Free Fly the Rain by Robert Burton Robinson

get mixed
up with this do-gooder?”
    “ Actually,” she looked at
Greg, “this do-gooder saved my life.”
    “ Really? Y’all sit down and
tell us all about it,” said Norma.
    “ How’s your Uncle Edsel?”
said Ralph.
    Greg and Cynthia looked at each other. Greg
said, “How did you—“
    “— how did I know you went by
to see him? Your wife’s got grease on her hand.”
    “ Where?” Cynthia looked for
it.
    “ On the edge of your little
finger,” said Ralph.
    “ Let me get you a paper
towel,” said Norma, rushing into the kitchen.
    “ So, how is the old
nutcase?” Greg’s dad liked referring to Edsel as ‘old,’ even though
Ed was twenty-five years younger than him. Ralph had never shown
his brother-in-law any respect. At the time Ralph married Barbara
Torkman, her kid brother was in the first grade. Ralph was even
more cruel than Edsel’s mean classmates—endlessly picking on the
stuttering child.
    “ He’s doing fine,” said
Greg. “But he’s not a nutcase.”
    “ Sure he is,” said
Ralph.
    “ Well, it seems like he’s
doing pretty well. He’s got plenty of business from what I
understand. He must be doing something right.”
    “ Yeah. You know why he’s got
all that business? He’s still charging 1980’s prices. That’s why
people take their cars to him—he’s cheap. Don’t ask me how he’s
paying the bills.”
    Norma handed Cynthia a paper towel, and
Cynthia wiped the grease off her hand.
    “ I tried to help him, you
know,” said Ralph. “He could have come to work with me at the
shipyard. He would have made a good living there. At least you gave it a
try.”
    Cynthia looked at Greg.
    “ He couldn’t hack it
though,” said Ralph. “Greg was just too soft to do manual
labor.”
    “ I was eighteen years old,”
said Greg. “And that woman they had me working with had the
trashiest mouth I’ve ever heard. I just couldn’t take
that.”
    Ralph chuckled. “Yeah, Connie was a little
rough around the edges alright. But she was a woman. All you would
have had to do was cuss her out a couple of times. Then she would
showed you some respect.”
    “ I don’t do that,” said
Greg.
    “ Of course you don’t,” said
Ralph. “You wouldn’t cuss if your life depended on it. Because that
would be wrong, wouldn’t it? And you never do anything wrong.
You’re perfect.”
    “ I didn’t say
that.”
    “ You didn’t have to. It’s
written all over your holier-than-thou face.”
    Norma jumped in. “Okay, boys, that’s
enough.”
    “ We need to go,” said Greg,
rising to his feet.
    Cynthia stood up.
    “ We’ll see you tomorrow at
the party,” said Greg, as he hurried out the door with
Cynthia.
    Greg dreaded having to attend his dad’s
stupid birthday party tomorrow.
    But for now, he would put his dad out of his
mind. He and Cynthia were headed for their hotel room. And tonight,
there would be no midnight interruptions from his
mother-in-law.

    Chapter 12

    “ Join me for
dinner?”
    “ Sure.” Angie spun around,
expecting to see Edsel in his overalls. But tonight, he was wearing
slacks and a polo shirt—which, for Edsel, was formal
attire.
    “ What’s the matter? You’re
looking at me funny.”
    “ Well, you’re just
so…dressed up. What’s the occasion?”
    “ It’s Saturday night, and
I’m having dinner with Miss Angie.”
    She hadn’t been a ‘miss’ since she was in
her twenties, but she thought it was sweet when Edsel called her
that. “Okay.” But she knew there must be more to it. Edsel had
never dressed up like this to come over for dinner. He usually just
washed up a little, and stayed in his work clothes.
    “ This time you won’t have to
wipe down the chair after I leave.”
    “ I don’t do
that.”
    “ Yes, you do. I saw you the
other night. And I’m sorry. I shouldn’t come in here when I’m all
greasy.”
    “ It’s okay. I don’t
mind.”
    “ Well, are you
hungry?”
    “ I’m starving. And my feet
are killing me.”
    “