Bridge of Sighs

good reason.” When he just shrugged, she forged ahead. “What about Lou?”
    Was the woman insane? What
about
Lou? Was this a new subject or the same one? Was Lou going to college? Did he plan on enlisting for Vietnam? How should
he
know? “I don’t—”
    “Why did you come to the store today?”
    “He invited—”
    “Don’t lead him on, Bobby. If you want to be friends, fine. If not, find a way out now. You know how he is.”
    “He seems really good,” Noonan told her, a little ashamed that his friend’s mother should talk about him behind his back like this. “Happy, I mean. He’s changed a lot—”
    “No, he hasn’t. You weren’t listening before.
People don’t change.
”
    “He’s not having those spells anymore,” Noonan said, confident that he had her on this count at least.
    “That’s a circumstance,” Tessa Lynch said, “and those change all the time. Today you’re healthy; tomorrow you discover a tumor. But who you
are
stays the same. Lou hasn’t changed any more than you have. You’re still the same boy you were that first time your mother tried to run away, the same boy who went out and gathered up her things off the street and stuffed them in that suitcase and lugged it home, fully expecting to get a whipping for your trouble. You didn’t think I knew about that, right? You thought you’d solved her problem then, too.”
    “Actually, I think I’ve changed a lot since then,” Noonan said, feeling suddenly raw and exposed.
    “I know you do, but you’re wrong. And now there’s Sarah.”
    “I’m not interested in Sarah,” Noonan said, pretty sure he knew where all this was heading.
    “You will be, when you get to know her.”
    “I don’t think so. Besides, she’s Lucy’s girlfriend,” he said, correcting himself quickly when he saw her flinch, her eyes narrowing. “Lou’s girlfriend.”
    At that moment there was a loud rap on the driver’s side window, causing both of them to jump just about out of their skins. Lucy’s mother was the first to recover, and she rolled down her window. A tiny black man, vaguely familiar, was grinning in at them. Completely wrapped up in their conversation, neither had heard the man approach.
    “Teresa Lupino,” he said. “You come out here to howl wit’ me?” He set a half-empty bottle of whiskey on the edge of the open window.
    “No, I didn’t, Gabriel,” Mrs. Lynch told him. Gabriel Mock, Noonan thought, remembering him now. “As I’m sure you know.”
    “Why’s that?” he said, peering around her at Noonan.
    “You’re way too short for me,” she told him. “I only howl with tall men. Six feet at least.”
    How tall was Dec Lynch? Noonan wondered. Not six feet, but close.
    At this Gabriel Mock threw back his head and laughed so hard he nearly lost his balance.
“Short?”
he said. “That’s what it is? I’m
short
?”
    “Also, I’m married,” she said.
    “You married and me short,” he said, wiping his eyes with his shirtsleeve. “Thank the Lord it ain’t nothin’ else. Wouldn’t want there to be no other obstacles. Who’s this here?”
    “This is a friend of my son’s. I’m trying to talk some sense into him.”
    He studied Noonan with bloodshot eyes. “You smart, you’ll do like this woman says. She’s smarter than you by a mile, and I don’t even know who you are. Don’t
care
who you are. You want a sip of this howlin’ juice? You ever howl?”
    “No, thanks.”
    The little man returned his attention to Lucy’s mother. “
Po
lite,” he said. “Don’t know who he is, but he’s polite. Give him that much. But stupid, huh?”
    “Not completely,” Tessa Lynch said, far from a ringing endorsement, though it pleased Noonan anyway.
    Gabriel regarded him again. “NCS. I see you again, that’s what I’ll call you. NCS. Not Completely Stupid. You and me’ll know what it stand for. Call me what you want. Call me Gizzard if that make you happy. I don’t care. I’m a call you NCS, whether you like it or not. Come out here some night, you feel like it. I live right over there.” He waved in the general direction of a small outbuilding, its silhouette just visible in the dark. “Bring a bottle of juice and you be welcome. Bring Junior with you. You know who I mean?”
    Noonan nodded.
    “Lou Lynch Junior, who I mean. He’s a ama-teur howler, like yourself, I ’spect. Maybe I start callin’ him NCSE. Not Completely Stupid Either.”
    “Neither of these boys is going to come out