What begins with bird by Noy Holland

Author:Noy Holland
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: What begins with bird
ISBN: 9781936873494
Publisher: Dzanc Books
Published: 2005-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

They don’t go in right away when Helen calls them.

Grace stays in the room with her father, talking to the dogs through the sliding glass door. The dogs are whining, prancing, little light caps of snow on their heads. Grace licks the glass door—that’s a doggie kiss—and one of the dogs licks back at her. She giggles.

She has an awful, wincing giggle. It is surprising—even to Walter.

But even this is not surprising, to be surprised. It is the order of the day, of the years she has lived. She has broken something, wandered off; she rode her bike through a plate glass door.

Months pass and not a peep and then, voilà, she appears again with some new affliction. She giggles and it sounds like choking. She sits on the floor and swallows and it sounds as though something living is being squeezed through her throat or sprung.

“Goddamnit,” Walter says. “Get up, get up.”

“It’s on,” Helen says. “It’s dinner.”

Walter gets up onto his legs first, pushes off his knees with his hands. He swings his chest up. Both of his hip joints catch and pop and his ankle wants to slip off his foot when he walks.

Carl glides in, takes his place at the table.

“You got to get your mind right, Doc. That’s the whole trick,” he says. He picks his fork up. “You get your mind wrapped around it. You got to. Me, I got no—”

“I haven’t the vaguest idea,” Walter says.

“Come on, man, I see you. It hurts you just to walk. Me,” Carl says, “I got nothing. I got no pain, I got nothing. I really feel for you.”

“You can shut up,” Walter says.

“Don’t,” Grace says, “Daddy.”

She walks around behind her father and hooks her arms around his chest. She lays her face against his neck and holds him.

“Naw, man, listen. Hey.”

“You all sit,” Helen says, and pours the wine, picks up the platter of ham. “In a minute, it won’t be worth eating.”

“What the hell do you want?” Walter says. Carl picks up a glass, taps it against another glass.

“Here’s to you, Doc.”

Grace is whispering to her father. She kisses the collar of his shirt. She kisses along one shoulder seam, watching for him to speak.

“I love you too, honey,” Walter says at last.

“Here’s to love, then. To love,” Carl says.

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