The Eagle has landed in his bathroom. Some high-speed electronic swing set to lug him in and out of the tub. Aura ordered it, insurance paid for it, and when that truck delivered the device earlier today Cecil expected they’d leave a rocket scientist behind and launch the thing into orbit.
Cecil rolls round the bathroom, a safe distance from the apparatus.
“This the right appliance?”
“It is,” Aura confirms.
“That one you ordered?”
“The same one.”
“Looks like Sputnik to me.”
“Well tomorrow, after the manufacturer has finished his installation, it’s going to make your life a whole lot easier.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Cecil finds and lights a Marlboro and with his stubby pencil makes a notation inside the flip-top lid of the cardboard pack.
“We agreed you’d quit.”
“I am quitting.”
“This is quitting.”
“It’s a process.”
Aura crosses her arms and adopts an accusatory, hip-cocked stance.
Cecil drags deep and damn does this feel right, indulging his only livelong vice.
“Nipping a pack-a-day habit in the bud takes some noodling,” he says. “So I made a plan.”
“Well why don’t you explain it to me, Mr. Porter.”
“Don’t get sore now, missy. I’m quitting gradual. Every week I smoke one less per day, down from a pack. So after twenty weeks I’ll of kicked it.”
He shows her the scribbled sums inside the pack lid.
“I’m keeping count. That’s five so far today. Means I get eight more before lights out.”
“You’ve been tapering for seven weeks now?”
“Yes ma’am I have.”
“You want to know the truth?”
“I expect not.”
“I never imagined you’d live up to your end of the bet.”
“A man’s got nothing without his word.”
Aura straightens her spine, a smile brightening her face.
“Good for you, Cecil.”
“I’m full of surprises.”
“I guess you are.”
“Listen, I was thinking . . .” Cecil starts.
“Don’t go hurting yourself again.”
“. . . my brother loaned me his tickets to that Kansas match, in February. It’s a home game. What do you think about going and see Big Country with me?”
“What about Rutherford?”
“I expect Randy will be there too.”
“You’re feeling strong enough for a road trip?”
“Yes ma’am I am.”
“Looks like my work here is almost done.”
As he spins his rig and rolls smoking into the kitchen Cecil can feel the color coming into his face.
“It’s a date,” she calls after him.
“Let’s don’t get ahead of ourselves.”