Nobody's Fool

Grandpa Sully was dangerous, but Will, though his affection for the stranger of his two Bath grandfathers was growing daily, thought he understood why his grandmother was worried. Grandpa Sully took him up dark, smelly stairways in the back of buildings, and to places where there were wild dogs, and now to a house about to fall down. Some of Grandpa Sully’s friends smelled bad, too. In his grandfather’s company, Will found that he was often torn between opposing fears. He understood that getting too close to his grandfather was dangerous, especially if Grandpa Sully was wielding a hammer or, like now, a crowbar, or the long, sharp spatula he used in the restaurant to flip eggs. Even his father had warned him not to get too close to Grandpa Sully when he had any sort of tool in his hand, which was why Will had not even ventured up onto the porch when his grandfather started after the back door with his crowbar.
    The problem was that Will knew he didn’t dare let his grandfather get out of sight either, sensing that if this happened he’d lose his grandfather’s protection in a hostile environment. He knew Grandpa Sully was forgetful, entirely capable of forgetting Will altogether. In fact, he’d done it once already. One day last week they’d gone to the lumberyard outside of town,and when they got inside, Grandpa Sully had stationed Will near the front door and told him to wait right there. Then he’d gone over and talked to the man behind the counter. After a few minutes the two men went out the side door and into the big yard where mountains of boards were stacked. Through the window Will had watched his grandfather and the man load a dozen or so boards onto the back of Grandpa Sully’s truck and tie them in place with the rope. To the end of the boards the man had attached a red flag, which blew in the breeze. Will made a mental note to ask his grandfather what the flag was for. The two men outside shook hands then, and Grandpa Sully got back into the truck and drove off, the red flag waving good-bye around the corner. Will then watched the hands of the big clock inch around the dial, forever it had seemed, until Grandpa Sully returned, going, it seemed to Will, dangerously fast, even in the parking lot.
    The truck came to a skidding halt, pebbles rattling against the window through which Will stood peering, his eyes liquid. He was not actually crying, though, and he was proud of that. In fact, since returning to North Bath with his father he hadn’t cried once, having resolved not to. He’d decided now that Wacker was gone that he’d try to be brave. When Grandpa Sully got out of the truck and headed inside, he was moving faster than Will had ever seen him go. He looked scared too, which made Will feel better, knowing that a man as fierce as Grandpa Sully could worry.
    â€œI bet you thought Grandpa’d forgotten all about you,” he said.
    Will nodded. That was exactly the conclusion he’d come to, there was no denying it.
    â€œOnly for a minute,” Grandpa Sully had explained. Clearly, forgetting for such a short period of time didn’t really count as forgetting to his grandfather, who was used to forgetting things, Will guessed, for a lot longer. “Don’t tell your grandmother,” he warned when they were back in the truck and barreling down the road. “And if your mother calls, don’t tell her either.”
    Will had promised he wouldn’t.
    â€œIn fact,” Sully had continued upon further reflection, “don’t even tell your father.”
    The boards loaded onto the back of Grandpa Sully’s truck had come loose then and started tumbling off and bouncing along the blacktop, and Grandpa Sully had skidded over onto the shoulder and gotten out to retrieve them. Most of them fit onto the truck better now. From inside the cab, Will could hear his grandfather swearing at the boards and also at the drivers of the other cars on the road who had to swerve around boththe lumber and Grandpa Sully. But by the time his grandfather had collected the last of the boards and dropped them into the bed of the truck, he had calmed down some, and after he took a deep breath and got back into the truck, he’d looked over at Will and continued the instructions he’d been giving before all the boards fell out of the truck. “In fact,” he said “don’t tell anybody.”
    Will had kept his promise and