Chat - Archer Mayor [2]
In the darkness of the car, his smile faded away. As silly as it sometimes sounded when he admitted it out loud, he’d lived with his mother all his life so far, and he was fair and square beyond middle age. His older brother, Joe, had been the restless one, leaving home early to join the service, seeing combat halfway around the world, going to college for a few years in California. Even now he lived in Brattleboro, near the Massachusetts border, sixty miles to the south.
But Leo had never seen the attraction. He and their mom lived in the farmhouse he’d been born in, and his room overlooked the fields his father had once tilled. When the old man died so many years ago, leaving behind two boys and a young widow, the three survivors had looked to one another for their grounding. Joe had used that as a springboard to go forth into the world; Leo had seen it as all he really needed. He began working at the market in Thetford Center, just down the hill from the farm, and settled into a life of dating girls lacking in serious intentions, working in the barn on old cars from the sixties, becoming the most highly prized butcher for twenty miles around, and establishing an easy and permanent friendship with his mother.
Which he knew was closing in on a natural end.
“You’re awfully quiet all of a sudden,” she said softly.
They had just reached the bridge spanning the Connecticut River, a newly rebuilt structure, which its designers had accessorized with a series of gigantic, evenly spaced concrete balls—a source of some humor in a school renowned for its testosterone.
“Just thinking about the movie.”
She let it go. Whatever its virtues, White Heat didn’t merit an excess of reflection. Leo had something private on his mind, and she had a pretty good idea what it was, or what she feared it might be. While grateful for a lifetime of Leo’s company, she was not unaware of the peculiarity of a middle-aged son still living with his mother. The thought that she—or her circumstances, first as a widow and then as an invalid—had encouraged this situation only made her feel guilty. That said, she was also a pretty good observer of people, and her take on her younger son was that he was not only happy with the status quo, but increasingly worried about what to do after she died.
She could sympathize. She’d been in much the same boat when their father died. A good and decent man, much older than she, he’d had his greatest influence on them all only after his death, when they discovered the huge void he’d so quietly filled.
She suspected that Leo, more than Joe, would find the world an oddly empty place, at least for a while, once she followed her late husband’s example.
She stole a glance at him as he turned right onto Route 5 on the Vermont side of the bridge and began heading north, parallel to the interstate, which he knew she didn’t enjoy as much.
“Thank you, Leo,” she said.
He looked at her quickly, both his hands on the wheel, a good and practiced driver. “What for? I thought you hated the movie.”
“For taking me anyhow, for not choosing the interstate, for being a good son. I’m not sure I tell you enough how grateful I am for everything. You’ve given up a lot for me.”
He laughed, though a little cautiously. His mother wasn’t prone to such comments. “Totally selfish, Ma. Do you know how many times I’ve used you as an excuse to shake off some female with big plans? Unbelievable. There are women up and down this valley who think you’re the worst thing since Cruella de Vil. You should be calling a libel lawyer instead of patting me on the back for being such a wonderful son.”
She smiled and shook her head. She should have known better. Leo was her showman, quick to grab a joke when faced with a serious moment.
She decided to allow him his choice. “Really?” she reacted in kind. “No wonder I’ve been getting those strange looks. Good Lord. I always thought it was my breath, or maybe something horrible coming out of my nostril.”
They were surrounded by darkness now, moving quickly and alone along the smooth,