Morgan's Passing - Anne Tyler [120]
“Hello, Emily.”
She took a step back. (She hadn’t had time to get into her shoes yet.)
“Is Gina ready?” he asked her.
“Yes, I think so.”
Then Morgan appeared, swinging Joshua in the air, saying, “Ups-a-daisy …” He stopped and said, “Why, Leon.”
“Hello, Morgan.”
“Won’t you come in?”
“I can’t stay,” Leon said, but he stepped inside. Emily shut the door behind him. After a moment’s hesitation, Leon followed Morgan down the hall to the living room.
Emily wished Morgan would take his spectacles off. Wearing them, he looked humble and domesticated. He held the baby slung over his shoulder and padded around the room, arranging seats. “Here, I’ll just move these, find someplace for this knitting … Well, ah, shall I call Gina?”
“If you will, please.”
Morgan gave Emily a look she couldn’t read and left, still carrying Josh.
“So!” Leon said.
“How are you, Leon?” Emily asked him.
“I’m fine.”
“You look well.”
“You do too.”
There was a pause.
“You know I’m taking courses at the college,” Leon said. “Oh, really?”
“Yes, when I get my degree, I’m enrolling in this training program at Dad’s bank. It’s interesting work, when you see it up close. You’d think it would be dull, but it’s really very interesting.”
“That’s nice,” Emily said.
“So I’d like to keep Gina year-round.”
“You what?”
“Now, Emily, don’t be hasty. Think this over. I’ve got a good apartment, stable life, schools nearby. I promise she could visit you any time she liked; I swear it. Emily, you have your son now. You have another child.”
“Gina stays with me,” Emily said. Her teeth were chattering.
“What kind of set-up is this for her?”
“It’s a fine set-up.”
Louisa appeared in the door, navigating the floorboards as if they lay under a foot of water. She made her way to Leon and said, “You’re sitting in my chair.”
“Oh, sorry,” Leon said.
He stood up. Emily said, “Um, do you remember Leon, Mother Gower?”
“Yes, perfectly,” she said.
Leon moved to the sofa next to Emily. He smelled of aftershave—not his own smell at all. Louisa arranged herself in her rocker and spread her skirt all around her.
Then Brindle entered with a large, cracked mug of coffee. She sat on the end of the sofa nearest Leon. “So what have you been up to?” she asked him.
“I’m planning to enroll in this training program at the bank.”
“Oh, yes. Training program. Well, things have been in a fine pickle here, I can tell you.”
“Brindle—” Emily said.
But Louisa suddenly interrupted. “And where’s your pretty wife?” she asked Leon.
“Excuse me?”
“Where’s that girl that used to bring me fruitcake?” Leon looked at Emily. “I’ll go check on Gina,” Emily said. Even the flow of her skirt, as she walked out, seemed strained.
She found Gina and Morgan standing together among the unmade beds, fiddling with Gina’s camp flashlight. “Naturally it doesn’t work,” Morgan was saying. He tipped the batteries into the palm of his hand. “You’ve filled it wrong.”
“How could I have filled it wrong? I used what they said to use, D size.”
“Yes, but the poles are not reversed, Gina.”
“What poles?”
“You know that batteries are polarized,” he said.
Gina said, “No … but I have to leave now, Morgan.” She was jittery and restless, twisting a piece of hair, glancing toward the hall. Joshua had worked his way to a bureau and was tugging a satin strap from a drawer. Morgan noticed none of this. He was busy with the flashlight.
“Observe,” he said, holding up a battery. “A plus sign on the positive end. A minus sign on the negative end.”
Emily felt wrenched by his elderly, instructive tone of voice. She came over to him and kissed his cheek. “Never mind that,” she told him. “We’re making Leon wait. Gina, run say hello to Daddy. We’ll fix your flashlight.”
Gina left—released, like something snapped from a rubber band. Morgan shook his head and dropped the batteries in place. “Eleven years old and doesn’t know batteries are polarized,” he said. “How will she manage in the modern world?”
“Morgan,” she said, just above a whisper. “Leon wants to keep