When Greg came home, Alan was waiting for him, sitting on the sofa, holding his head up with one hand. Eli and Fred snored uneasily in his bed, breathing heavily through their noses.“Hey,” he said as he came through the door, scuffing at the lock with his key for a minute or two first. He was rumpled and dirty, streaked with grime on his jawline and hair hanging limp and greasy over his forehead.“Greg,” Alan said, nodding, straightening out his spine and listening to it pop.“I’m back,” George said, looking down at his sneakers, which squished with grey water that oozed over his carpet. Art didn’t say anything, just sat pat and waited, the way he did sometimes when con artists came into the shop with some kind of scam that they wanted him to play along with.It worked the same with George. After a hard stare at his shoes, he shook his head and began to defend himself, revealing the things that he knew were indefensible. “I had to do it, I just had to. I couldn’t live in that cave, with that thing, anymore. I couldn’t live inside those two anymore. I’m going crazy. There’s a whole world out here and every day I get farther away from it. I get weirder. I just wanted to be normal.“I just wanted to be like you.“They stopped letting me into the clubs after I ran out of money, and they kicked me out of the cafés. I tried to ride the subway all night, but they threw me off at the end of the line, so I ended up digging a transfer out of a trash can and taking an all-night bus back downtown.“No one looked at me twice that whole time, except to make sure that I was gone. I walked back here from Eglinton.”That was five miles away, a good forty minute walk in the night and the cold and the dark. Greg pried off his sneakers with his toes and then pulled off his grey, squelching socks. “I couldn’t find anyone who’d let me use the toilet,” he said, and Alan saw the stain on his pants.He stood up and took Greg by the cold hand, as he had when they were both boys, and said, “It’s all right, Gord. We’ll get you cleaned up and changed and put you to bed, okay? Just put your stuff in the hamper in the bathroom and I’ll find you a change of clothes and make a couple sandwiches, all right?”And just as easy as that, George’s spirit was tamed. He came out of the shower pink and steaming and scrubbed, put on the sweats that Adam found for him in an old gym bag, ate his sandwiches, and climbed into Adam’s bed with his brothers. When he saw them again next, they were reassembled and downcast, though they ate the instant oatmeal with raisins and cream that he set out for them with gusto.“I think a bus ticket home is about forty bucks, right?” Alan said as he poured himself a coffee.They looked up at him. Ed’s eyes were grateful, his lips clamped shut.“And you’ll need some food on the road, another fifty or sixty bucks, okay?”Ed nodded and Adam set down a brown hundred-dollar bill, then put a purple ten on top of it. “For the taxi to the Greyhound station,” he added.
When Greg came home, Alan was waiting for him, sitting on the sofa, holding his head up with one hand. Eli and Fred snored uneasily in his bed, breathing heavily through their noses.
“Hey,” he said as he came through the door, scuffing at the lock with his key for a minute or two first. He was rumpled and dirty, streaked with grime on his jawline and hair hanging limp and greasy over his forehead.
“Greg,” Alan said, nodding, straightening out his spine and listening to it pop.
“I’m back,” George said, looking down at his sneakers, which squished with grey water that oozed over his carpet. Art didn’t say anything, just sat pat and waited, the way he did sometimes when con artists came into the shop with some kind of scam that they wanted him to play along with.
It worked the same with George. After a hard stare at his shoes, he shook his head and began to defend himself, revealing the things that he knew were indefensible. “I had to do it, I just had to. I couldn’t live in that cave, with that thing, anymore. I couldn’t live inside those two anymore. I’m going crazy. There’s a whole world out here and every day I get farther away from it. I get weirder. I just wanted to be normal.
“I just wanted to be like you.
“They stopped letting me into the clubs after I ran out of money, and they kicked me out of the cafés. I tried to ride the subway all night, but they threw me off at the end of the line, so I ended up digging a transfer out of a trash can and taking an all-night bus back downtown.
“No one looked at me twice that whole time, except to make sure that I was gone. I walked back here from Eglinton.”
That was five miles away, a good forty minute walk in the night and the cold and the dark. Greg pried off his sneakers with his toes and then pulled off his grey, squelching socks. “I couldn’t find anyone who’d let me use the toilet,” he said, and Alan saw the stain on his pants.
He stood up and took Greg by the cold hand, as he had when they were both boys, and said, “It’s all right, Gord. We’ll get you cleaned up and changed and put you to bed, okay? Just put your stuff in the hamper in the bathroom and I’ll find you a change of clothes and make a couple sandwiches, all right?”
And just as easy as that, George’s spirit was tamed. He came out of the shower pink and steaming and scrubbed, put on the sweats that Adam found for him in an old gym bag, ate his sandwiches, and climbed into Adam’s bed with his brothers. When he saw them again next, they were reassembled and downcast, though they ate the instant oatmeal with raisins and cream that he set out for them with gusto.
“I think a bus ticket home is about forty bucks, right?” Alan said as he poured himself a coffee.
They looked up at him. Ed’s eyes were grateful, his lips clamped shut.
“And you’ll need some food on the road, another fifty or sixty bucks, okay?”
Ed nodded and Adam set down a brown hundred-dollar bill, then put a purple ten on top of it. “For the taxi to the Greyhound station,” he added.