Hello, Red (Stories) by Kurt Vonnegut

Author:Kurt Vonnegut [Vonnegut, Kurt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-440-33938-0
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2009-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

When Nancy came back from the lunchroom with a warm, fat paper bag, Red stopped her again.

“Saaaaaay,” he said, “maybe you’ll grow up to be a nurse, after taking such good care of old Eddie. I wish there’d been nice nurses like you at the hospital I was at.”

Nancy’s face softened with pity. “You were in a hospital?”

“Three months, Red, in Liverpool, without a friend or a relative in this world to come see me, or even send me a get-well card.” He grew wistful. “Funny, Red—I never realized how lonely I was, till I had to lie down and stay down, till I knew I couldn’t ever go to sea again.” He licked his lips. “Changed me, Red, like that.” He snapped his fingers.

“All of a sudden, I needed a home,” he said, “and somebody to care about me, and keep me company—maybe in that little cottage out there on the point. I didn’t have nothing, Red, but mate’s papers that wasn’t worth the paper they were printed on for a man with one leg.”

Nancy was shocked. “You’ve only got one leg?”

“One day I was the crazy, tough kid they all remember down there,” said Red, including the village in a sweep of his hand. “The next day I was an old, old man.”

Nancy bit her knuckle, sharing his pain. “Haven’t you got a wife or a mother or a lady friend to look after you?” she said. By her stance, she offered her services as a daughter, as though it were a simple thing that any good girl would do.

Red hung his head. “Dead,” he said. “My mother’s dead, and the only girl I ever loved is dead. And the lady friends, Red—they’re never what you’d call real friendly, not if you can’t love them, not if you’re in love with a ghost.”

Nancy’s sweet face twisted as Red forced her to look at the grisliness of life. “Why do you live up the river, if you’re so lonesome?” she said. “Why don’t you live down here, where you’d be with your old friends?”

Red raised an eyebrow. “Old friends? Funny kind of friends to have, who wouldn’t even drop me a postcard to tell me Violet’s kid had bright red hair. Not even my folks told me.”

The wind freshened, and on the wind, from seemingly far away, came Nancy’s voice. “Daddy’s lunch is getting cold,” she said. She started to walk away.

“Red!”

She stopped, and her hand went up to her hair. She kept her back to him.

Red wished to God he could see her face. “Tell Eddie I want to talk to him, would you? Tell him to meet me in the lunchroom after I get off work—about ten after five.”

“I will,” she said. Her voice was clear, calm.

“Word of honor?”

“Word of honor,” she said. She started walking again.

“Red!”

Her hand went up to her hair, but she kept on walking.

Red followed her with his spyglass, but she knew she was being watched. She kept her head turned, so he couldn’t see her face.

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