Rollback

Cassie scrunched her face up even more tightly and looked at her daddy as if to gauge his expression and see if he was playing some trick. But his face was serious.

"No, it’s not," Cassie said, shaking her head so that the pigtails bounced. "Grandpa Halifax is old."

Don tried to smile as much as he could. "Honest, cupcake, it’s really me."

She tilted her head. Although his voice had changed somewhat, she should still recognize it. "What happened to your wrinkles?"

"They’re gone."

Cassie rolled her blue eyes in a way that said he was stating the obvious. He went on. "There’s a process," he said, but then he halted. "Process," "procedure," "technique," "treatment" — all the words he’d use in describing this to an adult would be lost on a four-year-old. "I went to see a doctor," Don said, "and he made me young again."

Cassie’s eyes were wide. "Can they do that?"

He lifted his shoulders a bit. "Yup."

Cassie looked at Sarah and then back at Don. "What about Grandma? Is she going to get young, too?"

Don opened his mouth to reply, but Sarah beat him to it. "No, dear."

"Why not? Do you like being all wrinkly?"

"Cassie!" exclaimed Carl.

But Sarah didn’t take offense. "I’ve earned every one of them," she said. Sarah obviously saw the puzzled expression on Cassie’s face, so she went on. "No, dear, I don’t. But the process that worked on your grandfather didn’t work for me."

Don watched Cassie nod; perhaps he’d underestimated what little kids could grasp.

"That’s sad," Cassie said.

Sarah nodded back at her, conceding that.

Cassie turned her attention to her father. "Grandpa looks younger than you do," she said. Carl winced. "When I get old, will they be able to make me young again?"

Don could see that his son was about to respond in the negative; he’d moved his head to the left, ready to shake it. But that wasn’t the correct answer. "Yes," said Don. "They will." The process was bound to be cheap and common by the time his granddaughter needed it, and that thought pleased Don.

Carl looked as though he was reaching his limit for holding Cassie. He bent down, setting her on the ground. But then Don crouched low, and turned his back to her.

Looking over his shoulder he said, "Want a piggyback ride?"

Cassie scrambled onto his back, and he straightened up. He swooped around the living room, Cassie hugging his neck from behind, and her giggles were music to his ears, and, at least for a few minutes, he was truly happy that he’d had this done to him.

"Hey, Lennie, why so glum?"

Lenore was filling salt and pepper shakers. She looked up to see Gabby regarding her, hands on hips. "Hmm?"

"You’ve been down in the dumps all night. What’s up?"

This was the one evening a week that both Lenore and Gabby worked the same shift at the Duke of York.

"I broke up with Don a few days ago."

"How come?" asked Gabby.

Lenore pondered how best to answer this. "For starters, he’s married."

"The fucker."

"Yeah. But, you know, there are, um, extenuating circumstances."

"Is he separated?"

"No. No, he still lives with her, but…"

"But his old lady doesn’t understand him, right?"

Lenore felt her mouth twitch. "Something like that."

"Girl, I’ve heard it a million times before. You’re better off without him."

"Yeah, but…"

"But what?"

"I miss him."

"Why? Was he good in the sack?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. But it’s not just…"

"What?"

"He’s gentle."

"I like it a little rough myself," Gabby said, smiling lasciviously.

"No, no. I mean in life. He’s gentle. He’s kind, considerate."

"Except to his wife."

Lenore winced. But she recalled when Don had been here before, how he’d defended Professor Halifax when Makoto had attacked her. "No, in his way, he’s good to her, too, I think. And she’s really sweet."

"You know his wife?"

She nodded. "A bit."

"Earth to Lenore! Wake up, girl!"

"I know, I know. But I just can’t stop thinking about him."

"Let me get this straight. You dumped Makoto because he was a messy eater—"

"A girl has to have standards."

"—but you want to go back to a married guy?"

"No," said Lenore. "I want to go back to him despite the fact that he’s married."

"I’m not working on any damn master’s degree," said Gabby. "Maybe that kind of hair-splitting means something in your circles, but…"

"He’s unlike any guy I’ve ever met."

"Why? Has he got three nipples?"

"Seriously, Gabs, I miss him so much."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Gabby was quiet for a moment. "Well, then, there’s only one thing to do."

"What’s that?"

She started transferring the filled shakers onto a serving tray. "Follow your heart."

At dinner, Sarah ended up sitting next to her grandson Percy, who had turned thirteen over the summer. "So," she said, "how is grade eight?"

"It’s okay," he said.

"Just okay?"

"They give us a lot of homework. I’ve got tons to do by Monday."