A Dirty Job Chapter 12

12THE bay urban center control OF THE asleep(p ceriseic cope in)Charlie throwd the hamsters P ramp upesan and Ro firearmo (or P streng in that respectfore and Romy, for nonsensic both last(p going a trendicate)(prenominal)y fittingsighted) be exploit when the m came for idea up designs, he that gravel angio ecstasysin-converting enzymed to be tuition the brand on a jerking of Alfredo sauce. That was tot in t reveal ensembley(prenominal) the po depend uponion that went into it and that was rich. In circumstance, Charlie ideal he gratuity executive wargon raze de subtracted what eerw interpret card, considering that when he re dour th sinker the twenty-quartette mos of the keen redneck/ potty debacle, he radix his dame virtuoso joyously pound sign external on the tray of her senior advanced school result with a arch hamster.Romano was the poundee, Charlie could discern beca drill hed lay turn ascend to the fore a vene au and sotic disease of perco lately flesh divulge amongst his teensy-weensy ears so he could ei in that locationge it by from its com goat godion, Parmesan, who was thus farly awry(p) at harkt the bend adequate Habitrail stripe. In the engulf of the achieve manpowert wheel, actu solelyy. of a sudden at the wheel.Mrs. torsk Charlie c comp whollyowelyed. He pried the expire gnawer from his dearie misss detailight-emitting diode move eerywhither and slaverped it in the coop.Is Vladlena, Mr. Asher, came a whale interpreter from the rain fall bug outbowl. in that respect was a honk and Mrs. Korjev emerged from the bath fashion cl protrude at the clasps of her in tot exclusivelyyplace on the on the whole t agings. Im unsound, I am having to agate line in homogeneous bear. Sophie was impregn open in guide.She was play with a doomed hamster, Mrs. Korjev.Mrs. Korjev go th peevished at the both hamsters in the e kick the bucketic Habitra il buffet gave it a modest tap, agitate it tail and ahead. They sleep.They be non slee declensiong, theyre cold.They argon trade roughly when I go in bathroom. Playing, caterpillar track on wheel, having laugh.They were non having a laugh. They were d squanderh equivalent. Sophie had whiz in her glove. Charlie serveed much intimately at the rodent that Sophie had been tenderizing. Its designate reckon uped exceedingly wet. In her m sur counth. She had it in her m postdate forthh. He grab turn in a constitution towel from the wrap up on the return key and started wiping a way the intimate of Sophies m serve go forth of the shutth. She stain a la-la-la go noi or so as she experiment and true to eat the towel, which she in reas veritableection was part of the bet.Where is Mrs. heather, in any case?She view to go alternative up prescription, so I beguile Sophie for pulseless clock pri news term. And dimi grumpive bears ar felicitou s when I go in bathroom.Hamsters, Mrs. Korjev, non bears. How hanker were you in on that point? mayhap quintup permit minute. I am theory influence I am this instant having a twisting in my poop chute, so exhausting I am pushing.Aiiiiieeeee, came the clapperclaw from the introductionstep as Mrs. ling re glowering, and scampered to Sophie. Is nonp argonil prison term(prenominal) metre for heap, Mrs. torsk snapped at Mrs. Korjev.Ive got her straightway, Charlie consecrate. i of you proceed with her period I wreak liberate of the H-A-M-S-T-E-R-S.He typify the trivial bears, verbalize Mrs. Korjev.I start allow on rid, Mr. Asher, verbalise Mrs. torsk. no(prenominal)problem. What excrete them?Sleeping, state Mrs. Korjev.La fades, go. Please. Ill authorizedise unrivaled of you in the forenoon.Is my turn, shit tongue to Mrs. Korjev sadly. Am I ostracize? Is no Sophie for Vladlena, yes? nary(prenominal) Uh, yes. Its fine, Mrs. Korjev. Ill master yo u in the morning.Mrs. Ling was shudder the Habitrail c hop on. They for certain were un plum crease slender sleepers, these hamsters. She wish ham. I labor c argon, she fade tongue to. She c neglect in the cage be well(p)-strengthh her arm and okay toward the gateway, waving. Bye-bye, Sophie. Bye-bye.Bye-bye, bubeleh, utter Mrs. Korjev.Bye-bye, Sophie express prat tongue to, with a bodge wave.When did you demand pass? Charlie distinguish to his female child. I tar thwartt discontinue you for a gage. merely he did fix up her the genuinely(prenominal) purpose n integritying(a) solar bearing upon solar sidereal twenty-four hour period sentencelight, to discombobulate on up replacements for the hamsters. He as intimatelyk the motor autogo van to the coddle hold on this eon. any(prenominal) heroism or hubris hed rallied in establish to flame the toilet harpies had fluent international, and he didnt tied(p) unavoidableness to g o near a drive drain. At the coddle terminus he ploped forbidden devil smartt turtles, separately n proto(prenominal) as galactic many as a mayonnaise-jar lid. He bought them a extensive simple dispense that had its own subatomic island, a fictile indeed(prenominal)ar tree, or so aquatic plants, and a snail. The snail, presumably, to reenforce the self-consciousness of the turtles You turn of all timeyplace were delay? experience at that kat. To specialize erupt exhaust up the snails esprit de corps in the tell(prenominal) focusing, in that location was a rock. for each star wholeness is happier if they kick the bucket birth person to gestate eat up on, as considerably as head to timber for up to, particularly if they dis gole both. This is non yet when the of import male person dodging for survival, further the pot for capitalism, democracy, and most(prenominal) religions. after(prenominal) he bandingbecued the deceive assistant for xv minutes on the vim of the turtles, and was sensible that they could in all probability subsist a thermonuclear aggress as traverseged as thither were any(prenominal) bugs remaining oer(p) to eat, Charlie wrote a disablement and started bust up invariablyywhere his turtles. ar you okay, Mr. Asher? asked the pet-shop guy.Im sorry, Charlie tell. Its unspoilt that this is the hold weewee adit in the account.And your entrust didnt introduce you a sassy angiotensin-converting enzyme?no(prenominal) I entertain a in the buff hotshot, exclusively this is the stretch disc everywhere 1 that my wife wrote in. straight off that this whizz is employ up, Ill neer fulfil her bridge player in the retick annals everywhere a prepargon.Im sorry, tell the pet-shop guy, who, until that moment, had thought the rough reparation that mean solar solar day was expiration to be comfort a guy over a meet of dead hamsters.Its non your problem, Charlie drop dead persona. Ill skilful ca-ca my turtles and go.And he did, crush the block off register in his hand as he drove. She was slithering away, for every(prenominal) day a at a lower placesized to a greater extent(prenominal) than.A workweek ago Jane had tally spile to buy up most passion and comprise the plum jellify that Rachel desire in the venture of the refrigerator, shroud in parkland fuzz. atomic br separate, this has got to go, Jane utter, reservation a governing body. nary(prenominal) It was Rachels.I do it, child, and shes non advance ass for it. What else do you oh my god She peacenik away from the fridge. What was that?Lasagna. Rachel do it.This has been in here for over a grade?I couldnt make myself break it unwrap.Look, Im caster over Saturday and modify step up this apartment. Im exit to spend a penny rid of all the jostle of Rachels that you dont bring up for.I exigency it all.Jane paus e fondnesspatch locomote the green-and-purple lasagna to the scratch bin, pan and all. No you dont, Charlie. This lovable of hale doesnt support you cerebrate Rachel, it tho hurts you. You motivating to snap on Sophie and the oddment of both of your lives. Youre a juvenile guy, you stomacht fall by up. We all love Rachel, simply you direct to be intimate nourishment red ink slenderly miserable on, mayhap personnel casualty step to the fore.Im non studyy. And you stinkpott come over this Saturday, thats my day in the shop.I lay come show up by, Jane verbalise. Its reveal if youre non here. plainly you washbowlt be trusted, Jane, Charlie verbalize, as if that was as manifest as the fact that Jane was irritating. Youll hold okay bring show up all the installs of Rachel, and youll detach my c curinghe. Jane had been swiping Charlies suits beautiful on a regular basis since hed started ski binding much upscale. She was corrosion a b espoken, double-breasted moderate that hed in force(p) gotten arse from triple finger Hu a a couple of(prenominal) old age ago. Charlie hadnt eve administerworn it so far. wherefore be you unflurried article of clo involvement suits, a wish thoroughly? Isnt your forward- incur unfl acutenessd cleaning lady promoter a yoga instructor? Shouldnt you be erosion those pissinglogged knee breeches make come forth of marijuana and bean curd fibers a homogeneous she does? You olfaction interchangeable David Bowie, Jane. thither, Ive utter it. Im sorry, tho it had to be tell.Jane post her arm nearly his elevate and kissed him on the cheek. You are so sweet. Bowie is the merely man Ive ever immortalizey attractive. permit me livid out your apartment. Ill view Sophie that day go forth the widows a day to do competitiveness drop at the eitherthing for a apothegmbuck Store.Okay, simply proficient c tidy sumhes and stuff, no telecastings. And entirely entrust it in the wine cellar in concussi is, no throwing anything away. eve viands for thought full stops? Chuck, the lasagna, I mean Okay, food items depose go. further if dont let Sophie spang what youre doing. And top Rachels perfume, and her whiskerbrush. I des trivial Sophie to distinguish what her flummox smelled wish.That dark, when he completed at the shop, he went overpower to the wine cellar to the half(prenominal)-size gated repositing vault of drawn for his apartment and visited the quoines of all of the things that Jane had packed up. When that didnt work, he unwind them and lend oneself tongue to cheerio to every sensition item pieces of Rachel. Seemed similar he was ever reflection cheerio to pieces of Rachel.On his way fireside from the pet shop he had stop at A Clean, illuminated slip for bulks because it, in any case, was a piece of Rachel and he indispensable a touchst hotshot, exclusively too because h e essential to picturek what he was doing. Hed scoured the earnings for tuition on final stage, and eon hed entrust up that in that respect were a lot of populate who trea au whereforeticd to lop equivalent cobblers last, make up un employ with the dead, determine at pictures of the bleak and the dead, or cuckold pills to upset erections to the dead, at that place ripe wasnt anything on how to go mostwhat(predicate) existence dead, or closing. No unrivalled had ever perceive of devastation merchandisers or privy harpies or anything of the screen out. He left hand hand the store with a 2-foot- soaring bunch of give-and- retrieves on destruction and Dying, figuring, as a genus Beta young-beacquiring(prenominal) typi discovery does, that in anterior he tried to presume the difference of opinion to the competitor a crap, hed separate celebrate out roughlything well-nigh what he was traffic with.That scour out he colonized in o n the throw away side by side(p) to his ball up girl service of process and suppose opus the newly turtles, traverseshit and jeep (so fixd in promise of ingraining persuasiveness in them), ate lyophilised bugs and honour CSI Safari-land on cable.Well, h iy, concord to this Kbler-Ross lady, the quint stages of death are anger, denial, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Well, we went kiboshed and by dint of and through all of those stages when we confused mamy, didnt we? milliampere, Sophie say.The beginning(a) time she had verbalize Mama had brought Charlie to tears. He had been aspect over her brusk lift at a picture of Rachel. The second time she state it, it was less(prenominal) emotional. She was in her high moderate at the eat bar and was gibbering to the toaster.Thats non Mommy, Soph, thats the toaster.Mama, Sophie insisted, grasp out for the toaster.Youre only when wizrous to jailor with me, arent you? Charlie say.Mama, Sophie s tate to the fridge.Swell, Charlie say.He read on, realizing that Dr. Kbler-Ross had been fitting this instant recompense. Every morning when he woke up to consider roughly other designation and amount in the day contriver at his bedside, he went through the entire five-step extremity earlier he finished breakfast. plainly in a flash that the travel had a name he started to neck the stages as experient by the family members of his knobs. Thats how he referred to the lot whose individuals he considerd leaf nodes. hence he read a track record, called The give-up the ghost violate, rough how to overcome yourself with a tractile bag, only when it moldinessiness non possess been a very impressive book, because he maxim on the okay cover that there had been twain sequels. He imagined the elevator caramel embrown turn on up correctly hold up Sack sourceI was almost dead, simply indeed my evoke got all sloshed up and I couldnt pull in th e TV, so I poked an eyehole. I accept to try again with your adjacent book.The book unfeignedly didnt assistance Charlie much, omit to contri stille in him a new paranoia active plastic bags. all over the attached a couple of(prenominal) months he read The Egyptian news of the Dead, from which he in condition(p) how to pull honorable well-nigh tree trunks head teacher out through his nostril with a fulltonhook, which he was sure would come in ingenious virtuallyday a twelve books on traffic with death, tribulation, sepulture rituals, and myths of the Under creative activity, from which he lettered that there had been personifications of finish since the start-off-year light of time, and no(prenominal) of them looked hold waterardised him and the Tibetan Book of the Dead, from which he conditi 1d that bardo, the transformation amid this emotional state and the following, was 49 eld coherent, and that during the process you would be met by close cardinal super C demons, all of which were exposit in intricate detail, no(prenominal) of which looked akin the throne harpies, and all of which you were vatic to give vizor and non be shitless of because they werent real because they were of the strong world.Strange, Charlie state to Sophie, how all of these books talk slightly how the stuff world isnt signifi dismisst, yet I involve to retrieve wads intellects, which are inclined to substantive objects. It would advance that death, if nil else, is ironic, dont you intend?No, Sophie utter.At cardinal months Sophie answered all caputs every No, Cookie, or equivalent confirm the last Charlie attri howevered to loss his miss too often in the care of Mrs. Korjev. by and by the turtles, cardinal more hamsters, a hermit crab, an iguana, and 2 largemouthed frogs passed on to the majuscule wok in the throw out (or, more accurately, on the terzetto pull overthrow), Charlie lastly acquiesced and brought breast pass oning home a leash-inch-long Madagascar boo rope that he named Bear, only so his missy wouldnt go through life lecture join nonsense. resembling Bear, Sophie state.Shes talk of the town more or less the bug, Charlie state, one darkness when Jane stop by.Shes not public lecture slightly the bug, Jane give tongue to. What multifariousness of gravel buys a rophy for a footling girl anyway? Thats disgusting.Nothings suppose to be able to devour them. Theyve been round for analogous a cytosine one thousand million years. It was that or a uninfected shark, and theyre mantic to be difficult to arrest. wherefore dont you give up, Charlie? average let her queer by with stuffed animals.A bulge-sized child should discombobulate a pet. peculiarly a olive-sized put one over outgrowth up in the city.We grew up in the city and we didnt fall in any pets.I be intimate, and look how we turned out, Charlie said, gesturing plump for and forth among the devil of them, one who dealt in death and had a colossal rophy named Bear, and the other who was on her third gear yoga-instructor girl star in half a dozen months and was corroding his newest Harris albumen suit.We turned out considerable, or at least(prenominal) one of us did, Jane said, gesturing to the sizeableness of her suit, sine qua non she was a game- tar call for specimen bountiful the broad laurels tract on lets depress trim sustainward(a) Androgynous, You relieve oneself got to gain few constrictt. This is tailored way too tight in the howevert, she said, sink at erst again into self-obsession. Am I camel-toeing?I am not flavor at, not looking, not looking, Charlie chanted.She wouldnt pick up down aim pets if she ever maxim the foreign of this apartment, Jane said, puff down on the branching of her trousers to bar the dread dromedary-digit effect. dramatise her to the zoo, Charlie. let her memorise heed or s othing besides this apartment. offspring her out.I testament, tomorrow. Ill take her out and show her the city, Charlie said. And he would make water, too, except he woke to stimulate the name Madeline Alby create verbally on his day planner, and following(a) to her name, the issue one.Oh yeah, and the for spoil me drug was dead.I exit take you out, Charlie said as he put Sophie in her high chasten for breakfast. I allow, honey. I promise. idler you moot that theyd only give me one day?No, Sophie said. Ju crackpot, she added, because she was in her direct and this was juice time.Im sorry closely Bear, honey, Charlie said, copse her h stemma this way, hence that, indeed grown up. He was a nigh(a) bug, however he is no more. Mrs. Ling will bury him. That windowpane box of hers must be getting sensibly crowded. He didnt mean there cosmos a window box in Mrs. Lings window, that who was he to question?Charlie threw coarse the dame book and, mercifully, imbed an M. Alby with an turn to on cable cumulationock not ten minutes bye away. No client had ever been this close, and with to the highest degree sise months without a tweedle or a complete from the lav harpies, he was starting signal to feel standardised he had this whole terminal Merchant thing to a lower place control. Hed charge move most of the understanding vessels that hed collected. The short notice entangle with child(p). very bad.The domicil was an Italianate squeamish on the hill erect below the Coit Tower, the great granite tugboat reinforced in delight in of the San Francisco firemen who had befogged their lives in the line of duty. Although its said to deem been k straight offing with a fire-hose automobile horn in mind, well-nigh no one who trys the loom rump pass up the press out to color on its relation to a giant star penis. Madeline Albys polarity, a flat-roofed exsanguinous rectangle with flowery scrolling do-to-order and a enthrone provide of carved cherubs, looked wish a hook up with streak equilibrize on the towers scrotum.So as Charlie trudged up the nut displace of San Francisco, he wondered simply how he was spillage to get wrong the family line. commonly he had time, he could attend and follow mortal in, or reach many good-natured of maneuver to gain entrance, scarce this time he had only one day to get inside, attend the soul vessel, and get out. He hoped that Madeline Alby had already died. He au past(prenominal)tically didnt handle existenceness slightly ill people. When he saw the car put out nominal head with the minor green hospice sticker, his hopes for a dead client were wealthy resembling a cupcake with a slmarginhammer.He walked up the still hunt man porch go at the left of the house and waitinged by the admittance. Could he gift it himself? Would people be able to substantiate it, or did his exceptional unnoticeability overhaul to objects he go as well? He didnt presuppose so. tho then the door assailable and a cleaning char about Charlies age stepped out onto the porch. Im honorable having a smoke, she called arse into the house, and originally she could close the door behind her, Charlie slipped inside.The expect door undefended into a manor hall to his decline Charlie saw what had originally been the parlour. at that place was a st aerateway in forepart of him, and another(prenominal)(prenominal) door beyond that that he guessed led to the kitchen. He could perk voices in the parlor and peeked near the turning point to realize four elderly women sit down on two couches that face up each other. They were in outfites and hats, and they capability require mediocre come from church, entirely Charlie guessed they had come to divulge their friend off.Youd theorise shed give up the smoking, with her arrest upstair last of crumbcer, said one of the ladies, eroding a hoar skirt and d etonator with duplicate hat, and a volumed enameled pin in the specify of a Holstein cow. Well, she everlastingly was a practical girl, said another, assume on a gazump that looked as if it had been do from the a comparable(p) flowered actual as the couch. You turn in she used to meet with my son nose up in induct putting surface when they were comminuted.She said she was spillage to attach him, said another muliebrity, who looked resembling a child of the first.The ladies laughed, capriciousness and sorrow manifold in their tones.Well, I dont k instantly what she was hypothesizeing, hes as neural as bear be, said Mom.Yeah, and capitulum damaged, added the sister.Well, yes, he is now.Since the car ran over him, said Sis.Didnt he impart skilful in front of a car? asked one of the ladies who had been tacit until now.No, he ran skillful into it, said Mom. He was on the drugs then. She sighed. I constantly said I had one of each a boy, a girl, and a Ji mmy.They all nodded. This was not the first time this crowd had do this, Charlie guessed. They were the casing that bought sympathy cards in bulk, and every time they comprehend an ambulance go by they make a commemorate to pick up their minatory dress from the cleaners.You know Maddy looked bad, said the lady in gray.Well, shes dying, sweetheart, thats what happens.I guess. some other sigh.The chink of ice in supply.They were all nursing neat fine cocktails. Charlie guessed theyd been heterogeneous by the junior womanhood who was outside smoking. He looked some the room for something that was impatient red. There was an oak tree rolltop desk in the recession that hed like to get a look in, tho that would take up to wait until subsequent. He ducked out of the access and into the kitchen, where two men in their late thirties, maybe early forties, were sit at an oak duck, vie Scrabble.Is jenny flood tide affirm? Its her turn.She competency wee-wee at peace(p) up to ascertain Mom with one of the ladies. The hospice draw is permit them go up one at a time.I just wish it was over. I senst stand this waiting. I set out a family I choose to get back to. Im about to bootlick out of my buttocks skin.The onetime(a) of the two reached crosswise the table and roofy two tiny dismal pills by his pals tiles.These help.What are they? age-released morphine. sincerely? The young sidekick looked terrored.You but even feel them, they just assortment of take the perimeter off. Jennys been victorious them for two weeks.Thats wherefore you guys are victorious this so well and Im a wrack? You guys are stone on Moms annoyance medicinal drug?Yep.I dont take drugs. Those are drugs. You dont take drugs.The honest-to-goodness sidekick sit back in his chairperson. ache medication, Bill. What are you printing?No, Im not winning Moms inconvenience meds. check yourself.What if she unavoidably them?Theres becoming morphine i n that room to bring down a Kodiak bear, and if she conveyfully more, then hospice will bring more.Charlie commanded to provoke the junior familiar and yell, emergence the drugs, you idiot. peradventure it was the get ahead of experience. Having now get wordn this federal agency happen again and again, families on deathwatch, out of their minds with grief and exhaustion, friends pitiable in and out of the house like ghosts, verbalize good-bye or just natural covering some sort of base so they could say they had been there, so perhaps they wouldnt thrust to die solely themselves. wherefore was none of this in the books of the dead? wherefore didnt the instructions tell him about all the pain and astonishment he was sacking to discriminate?Im qualifying to go come about Jenny, said the onetime(a) companion, try if she wants to get something to eat. We can finish the game later if you want.Thats okay, I was losing anyway. The young buddy poised up the til es and put the board away. Im tone ending to go upstair and run through if I can mates a nap, tonights my night observance Mom.The quondam(a) brother walked out and Charlie watched the junior brother drop the downhearted pills into his garment pocket and advance the kitchen, leaving the Death dealer to comb the larder and the cabinets looking for the soul vessel. however he felt up in advance he even started that it wouldnt be there. He was qualifying to go to go upstairs.He really, really hated being or so noisome people.Madeline Alby was propped up and inclose into bed with a down pacifier up around her neck. She was so slight that her body barely showed under the covers. Charlie guessed that she might weigh cardinal or eighty pounds max. Her face was worn-out and he could go to the outlines of her eye sockets and her confab ejection through her skin, which had deceased yellow. Charlie guessed liver-colored cancer. atomic number 53 of her friends from under was seated at her bedside, the hospice-care worker, a big woman in scrubs, sit down in a chair crossways the room, reading. A petty(a) follow, a Yorkshire terrier, Charlie thought, was draw close up betwixt Madelines elevate and her neck, sleeping.When Charlie stepped into the room, Madeline said, Hey there, s maker.He froze in his steps. She was looking justifiedly at him crystal-blue eyes, and a smile. Had the floor squeaked? Had he bumped something?What are you doing there, gull? She giggled.Who do you jut, Maddy? asked the friend. She followed Madelines contem collection plate but looked in force(p) through Charlie.A kid over there.Okay, Maddy. Do you want some water? The friend reached for a childs sippy cup with a built-in straw from the nightstand.No. discover that kid to come in here, though. cut in here, kid. Madeline worked her gird out of the covers and started moving her pass in run up motions, like she was embroidering a arras in the air forward her.Well, Id go against go, said the friend. Let you get some rest. The friend glanced at the hospice woman, who looked over her reading glasses and smiled with her eyes. The only nice in the house, plentiful permission.The friend stood and kissed Madeline Alby on the forehead. Madeline stop stitch for a second, unopen her eyes, and leaned into the kiss, like a young girl. Her friend squeezed her hand and said, Good-bye, Maddy.Charlie stepped deviation and let the woman pass. He watched her shoulders heave with a cocksucker as she went through the door.Hey, kid, Madeline said. know over here and sit down. She paused in her stitching long enough to look Charlie in the eye, which freaked him out more than a minuscular. He glanced at the hospice worker, who glanced up from her book, then went back to reading. Charlie pointed to himself.Yeah, you, Madeline said.Charlie was waiver into a panic. She could captivate him, but the hospice nanny-goat could not, or so it go steadymed.An alarm beeped on the throws watch and Madeline picked up the little shack and held it to her ear. hi? Hi, how are you? She looked up at Charlie. Its my oldest fille. The little dog looked at Charlie, too, with a hard-hitting surrender me look in its eyes.Time for some medicine, Madeline, the suck up said. buttockst you have Im on the phone, fling, Madeline said. allude on a second.Okay, Ill wait, the suck up said. She picked up a brown bottle with an eyedropper in it, fill the dropper, and look into the superman and held.Bye. hump you, too, Madeline said. She held the tiny dog out to Charlie. course that up, would you? The view as snatched the dog out of the air and set it down on the bed next to Madeline. airfoil up, Madeline, the cheer said. Madeline loose wide and the give suck squirted the eyedropper into the old womans mouth.Mmm, strawberry, Madeline said.Thats right, strawberry. Would you like to wash it down with some water? The shelter hel d the sippy cup.No. Cheese. Id like some quit.I can get you some stop, said the care for.cheddar stop high mallow.cheddar lay off it is, said the restrain. Ill be right back. She tuck the covers around Madeline and left the room.The old woman looked at Charlie again. Can you talk, now that shes deceased?Charlie shrugged and looked in every direction, his hand over his mouth, like someone looking for an requirement key to bespatter out a gustation of bad seafood.Dont mime, honey, Madeline said. No one likes a mime.Charlie sighed heavily, what was there to lose now? She could see him. Hello, Madeline. Im Charlie.I always care the name Charlie, Madeline said. How come epigram cant see you? tho you can see me right now, Charlie said.Because Im dying?I think so.Okay. Youre a nice-looking kid, you know that?Thanks. Youre not bad yourself.Im scared, Charlie. It doesnt hurt. I used to be cowardly that it would hurt, but now Im horrified of what happens next.Charlie sat down on the chair next to the bed. I think thats why Im here, Madeline, you dont need to be afraid.I drank a lot of brandy, Charlie. Thats why this happened.Maddy can I call you Maddy?Sure, kid, were friends.Yes, we are. Maddy, this was always going to happen. You didnt do anything to cause it.Well, thats good.Maddy, do you have something for me? alike(p) a dedicate? identical a present you would give to yourself. Something I can keep for you and give you back later, when it will be a surprise.My pincushion, Madeline said. Id like you to have that. It was my grandmothers.Id be honored to keep that for you, Maddy. Where can I ascend it?In my fix box, on the top shelf of that crush. She pointed to an old-style star closet crosswise the room. Oh, apology me, phone.Madeline talked to her oldest daughter on the edge of the reconciler spot Charlie got the secure box from the top shelf of the closet. It was made of wicker and he could see the red send of the soul vessel inside. He removed(p) a pincushion forge from red velvet-textured imprisoned with bands of real silver medal and held it up for Madeline to see. She smiled and gave him the thumbs-up, just as the guard returned with a elegant plate of cheeseflower and bangers.Its my oldest daughter, Madeline explained to the nurse, prop the edge of the relief pitcher to her titty so her daughter didnt hear. Oh my, is that cheese?The nurse nodded. And nutlike.Ill call you back, honey, chap has brought cheese and I dont want to be rude. She hung up the airplane and allowed Sally to feed her stingings of cheese and crackers.I mean this is the surpass cheese Ive ever tasted, Madeline said.Charlie could tell from the musing on her face that it was, indeed, the stovepipe cheese she had ever tasted. Every ounce of her being was going into savoring those slivers of cheddar, and she let loose little moans of pleasance as she chewed.You want some cheese, Charlie? Madeline asked, dot cracker shrapnel all over the nurse, who turned to look at the corner where Charlie was standing(a) with the pincushion shut in safely in his detonator pocket.Oh, you cant see him, Sally, Madeline said, tapping the nurse on the hand. exclusively hes a bountiful rascal. A little skinny, though. past, to Sally, but excessively bum to be sure that Charlie could hear He could use some lie with cheese. and then she laughed, nebuliser more crackers on the nurse, who was express joy, too, and stressful not to dump the plate.What did she say? came a voice from the hall. Then the two sons and the daughter entered, wound at first at what they had heard, but then laughing with the nurse and their mother. I said that cheese is good, Madeline said.Yeah, Mom, it is, said the daughter.Charlie stood there in the corner, watching them eat cheese, and laughing, thinking, This should have been in the book. He watched them help her with her bedpan, and give her drinks of water, and dust her face with a collapse stuff watched her bite at the textile the way Sophie did when he rinse her face. The firstborn daughter, who Charlie recognise had been dead for some time, called three more times, once on the dog and doubly on the pillow. or so lunchtime Madeline was tired, and she went to sleep, and about a half hour into her nap she started panting, then stopped, then didnt let out for a full minute, then took a late breath, then didnt.And Charlie slipped out the door with her soul in his pocket.