Faithful and Other Stories by Daniel Karasik

Author:Daniel Karasik
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781771831697
Publisher: Guernica Editions Inc
Published: 2017-10-11T16:00:00+00:00

A week later he hears from his brother for the first time in ten years. He’s on his back porch on a muggy Sunday afternoon when Cynthia hands him the phone, and from the look on her face he guesses it’s Ezra even before the first word rasps over the line from Vancouver. Jake, Jake. Been way too long. Good to hear your voice, man. His brother makes small talk: I heard about the crazy weather out there, like a sauna, hot here too this year but you know Vancouver, not so suffocating, can’t stand that. Ezra asks about Cynthia and Hannah, about work: Still trading stocks for millionaires, huh, got any hot tips for me? He answers perfunctorily — his girls are fine, no hot tips, everything’s fine. The porch door slides open behind him and Hannah emerges, a slim volume of poetry tucked under her arm. She crosses the backyard into the shade of the apple tree and sits, absorbed at once. He realizes he’s been silent on the line and so has Ezra. So, says Ezra. He waits. So, I … I’m not just calling to shoot the shit, I know you probably don’t … He waits. You’re not in touch with dad, huh. No, he says, not lately. He’s … fuck, Jake, I’m out on a limb here, I don’t know what to do with this, I love you. Okay? I love you. What’s going on, he says. The phone’s damp now with sweat, the heat unbearable. He’s got maybe a few days, man. Asshole, you know? To go and get like this. Mom called me, you know Mom, said she refused to call you if I wouldn’t, she was doing her old thing, trying to get you and me … anyway, the point is he’s got maybe a few days and … well, as you can imagine … Silence. Finally, quiet but resolved: I’m not going to see him. Thought about it. But the answer is no. Gotta be that way. And maybe one of us should go. So. I know it’s pressure and everybody’d understand if you couldn’t come out, you’re all the way across the fucking continent, it’s an interruption, I know that, but anyway, there it is. Up to you. Take care of yourself. I love you, man.

The sun is shining, birds are singing, his daughter is reading beneath the shade of the apple tree, and on his back and neck the sweat is rapidly chilling. He shivers and goes into the house. Upstairs in his bedroom, he shuts the door and swears till he wears himself out. Unsteady, a tightness in his chest, he yanks a suitcase from the closet, unzips it and throws it open on the floor, flings clothing in. He must be loud, because Cynthia appears in the doorway. She asks him what’s happened, where he’s going. Vancouver, he says. He packs. Don’t let him, she says. Don’t let him what. Whatever he’s doing this time. Whatever he’s asking you for.

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