced, like everyone; she didn’t come listen to her daughter sing because she thought rock music was bad for your hearing, just one of a whole quiver of opinions Ellen DeBruin kept slung over her shoulder to and from her job at an insurance company in Manhattan. She lived in a world of certainty, and it was somehow this characteristic that made her so recognizable when she swung into the hospital that night, the revolving doors flopping a full turn behind her. A trim, effective woman, she moved briskly and without hesitation. In a navy A-line skirt, a white V-neck blouse, low-heeled navy shoes with little perforations in the toes, she dressed for comfort and decency. As her eyes whisked over the contents of the waiting room, she didn’t recognize Checker Secretti because he must not have looked the way she’d already decided he would look.

“Mrs. DeBruin, I’m Checker Secretti.” Check shook her hand firmly and looked her in the eye.

She liked him. Instantly she liked him, feeling the queer energetic glow that had enveloped her as he approached, enjoying the dance in his eyes that was so inappropriate considering why they were both here. She had not planned on liking him; in fact, she’d screamed at him the whole way over in the car.

Ellen DeBruin’s mouth twitched with annoyance. “Well, I’ve certainly heard my fill about you,” she said, with the full brunt of her hostility. She may have liked him, but she didn’t like liking him, not one bit.

“They poured Rachel full of ipecac. She’s puked up most of the pills. She’s still delirious, and we can’t see her yet. But she’s going to be okay.”

Mrs. DeBruin took a breath; a wave hit her in the face, and passed. Her skin felt prickly, until the hairs over her arms fell gently back down again. She didn’t have much time for Rachel, and often looked on motherhood as a second job; the strength of her feelings for the child, like her relief at this moment, always took her by surprise. Once more, as with her attraction to this boy here, she immediately felt a backwash of resentment. Rachel’s mother experienced strong emotion as an attack. Ellen DeBruin was one of those inexplicable people whose lives are always getting in the way of their lives. She so valued efficiency that it rarely struck her to wonder: she was efficiently accomplishing what?

“Well,” she said, wiping her clammy palms on her skirt, “you don’t seem very upset about this.”

“I’m not. She’ll be okay. But I am pissed off.”

“Pissed off?”

“Yeah. Aren’t you?”

“I am—at a loss!” She threw up her hands. “What possessed her?”

“I did.”

“You sound as if you want credit.”

“Responsibility. She’s in love with me, she says. I failed to return the compliment.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.