The Realm of Last Chances by Steve Yarbrough

Author:Steve Yarbrough [Yarbrough, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Contemporary
ISBN: 9780385349505
Publisher: Knopf
Published: 2013-08-01T04:00:00+00:00

though no one ever came right out and said it, Kristin gradually understood that Sarah Connulty’s religion was of another order than that practiced by her parents and Mr. Connulty and Patty and everyone else she knew growing up. The only prayers Kristin heard at home were the perfunctory graces her father used to say over dinner at Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. Eventually, by the time she entered high school, he’d even quit saying those, and neither she nor her mother ever missed them. The Connultys themselves never prayed over their meals, so it was a while before Kristin noticed that once she sat down to eat Mrs. Connulty would quickly shut her eyes, her lips moving wordlessly.

When the two families gathered, there was always a pre-dinner drink, and a couple bottles of wine would be consumed during the meal. Afterward, the adults decamped to the living room, where they had yet another drink—brandy or cognac—and while Mrs. Connulty always joined in these activities, she never appeared to do more than wet her lips. When the girls cleared the table, an inch or two of wine usually remained in her glass.

If Kristin’s mother noticed these tendencies, she never remarked on them. Her father made at least one reference, asking his wife, after the two of them went to New York to see Jesus Christ Superstar, if they’d run up much of a bar bill at their Midtown hotel and if Mrs. Connulty agreed with those born-again Christians who considered the Broadway musical blasphemous. Her mother ignored the first question but responded sharply to the second: “If she did, do you think she would’ve gone to see it?”

“Maybe she didn’t know what she was letting herself in for.”

“She was the one who suggested it. Did you forget?”

“I guess I did.” He was dressing up as Santa for the school Christmas party when this conversation took place. Their bedroom door was ajar, and as Kristin walked past she could see him pulling on his red velour pants. His beard and stocking cap lay on the bedside table.

“Yes, I guess you did,” her mother replied. “For someone who teaches literature, you’re far too quick to stereotype.”

That response pleased Kristin. She felt oddly protective of Mrs. Connulty. The source of this impulse was hard to identify, but it had at least something to do with the fact that Patty’s mother differed from the other women in the town in a number of respects and that she never could’ve concealed these differences, no matter how she tried. And try to conceal them she did.

One February morning when Kristin was in junior high, she woke up with an earache. Her mother insisted on taking her temperature and discovered it was already 101. She offered to stay home with her, but Kristin assured her she’d be fine until the school day ended. They made a doctor’s appointment for four fifteen. She went back to sleep but woke up again around eleven with her face on fire and

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