Barefoot (44 page)
Authors: Elin Hilderbrand
BRENDA stops, looks up. She is eager to get some of her eggs out of Amy Feldman’s basket.
Hey, do you have any clients who are in the movie business?
TED
Movie business?
BRENDA
Yeah. Or made-for-TV movies?
One hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars,
BRENDA thinks. She can’t be picky about medium.
Or just regular TV?
TED
Mmmmmmmmm. I don’t think so.
VICKI
(touching BRENDA’s back)
How’s it going?
BRENDA
Fine.
VICKI
Can I bring you anything?
BRENDA
Yeah, how about a pile of money?
BRENDA clamps her mouth closed. She hadn’t said anything to anybody about the money and she won’t until she is desperate. She isn’t desperate now; she is working.
VICKI
(laughing, as though what BRENDA said was funny)
How about a sandwich? I can make tuna.
BRENDA
No thanks.
VICKI
You have to eat.
BRENDA
You’re right, Mom. How about a bag of Oreos?
MELANIE
How’s it going?
BRENDA
BRENDA stops typing and looks up.
Fine. How’s it going with you?
There was the outlandish assertion by DIDI-from-admitting on the day of VICKI’s CT scan—BRENDA, unbeknownst to anyone, had called the hospital administration to complain—and ever since then, BRENDA had been watching MELANIE closely, especially when JOSH was around. But she saw no interaction between them. They barely spoke. When MELANIE walked into a room, JOSH walked out.
MELANIE
(taken aback by BRENDA’s sudden interest)
I’m okay.
MELANIE’s voice is melancholy. It harkens back to their first days in the house, when MELANIE moped all the time. There had been some recent phone calls from Peter, but MELANIE spoke in a clipped tone and ended the calls quickly.
I’m bummed about the end of summer.
BRENDA
Well, that makes two of us.
MELANIE
What are you doing after we leave?
BRENDA
(focusing on the computer screen, ruing her decision to engage MELANIE in this much conversation)
That remains to be seen. How about you?
MELANIE
Ditto.
There is a long pause, during which BRENDA fears MELANIE is trying to read the computer screen.
MELANIE burps.
MELANIE
Sorry, I have heartburn.
BRENDA
You’re on your own there.
JOSH
How’s it going?
BRENDA
Fine.
JOSH
Do you think you’ll sell it?
BRENDA
I have no idea. I hope so.
BRENDA thinks,
Hell, it can’t hurt.
You don’t know anyone in the business, do you?
JOSH
Well, there’s Chas Gorda, my creative-writing professor at Middlebury. The writer-in-residence, actually. He had his novel,
Talk,
made into a film back in 1989. He might know somebody. I could ask him when I go back.
BRENDA
Would you? That would be great.
JOSH
Sure.
BRENDA
When do you go back?
JOSH
Two weeks.
BRENDA
Are you looking forward to it?
JOSH
(staring into the cottage, where—by chance?—MELANIE sits at the kitchen table reading the
Boston Globe
)
I guess so. I don’t know.
BRENDA
(thinking,
Horrible Didi was right. Something is going on between them. Something the rest of us were too self-absorbed to notice
.)
BRENDA smiles kindly at JOSH, remembering back to when he lent her the quarter at the hospital, remembering back to when they kissed in the front yard.
Maybe someday I’ll be adapting one of your novels.
JOSH
(looking at BRENDA but diverted by something—someone?—inside the cottage)
You never know.
BLAINE
(eating a red Popsicle)
Popsicle juice drips down BLAINE’s chin in a good approximation of blood.
What are you doing?
BRENDA
Working.
BLAINE
On Dad’s computer?
BRENDA
Yep.
BLAINE
Are you working on your movie?
BRENDA
Mmmhmm.
BLAINE
Is it like
Scooby Doo
?
BRENDA
No, it’s nothing like
Scooby Doo
. Remember I said it’s a movie for grown-ups?
BLAINE reaches out to touch the computer.
Ah, ah, don’t touch. Do not touch Dad’s computer with those sticky hands. Go wash.
BLAINE
Will you play Chutes and Ladders with me?
BRENDA
I can’t now, Blaine. I’m working.
BLAINE
When you take a break, will you play?
BRENDA
When I take a break, yes.
BLAINE
When’s that—
BRENDA
I don’t know. Now, please . . .
BRENDA checks the cottage. She wonders,
Where’s Josh? Where’s Vicki? Where’s Ted?
Auntie Brenda has to work.