Nobody's Fool

guess,” Sully told her. A car turned onto Main and headed toward them. Sully got the driver’s attention, directed him around them.
    â€œNo driving on the sidewalk,” Hattie yelled when she heard the car go by, close.
    â€œWhere you headed?” Sully said.
    â€œTo live with my sister in Albany,” Hattie answered truthfully, because this was indeed her plan, the most obvious flaw of which was the fact that her sister had been dead for twenty years. Also, Albany lay in the other direction.
    â€œHow about I give you a lift,” Sully suggested. “We’ll get there a lot faster.”
    â€œLet’s.”
    Sully steered the old woman back toward Miss Beryl’s driveway, where they arrived a few minutes later. Clive Jr. had come out onto the porch and was watching. Before he could say anything, Sully held up a finger to his lips, then pointed at Clive Jr.’s car, which was nearest. Clive nodded, went back inside for his keys. Sully got the old woman into the backseat on the passenger side, then went around and slipped in beside her. Clive Jr. got in and started the engine.
    â€œWho’s driving?” Hattie said, squinting in the direction of the front seat.
    â€œMe,” Sully assured her.
    Hattie located his voice beside her. “Who’s up there?”
    â€œMe,” Sully insisted. “Who’d you think?”
    â€œMy feet are cold,” Hattie said, noticing for the first time. She began to cry.
    Sully took her slippers off. Her feet were wet and ice cold. One of Clive Jr.’s sweaters was in the backseat, so Sully used this to dry and massage the old woman’s bony toes.
    â€œWho’s driving?” Hattie said.
    â€œMe,” Sully said. “How many times do I have to tell you? We’re almost there, too.”
    Sully had Clive Jr. pull in behind the diner and motioned for him to stay put while he went to fetch Cass. Miss Beryl’s son wasn’t happy to be left alone in the car with Hattie, partly because his continued nonexistence would be harder to prove with Sully gone.
    â€œI gotta get some gas, old girl,” Sully explained before he left them. “You wait here.”
    â€œHere,” Hattie repeated, wriggling her toes in the warmth of Clive Jr.’s cashmere sweater.
    Inside, Cass was taking the orders of two men Sully didn’t know who were seated at the counter. Sully waited for them to finish. “What kind of mood are you in?” Sully said when she put his usual coffee in front of him.
    â€œRotten,” Cass said. “Like always.”
    â€œGood,” he said. “I’d hate to ruin your day.”
    â€œImpossible,” Cass told him, then frowned suspiciously, as if she knew it were all too possible. Instinctively, she glanced toward the rear of the diner and the attached apartment where she and her mother lived. “God, what?” she said, stepping back quickly.
    â€œShe’s fine.” Sully held up a cautioning hand. “Clive Peoples has her out back in his car.”
    â€œI’ll wring her neck,” Cass said, her panic turning quickly to anger, and she bolted from behind the counter. “So help me.”
    Sully decided not to follow. Old Hattie was going to be furious, and he didn’t like to watch. The last time he’d brought her back, she’d called him a fart blossom and tried to kick him. Of the four times the old woman had tried to escape her daughter’s care, she’d been returned three of them by Sully. Luckily she never remembered his past treacheries. Only her distant memories were vivid and distinct. More recent perfidy she forgot almost immediately.
    Sully went behind the counter and put on an apron, nodding at Roof, the cook. “Looks like you and me, Rufus,” he said.
    Roof flipped two eggs onto a platter with his long spatula by way of reply. The platter already contained hash browns and toast triangles at the edges. Two more smooth movements and three more platters were complete, and all four checks came down from the circular spindle. “Ding dong,” he said. “Order up.”
    â€œYou’re not even going to let me drink my coffee, are you,” Sullysaid, grabbing a platter in each hand. Cass could balance them up and down her arm, but Sully didn’t think he’d try. Roof was even-tempered until you dropped his eggs.
    Working behind the counter, Sully forgot all about Clive Jr., who