The Greatest Man in Cedar Hole by Stephanie Doyon

Author:Stephanie Doyon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2005-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

On the day he died, Robert had taken the train from Palmdale to the city in search of a new library desk. Although Nadine had no recollection of it, Bernie and Robert fought over the desk for weeks. Robert never raised his voice when they argued; instead, he presented his case with quiet persistence, until he wore her down. “She’s been like a mother to me. She deserves better.”

“Well, I’m sorry, but we can’t afford it.” At that time, little Nadine was stretching out of her baby’s body into a longer, leaner form that would need a winter jacket in another few months. There was also the matter of the broken washing machine and the bald tires on the Plymouth. “We have bills. It’s been two weeks since you paid Spud.”

“I’ll mow the lawn myself,” he said. “I promised I’d do this for her.”

“Wouldn’t Kitty have bought her own desk by now if she really wanted one? Norm’s been at the Superette a long time, I’m sure he can afford to buy his wife a new desk.”

Robert looked at her then, his eyes softening out of either confusion or pity—she couldn’t tell—reducing her by the enormity of his heart. “It surprises me that you don’t think she deserves something nice.”

“She can have the entire inventory of Nickerson’s, for all I care. I’m just questioning who should be the one to give it to her.”

“Kitty asks about you and Nadine all the time. She wonders why you never stop by the library,” he said. “She’s convinced you don’t like her.”

Bernie didn’t, of course, and the fact that Kitty Higgins seemed to steal most of her husband’s energy and resources was only part of the reason. She suspected that Robert had been smitten with the librarian for most of his life, and worse still, Kitty struck her as meek and lacking backbone. This only further supported Bernie’s contention that Robert did not have a specific taste in women or anything else—meaning that, in fact, he was tasteless.

“It’s not that I’m stingy,” she said, brushing aside the accusation, “I’m just trying to find another way. A way that can benefit everyone. We need things, too.”

Robert nodded slowly, in his infinite way of understanding. But Bernie knew it was too late. He had already made up his mind.

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