Thy Father's Glass by Jeffray Harrison

Author:Jeffray Harrison
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Indigo River Publishing
Published: 2022-12-09T20:59:51+00:00

9

Just after five in the evening, Dane and Muriel sat across from each other at a restaurant near the house, the type of place that had eight different kinds of burgers on the menu and an extensive selection of both appetizers and kids meals. The place was a little too casual for Muriel, and the time way too early for Dane, but the rhythms of their moods had synced again and they each gave in a little. They both agreed that they had eaten out much more since moving in to help Branson than they had in months. Normally, they took turns cooking for six nights out of the week and went out for date night on Fridays. This arrangement helped them stay on budget and meet their savings goals, but it also required some compromise when it came to menu choices. Muriel cooked the Haitian dishes she had grown up with; griot and soup joumou. Dane, on his nights, mostly cooked healthy foods like fish and vegetables but had no patience for recipes with more than five ingredients.

When they moved into the old house they talked about keeping up their traditions, but both of them felt like interlopers in Branson’s routines. They praised how efficiently Sabine took care of Branson and how easy she made it for them by preparing all his meals. They whispered about how sweet it was to get out more together, like when they were dating, but also about how much it put a dent in their budget.

What they didn’t talk about, but Dane suspected they both knew, was how much they needed a buffer between spending the day preparing for the start of the school year—reading and lesson planning—and then taking care of Branson at night. They didn’t talk about how every night they got the easier part of the job of caring for the old man or how they still dreaded the moment when Sabine walked out the door and left them in charge. Their responsibilities only involved making sure he bathed and got to bed and generally being ready for any of his needs through the night, yet it felt daunting.

By quarter to six, they walked in the door while Sabine was cleaning up after Branson’s dinner and packing her things to leave. Dane was on bath duty; Muriel had already insisted she would not take turns on anything involving the bathroom. She said she still had too much respect for her father-in-law to see him in such a humiliating context. Even so, Branson generally took care of himself. Dane’s part was mainly to make sure he actually bathed and to sit outside the door and listen in case the old man fell or called for help. He shuddered at the thought that one day he would have to open the bathroom door.

Bath duty usually took a while, not only because Branson moved much slower now, but also because he had always been one for long showers. Dane remembered several arguments between

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