The Whore's Child

but he was wrong. Instead, Hugo shambled its entire length, down to the hinged gate a hundred yards away, where he let himself in and then shambled back. To Lin, these two gestures made no sense. If he wasn’t going to climb the fence, why toss the glove over it? Having watched both his going and his coming, Lin suddenly felt grateful that Hugo Wentz was on the team, if only for the purpose of comparison.
    When the pathetic circuit was finally completed, Lin pretended to be deeply involved in evaluating the team’s talent, perhaps even deciding on a starting lineup, so he wouldn’t have to play catch with Hugo Wentz, who probably threw like a girl. Still, after a minute or two, he sensed the boy’s presence behind him.
    â€œHey, Hart. You got a ball?” Hugo wanted to know.
    Lin shook his head, surprised that the other boy knew his name and had chosen to use it.
    Hugo Wentz snorted unpleasantly. “Figures,” he said, turning away again.
    It nearly took Lin’s breath away, that one word. Just that quickly, it seemed, he’d made an enemy.
    GRANDMA HART
    Shortly after moving into the apartment above the barbershop, Lin’s father had gotten into a car accident. By the time he got around to telling Lin’s mother about it, she’d already heard. “Totaled, huh?” Lin heard her say into the telephone. “Well, now you’re a foot, like me.” That not having a car made a person into “a foot” made a kind of sense to Lin, who saw no reason to suspect he hadn’t heard his mother correctly. The expression certainly made more sense than another of her favorites, which was along the same lines. Often, befuddled, she’d proclaim she didn’t know whether she was a foot or horseback anymore.
    His father claimed that not having a car was no big deal. His apartment was only a few blocks from the hotel where he tended bar in a waist-length jacket and bow tie, his shiny black hair combed straight back, looking wet even when it was dry. It did mean that they had to borrow Uncle Bert’s car when they visited Grandma Hart, who lived alone now, since Lin’s grandfather died, one town away. Because his father and Uncle Bert weren’t speaking, it also meant that it was Aunt Melly who came out onto the porch to hand over the keys. “You could come in and have a cup of coffee, Thomas,” she said, cradling her belly. Lin tried to remember if he’d ever seen his aunt when she wasn’t pregnant.
    â€œNot likely,” his father replied. “Wasn’t for somebody who’ll remain nameless, I wouldn’t be here at all.”
    Lin understood that he himself was the nameless person, and also that the reason his father and his uncle weren’t speaking had something to do with the car—but also that it was not
just
the car, according to his mother, who had little use for any of the Harts, claiming that to them, fighting was as natural as breathing.
    A couple of months before, Uncle Bert had phoned Lin’s mother to complain. “Listen to me carefully, Bert,” he overheard her say. “You’ve got nothing I want, and that includes your car.” When apparently Uncle Bert tried to backtrack, she continued, “If you don’t want your brother to borrow your car, tell
him,
not
me.
”
    Lin could hear his uncle’s whiny voice leaking out of the receiver.
    â€œI don’t
care
what he says, Bert. If he’s using it to take Lin places, that’s between you and him. If he owes you money, same deal. You’ve known him a lot longer than I have, and if you’re dumb enough to give him anything you want back, you’ve only yourself to blame.”
    â€œLin might like to come in and see his cousins,” Aunt Melly said now, though nothing could have been further from the truth. Lin’s cousins, all three of them, were nasty creatures with streaming noses and sagging diapers who wanted him either to pick them up or let them sit on his lap, which always left a smelly wet spot on his pants.
    â€œBesides, you could say hello to your brother and patch up this silliness.”
    â€œI’m right here, if he wants to patch anything up,” his father said. “And he knows where I live. If I can walk all the way over here, he can drive over there.”
    â€œHave it your way, then,” Aunt Melly sighed. “I’m too worn out to try to convince either one of you. I