The staked Goat

darkened her face like a small cloud crossing the sun. It passed quickly, and the sun shone again.
    ”I’m afraid I haven’t been too steady the last few days. I do want to thank you for all you’ve...”
    I slowly put my hand in a stop sign. She stopped, broadening her smile. She came over to me, and we hugged as brother and sister might.
    ”He tried so hard,” she whispered past my shoulder.
    ”He always did, Martha.”
    We broke apart. She returned to the sink.
    ”I’m sorry I didn’t get to those last night,” I said. She shook her head over the sink. ”Don’t be silly. There’s coffee on. Help yourself.”
    ”I don’t take it,” I reminded her.
    ”Oh, right. I’m sorry. I forgot. Help yourself to anything else.”
    ”Thanks, but I think I’ll hop over to Dale’s and clean up instead. Anyplace nearby where I can get a newspaper?”
    ”The Pittsburgh papers are in a couple of stores in the square. If you want the New York Times, go to the drugstore.” She looked up at the clock. ”Tell them you’re staying with us, Al always... they save one for us.”
    ”Right,” I said. ”How’s Al Junior?”
    ”Fine. He was up at seven pounding on me to play with him.”
    ”Carol had said Kenny was a little sick last night. She took him home.”
    ”Carol’s a wonderful girl. Really a heart of gold. Always watching out like an older sister.” Martha stopped, then added quickly. ”She’s not really older, you know. I mean, she’s maybe a year or so older than I am. I mean she just seems more, well mature.”
    ”Hard times can do that,” I said, and immediately regretted it.
    Martha’s silence confirmed that she was just thinking about that herself. I said I would see her later and left.
    I used my key at Dale’s front door. I closed it quietly behind me. There was some soft symphonic music playing through the living room stereo speaker.
    ”Larry. Lar—” Dale stopped when he saw me. He was standing in the archway to the dining room. He was wearing a black kimono with orange dragons. It looked like silk from across the living room. He recovered by saying, ”Oh, John! You know, I had forgotten all about you. I was too soused to have heard you come in last night, anyway.”
    ”I stayed at Martha’s as sentinel. Carol had to go home with Kenny.”
    Dale struck his forehead with a mock fist. ”Oh, of course. The beauty of vodka is it doesn’t leave me with a hangover no matter how many brain cells it kills.” He looked back into the dining room. ”Sundays are pretty casual around here. Join me for brunch?”
    I’m not too good at guessing whether truly courteous people are being sincere or just being courteous. I gambled on sincere. ”Sounds terrific.”
    I won my gamble because he brightened considerably.
    ”Dale, do I have time to brush my teeth?”
    ”Sure thing,” he said. ”And shower and shave too if you want.” He frowned. ”I don’t mean you have to, I just mean...”
    ”I’d rather shave and shower as long as it won’t wreck anything.”
    ”Oh no, no, please do. Since I didn’t know when... I planned everything flexibly today.” He scratched the back of his neck, to distract him, more than me, from his thoughts.
    ”I’ll be down in twenty minutes.”
    ”Perfect,” he said.
    As I trotted up the stairs, I thought, with the haughtiness of a true Boston liberal, that Larry was screwing up a pretty good man.
    Brunch was apple fritters, country sausage, fresh pineapple, and com muffins. Neither of us had learned our lesson the night before, so we washed it down with fresh-squeezed orange juice laced with vodka. We had a pleasant talk, I assuring him that I would be flying out in the afternoon, he assuring me that I could stay as long as I cared to, me declining politely. I turned the conversation gently back to Martha and her progress, then toward Al’s house before asking him again.
    ”Last night you said twenty thousand dollars of renovation would satisfy the inspector.”
    ”Twenty thousand will do it.” Dale fixed me solidly. ”But I can’t believe that Al left anywhere near that.”
    ”Maybe he had some insurance.”
    ”Through Straun?”
    I shook my head.
    Dale tilted his quizzically. ”Through the army?” 131
    ”Maybe. In a manner of speaking.”
    Dale squinted at me. ”What do you mean?”
    I rapped my knuckles lightly on the tabletop. ”I’m not sure.”
     
    The sun kept the cold wind at the invigorating level. There were a number of