Phase Six by Jim Shepard

Author:Jim Shepard [Shepard, Jim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2021-05-18T00:00:00+00:00

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When Kirk called the next night, she told him that she probably should spend the time she had with her mother and sister, and he was fine with that and then invited himself for dinner. Her mother told her that they didn’t have enough to feed him, and when Val passed that along by text, Kirk texted back that he’d be in the area anyway and that he was bringing ribs.

“Your boyfriend will be here soon, in case you want to fix yourself up,” her mother told her around five that evening.

She went into the bathroom and splashed her face and pulled her hair back into a ponytail and came back out into the kitchen. Water dripped off her nose.

“Very nice,” her mother said grimly.

After Kirk came in and gave everyone a wave he pulled the ribs out of a shopping bag and told Val that she looked worn out, like it was a useful observation.

“My daughter’s been under a bit of a strain lately,” her mother explained.

“What’s that all been about?” he asked. There was a bottle of wine in the bag, too, and he handed it over to Lori.

Val laid out some napkins, and while Lori hunted up a corkscrew, he made a face at his phone. “It’s like Twitter’s blowing up every ten minutes,” he said.

“Every five,” she told him.

“I thought you were too busy for Twitter?” he asked.

“My sister tells me,” she said.

Once they sat down to eat, her mother remarked that it had to be a really stressful time for Kirk, as well, wasn’t it? and he shrugged and said that sure, the shit was hitting the fan everywhere, but he was still doing some of his usual workload, and he reminded her that surgeons’ rounds were about as basic as rounds could get. You went down the line making sure everyone was still alive, not in too much pain, and could move their extremities. You kept it simple on the back end.

Val remembered him bragging once that one of the things that patients liked about him was his laugh, which they claimed you could hear even on the other wards.

“I’m doing what I can do, but these are the heroes, right here,” he said to her mother, pointing at Val. When Val didn’t say anything in response, he added, “So what’s the good word?”

“I don’t know what we’re going to do at this point,” she told him.

“Well, I don’t know about you,” he said, “but I’m going to eat my dinner.”

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