Shallow Graves

the hair tumbling down. “Make them accessible.“

    Nancy’s hand snaked from under the sheets, turning her alarm clock so she could see its face. “Damn. I should have put the cutlets on ahead of time.“
    “Would have killed the mood.“
    She snuggled back against me. “As one of the guys at the office is fond of saying, you couldn’t have killed that mood with a stick.“
    “Madam, such vulgarity.“
    “Sorry.“ Nancy sighed. “I really miss him.“
    “Renfield.“
    “Who else?“
    “Did you check on him today?“
    “I called twice. He came through the operation fine, but when I asked if I could visit, they said he was still sleeping from the anesthesia and that it was best not to wake him.“
    I thought back on my times in human hospitals, where they didn’t seem to share the same compunction.
    Nancy said, “You’ll still be able to pick him up tomorrow?“
    “A promise is a promise.“
    “They said any time after three-thirty and before six, but I really hate to think of my kitty being there any longer than he has to be.“
    “I’ll be scratching at their door by three-thirty-one.“
    “Poor little guy. I had them hack off his nuts because he was spraying my furniture and his front toes because he was shredding it. Now what’ll he think?“
    “I’m pretty sure cats don’t dwell much on motivation and consequence, Nance.“
    She shifted a little off the arm before it fell asleep. “Did I tell you last night that it wasn’t your fault? That he was born with this problem.“
    “Among other things.“
    “God, I was so drunk.“
    “It takes getting used to.“
    “Two other times I got like that, John. Once when my mom died, and once when I found out I passed the bar exam.“
    “Not after the exam itself?“
    “No. Oh, New England threw a party for all of us taking the Massachusetts bar. They’re really good about that. The Alumni Association rents out Anthony’s Pier Four, the covered patio. It’s just a block from where the exam’s administered, over at Commonwealth Pier.“
    “You mean ‘The World Trade Center?’ “
    “Please. It was a real lift, going into that last afternoon, three more hours to go after nine hours over the two days, talking with the other New England grads about it, watching the Harvard and BU kids turn green, knowing their schools don’t do anything like that for them. But I didn’t get drunk. Nobody I saw did. We just milled around and decompressed, talking to the professors and administrators who came by to kind of... I don’t know, say good-bye till the fifth-year reunion, I guess.“
    Nostalgia. The cat was still bothering her. “Nance?“
    “Yeah?“
    “Don’t worry about Renfield. He’s going to be fine.“
    “John, do me another favor?“
    “What’s that?“
    “Stay with him?“
    “Nance, I’m not going to leave him in a basket on the doorstep.“
    “I mean, stay here with him till I get back.“
    “When is that?“
    “My plane touches down on Sunday at twelve noon.“
    “You want me here for two days?“
    “Please.“ A little kiss on my earlobe. “I’ll take a taxi from the airport.“
    “Nance, I can pick you up.“
    “No. No, it’s all reimbursed. I’ll get a cab and relieve you as wet nurse if you’ll just stay here with him till then.“
    How hard could it be? “Okay.“
    “Oh, John, thank you.“ Another kiss, same place.
    “I think a gentle milking motion works best there.“
    “Like this?“
    “Just.“
    After a minute, I said, “Nance?“
    “Ummm?“
    “What did you mean by ‘wet nurse?’ “
    “Just an expression.“

    Friday morning, I got a kiss good-bye as Nancy carried her garment bag out to the yellow Checker. The sun was burning brightly, cutting through the light fog we sometimes get when the water is colder than the air. Or when the air is colder than the water. Boston’s not on the level of San Francisco, but we’re getting there.
    I decided to walk to the graveyard, drifting over to Broadway first to stop at Mrs. Feeney’s for a dozen carnations.

    What’s it like today?
    I stood up, looking out at the harbor past the foot of her hillside. “Was foggy, Beth, but it’s breaking up so I can see pretty clearly.“
    You seem troubled, John. Is it still the cat?
    “Not really.“ In a way I couldn’t with Nancy, I went through what had happened, Mau Tim Dani becoming Tina Danucci.
    So, after crippling a cat, you were sweet-talked by a mobster and beaten up by a male model.
    “One way