A Thousand Acres_ A Novel - Jane Smiley [45]
Caroline said, “Is Daddy okay?”
“Well, sure. Rose just was over there giving him his supper. How are you?”
“We’re fine. Do you know where Daddy was yesterday?”
“Well, no. I don’t keep tabs—”
“Well, I was in New York for two days, and when I got back this evening, there was a note on my desk saying, ‘Your father came in looking for you at eleven.’ ”
“Did you try to call him and ask him?”
Now there was a long silence on the other end of the line. Rose, who had gone outside and put the burgers on the grill, came in with a slam of the screen door, and I raised my eyebrows. She mouthed, “What’s going on?” and just then, Caroline said, “Yeah, I did. I tried to call him twice, and both times he wouldn’t talk to me. Once he listened for a few minutes but didn’t say anything, and the second time he hung up as soon as he heard my voice. Then he wouldn’t answer the phone, even though I let it ring thirty times.” She sounded embarrassed.
I said, “That’s so silly. But are they sure it was Daddy?”
“I assume so, but I can’t ask anyone about it till Monday.”
“Just a minute.” I put my hand over the mouthpiece and told Rose the story. She pursed her lips and shrugged, but went outside carrying the barbecue spatula without saying anything. Ty pushed open the door to the living room and exclaimed, “All done! Where’s the beer?” To Caroline, I said, “What?”
She said, “Did you and Rose sign the papers?”
For a moment I was confused and I said, “What papers?”
“The incorporation papers and the transfer papers.”
“Oh.” I was struck by the coolness of her tone.
She didn’t say anything.
I went on, “Well, sure we did. Of course we did. We didn’t have any choice.”
There was another silence, then she said evenly, “I think you did.”
Jess Clark walked in the back door, slamming the screen, and Pammy called for a towel. I could hear Caroline waiting for me to say something, but a molasses feeling of fatigue rendered me unable to rise to the complexities of what it might be. Finally I said, “Caroline, it’s a madhouse here. Let me call you later. Or call me and tell me what they say about Daddy’s visit.”
She said, “Okay,” very coolly.
I said, “I mean it. Don’t forget.” But she was gone by that time.
Jess went on into the living room, and the back door opened almost immediately. It was Rose, who sniffed, “What did she have to say?”
“Are you and Caroline having a fight?”
“You’ll have to ask her that.”
“Well, I’m asking you.” Once in a while, I could pull some oldest sister rank.
“I didn’t think we were.”
“Until?”
“Well, it’s been two weeks since my three-month exam, and I haven’t heard a word from her. She never called to ask how I was. In fact, I’ve thought her attitude from the beginning has been pretty casual.”
“She sent flowers and came to visit.”
“One time, when she was coming up for the weekend anyway. There were three or four women outside the family who were more attentive than that.”
“She’s very busy.”
Rose pulled a long, skeptical face. “According to her.”
“She said Daddy came to her office yesterday.” I thought this would distract her.
“What for?”
“She doesn’t know. She was in New York.”
Rose mimicked me. “She was in New York.”
“Rose!”
“Well, she’s always somewhere, isn’t she? She’s the one who got away, isn’t she?”
“I thought we were glad about that. She’s not interested in farming.”
Rose leaned against the counter and gazed at me. I let her. After a moment, her hand fluttered up toward the empty side of her chest, and she placed it back on the counter, then picked up the salad with both hands. Finally, she said, “When we are good girls and accept our circumstances, we’re glad about it.” She walked toward the dining-room door and pushed it partly open, then said, “When we are bad girls, it drives us crazy.”
I