Chapter Seven

Teddy’s obligation lounged on the sofa. He couldn’t believe he’d passed up a chance for another heart-to-heart talk with Jessie for his sister’s company, but he chided himself for thinking it. After all, if he’d been raised by Newt Smalls, he might be just as conniving and rough around the edges as she was. No, he’d be dead. One way or another, Newt would have gotten rid of him. Ella Sue had survived a weak mother and a harsh father by using her wits and being tough. He should admire that, not criticize it.

Ella Sue’s eyes brightened the second he entered the apartment. Her often sullen lips curled into a smile. She shoved herself up on her elbows. “Where we going for lunch? I get to pick the movie afterward, right?”

“Yes, your choice. I thought Subway or Panera.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Don’t know about that Panera place. Subway is okay. Even Merv the Perv’s gas station had one. About the only place to eat out in the whole town.”

Deciding she’d be better off with the familiar rather than Panera’s vast menu and great selection of baked goods, he nodded. “That’s where we’ll go then.”

He should have known she’d get the meatball sub, a bag of chips, and a cola. Ordering a carved turkey on whole wheat with a pile of veggies on top, he shared his little sack of apples with his sister. At the theater, she begged for popcorn and another soft drink. Might be worse. Same with her choice of shows. Ella Sue decided on a children’s animated feature—in other words a cartoon with dogs acting like people. Glad she hadn’t chosen anything violent, Teddy found he enjoyed laughing along with her and watching her belly shake. At one point, she put his hand on her stomach right on top of a strongly kicking foot. “I think all this laughing woke the baby.” Or maybe all the caffeine she consumed.

Regardless, they had a good afternoon. Maybe he could invite Jessie along next time. Back at his place, Ella Sue said she needed a nap and started for her room. “You make supper, okay? I cooked up a big breakfast and washed the dishes.”

She certainly had: fried eggs, grits, bacon, and fresh from scratch biscuits. Teddy added glasses of orange juice. He watched her mix her runny yolks with the grits and shovel them down, then make a biscuit sandwich with the whites and strips of bacon. Plenty of grits and biscuits leftover for tomorrow, she said. She’d add grated cheese to perk up those grits and scrambled eggs.

“Sure, I’ll get something on the table.”

“Or we could order pizza.” So much hope in her voice.

“No, I’ll cook. You rest.”

His easy thirty-minute or less chili coming right up. He took a pound of hamburger and an onion from the fridge, nuked the meat with salt and pepper while he chopped half an onion. When the microwave dinged, he drained the fat from the hamburger and put in the onions for a couple more minutes. Opening a can of tomato soup and another of kidney beans, he dumped the contents into the bowl when the meat finished cooking. Added a tablespoon of chili powder and stirred it all together. Heated the mixture again and let it sit in the refrigerator until suppertime. He’d shake some salad mix into bowls and offer crackers with the meal. Done.

Now to get back to work on his notes on the major UL players, going beyond the publicity releases. He planned to interview them all eventually, usually catching them by phone in the evening after practice. X-avier owned a pit bull named Rage, not because of its temperament, but to honor the college team he played for, the Ragin’ Cajuns. Another guy had eight siblings and was the first of his family to go beyond high school. Doing his own research, that made his commentary special. Anyone could read the statistics. He portrayed each player as an individual. They liked that.

Teddy went in search of his phone to make sure he’d charged it. Lately, he’d been mislaying it frequently. As he wheeled past Ella Sue’s room, he heard her speaking softly, maybe talking to the baby. Sweet. He didn’t interrupt. Now where had he put the damned phone?

It turned up, low on power, after dinner hiding in the sofa cushions. He plugged it in to do his interviews in his bedroom while Ella Sue watched The Bachelor on the TV. She’d preferred biscuits to crackers with her chili and now balanced a bowl of ice cream on her belly. Having grown up in a noisy household with so many brothers and sisters, he kind of liked having another person in the apartment with him. Too bad it wasn’t Jessie Minvielle.

Thursday, he walked Ella Sue to the park and gave her a bag of bread crusts to feed the ducks from the small bridge over the pond. From there, he steered her across campus, a barge to his wheelchair tugboat, and bought their lunch of a fried shrimp po-boy at the Olde Tyme Grocery, a modest frame building with bold red trim and a snowball stand in the rear. One large sandwich served to feed the two of them, though Ella Sue scarfed up any stray shrimp that dropped from his half of the loaf.

Back at the apartment, she claimed, “You run me nearly to death. Easy for you in that wheelchair to just roll along.”

Not actually, but he didn’t argue. His sister settled in for an afternoon nap, again talking to her baby for a while. Peace reigned long enough for him to polish a couple of articles he hoped to sell and work on his notes for the UL opener.

Unfortunately, Ella Sue woke peevish. “What’s for dinner?”

“Spaghetti and meat lumps with a salad. I cook the hamburger in the microwave, chunk it up, and pour the jar of tomato sauce over the top. Basic but filling.”

“Why we always gotta have salad?”

“Good for all of us.” Teddy pointed at her belly, which appeared to ripple in agreement.

“What are we gonna do tomorrow? This waiting to hatch goes really slow. Maybe we could visit the ranch?” Ella Sue lowered herself onto the sofa and picked a tabloid off the stack by her side.

“No one home right now. The youngest started private school this week, my mom is working again, and Dad is out of town. Besides, I have PT in the morning.” Funny how he looked forward to that task since Jessie had become so friendly. He’d make plenty of spaghetti, enough for lunch tomorrow to feed Ella Sue. Then, he could spend some extra time at the juice bar.

“Take me with you to the rehab place. It’s soooo boring here. I could watch you exercise.”

“No, you can’t. Family and drivers have to stay in the waiting room.”

“They have a bigger TV with lots of channels in the lobby?” Ella Sue gestured toward his modest and obviously inadequate set.

“No, there’s one in the juice bar, but I think you have to ask the guy behind the counter to change channels. They offer free coffee in the waiting room.”

“Be better than sitting here alone. You know this place ain’t much better than a doublewide trailer, and some of those are nicer.”

“Maybe, but this apartment represents independence—something you need to work on after the baby comes.”

Ella Sue’s face went from sullen to sour lemon. “You sayin’ I’m lazy? You try hauling this belly around all day. It’s work.”

“I guess it is. Okay, you can come with me and hang out in the juice bar until I’m done. Maybe you’ll find someone to talk to while I work out.”

“That’d be good.”

“Be ready by eight-thirty. I give a friend a ride.”

“Sure, anything to get out of these walls.”

Her eyes strayed down to the half-naked guy on the front of one of the magazines. He hoped it wasn’t his brother, Mack, this time. She talked like his place was a maximum-security prison, not seeing that here he could take care of himself, a burden to no one, and make his way in the world. Maybe he could teach her that, maybe not.