Nobody's Fool

hoping to strike a note of comfort and, of course, hitting something else entirely. “She’ll quiet down.”
    They both studied the old woman then. Hattie’s jaw was set in such a way that it was difficult for either of them to imagine that she’d changed her mind about anything recently. Or conceded anything.
    â€œAfter Christmas is when she’ll be all right,” Cass said.
    This morning Sully had noticed on the way in that there was a sign taped to the front door announcing that Hattie’s would be closed the week between Christmas and New Year’s, which, if true, would be a first. The diner was often shut on major holidays, but a whole week between Christmas and New Year’s had never been done before, so far as Sully recollected. The hasty lettering on the sign, taken in conjunction with the fact that Cass had said nothing to Sully about the closing before, suggested to him that she’d arrived at the decision during the night. The deep lines etched beneath her eyes suggested early morning. “She’s not going to go for that,” Sully said, nodding at the sign and noticing as he did so that Rub was there on the other side of the door, shifting his weight from one foot to the other in the gray half light of early morning, his hands thrust deep into his coat pockets, clearly hoping to attract someone’s attention inside, where it was light and warm. He was just tall enough to see over the top of the sign, and Sully could tell he was pleased to have attracted notice, though his face clouded over when nothing came of it. He consulted his wrist then, as if to check how long it would be before the diner officially opened. Since Rub never wore a watch, there was nothing on his wrist that was of the slightest use in this regard. Sully wondered where he could have possibly picked up such a gesture.
    â€œShe hasn’t got any say in the matter,” said Cass, who hadn’t noticed Rub. The tone of this observation suggested a challenge. Sully could dispute the statement if he dared.
    â€œOkay,” said Sully, who didn’t dare. “I just meant she wasn’t going to like the idea, that’s all.”
    â€œNo,” Cass said. “You meant more than that. You meant that I’d never make it stick and that I shouldn’t even try. You meant that it wouldbe simpler to let her have her way like always, since she’s going to get it in the end anyway. That’s what you meant by ‘she won’t go for it.’ ”
    Well, it was true. That
was
pretty much what he’d meant. “I didn’t mean that at all,” he objected.
    â€œYesterday was the last straw,” she told him, pointing a handful of knives, fresh from their rack on the drainboard, at him. “Yesterday tore it. She’s going into professional care. She can abuse people who are paid to take it.” She slung the knives into the plastic trough beneath the counter.
    â€œOkay,” Sully agreed. “Fine.”
    Somehow, by appearing to question her judgment or perhaps her will, he’d managed to get Cass angry at
him
. There were times when he wondered if this were a special skill he possessed, this ability to redirect almost any woman’s anger to himself. They all seemed perfectly prepared to surrender their original object of scorn. Whenever Ruth was angry at Zack, Vera at Ralph, Toby Roebuck (and all the other women in Carl’s life) at Carl—these women were all apparently satisfied to vent their fury on Sully if he happened to be handy, as if he embodied in concentrated form some male principle they considered to be the cause of their dissatisfaction with their own men. Which made him wonder if there might be a way to distract Cass before she got up a good head of steam. “You want to let Rub in?” he suggested.
    Rub was dancing faster now in the entryway.
    â€œHe gets here earlier every morning,” Cass said. “If I let him in, it’ll look like we’re open.”
    â€œHe’ll make you feel better,” Sully predicted.
    â€œHow?”
    â€œI don’t know,” Sully confessed. “He always does, though.”
    â€œYou just like tormenting him.”
    â€œWave to him,” Sully suggested.
    They waved. Rub scowled, did not wave back.
    â€œAll right, I can’t stand it,” Cass said, trying to suppress a smile. “Go let him in.”
    â€œSee?” Sully said,