Proposition

The day was mild and sunny and it was a Saturday. Orville had gone in to the store as he often did. Edwina wasn’t sure how hard he worked, or if Ben was also there on Saturdays. It was just something she’d gotten used to, and sometimes imitated. There was always something to do in the lab, and it kept a person from aimless soul-searching.

Today, though, just before noon, Edwina walked out the back sliding-glass door of her house for the first time in more than a year. The concrete pad was empty and needed cleaning. This worried her: How could they host Ted in this perfect weather without having the option to hang out on the patio? Why had they never bought patio furniture? Or had it been stolen during those first hectic weeks of moving in three years ago? She couldn’t seem to remember.

The two pine trees were slightly taller. The old dogwood was covered with buds. Gangs of violets peeked from around the few stepping stones that led to where she’d considered making a garden but hadn’t. A few robins were busy listening for worms, but flew away when she approached. At the back fence, where the lawn had never been properly mowed, she startled a rabbit. It did look like there was a nest! She backed away with an “Ohhh!”— a happier echo of her tearful viewing of her “Nature’s Treasures” episode the other night.

“Hey!” called a young voice. Edwina turned to see a skinny shirtless boy standing on the other side of the chain-links. Was his name Kyle? Kelly? Keanu? He had grown taller, like the pine trees. She remembered now that he lived with his grandmother. She had paid no attention to the neighborhood or neighbors for a long time.

“I got a lawnmower now,” he said proudly, gesturing toward an old red gas-powered hulk. "Twenty dollars for front and back.”

“There’s nothing to mow yet, Kyle.”

“It’s Kendall, ma’am.”

“Oh, right! Sorry!” Edwina picked a few violets and showed them to the boy. “I don’t want to mow these just yet, Kendall. Do you know what I mean?”

“I guess,” Kendall mumbled, then brashly, “I just got done getting rid of all those over here! Granny likes it short.”

“How IS your grandmother?” Edwina was winging it. She wasn’t even sure she should be talking to this boy. She couldn’t see a reason for it, and she had to have a reason, didn’t she? Just then a lanky white-haired woman in jeans and a T-shirt burst out the back door of Kendall’s house. “Kendall! I told you! I came close this time! Just two numbers off! That means next time I’ll win for sure!” She cackled, seeming to be making fun of herself. “And don’t bug Mrs. Campion about a job!”

Heading her way, apparently to retrieve the lawnmower, the woman grinned at Edwina. The lines on her face were deep and friendly, her eyes direct. She winked at Edwina between chomps on some sort of gum. “In case you don’t remember, I’m Feenie Huggins. Maybe we’ll catch up sometime. Gotta git!” Kendall turned and followed his granny and the mower.

Edwina let the violets drop from her hand.

— Macoff