The plant - By Stephen King Page 0,61

before, had never imagined might come from her. "You, the only one of us not married and with children. The only one with the luxury of seeing family through this... this... I don't know..."

"This golden haze of memory," Floyd suggested. He had a little silver bottle in his pants pocket. He drew it out then and had himself a nip.

Maddy nodded. "You don't have the slightest idea of what we need, do you? Of where we are. Floyd and Sophie have got kids getting ready to go to college. Evvie's have gone through, and she's got the unpaid bills to prove it. Mine are coming along. Only you - "

"Why not ask Floyd to help you?" I asked her. "Mama wrote me a letter and said he cleared a quarter of a million last year. Don't you see... don't any of you see what this is? This is robbing pennies off a dead woman's eyes! She - "

Floyd stepped up. His eyes were deadly flat. He held up a clenched fist. "You say another word like that, Riddie, and I'm going to break your nose."

There was a moment of tense silence, and then from down below Aunt Olympia called up, her voice high and jolly and nervous. "Boys and girls? Everything all right up there?"

"Fine, Aunt Olly," Evelyn called back. Her voice was light and carefree; her eyes, which never left mine, were murderous. "Talking over the old times. We'll be down in a wink. Y'all stay close, all right?"

"You're sure everything is okay?"

And I, God help me, felt an insane urge to scream: No! It's not okay! Get up here! You and Uncle Michael both get up here! Get up here and rescue me! Save me from the pecking of the carrion birds!

But I kept my mouth shut, and Evvie shut the door.

Sophie said, "Mama wrote you all the time, we knew that, Rid. You were always her favorite, she spoiled you rotten, especially after Pop died and there was no more holding her back. You got plenty of how she saw it."

"That's not true," I said.

"But it is," Maddy said. "And do you know what? The way Mama saw things was pretty selective. She told you about all the money Floyd made last year, I've no doubt of it, but I doubt if she told you about how Floyd's partner stole everything he could get his hands on. Hi-ho, it's Oren Anderson, off to the Bahamas with his chippy of the month."

I felt as if I'd been sucker-punched. I looked at Floyd. "Is that true?"

Floyd took another little nip at the silver flask that had been Pop's before it was his and grinned at me. It was a ghastly grin. His eyes were redder than ever and there was spit on his lips. He looked like a man at the end of a month-long binge. Or at the beginning of one.

"True as can be, little brother," he said. "I was rooked like an amateur. I think I'm going to be able to sail through without getting in the papers, but it's still not a sure thing. I came to her for help and she told me how she was broke. Never got over putting you through Cornell is what she said. How broke does that on the bed look to you, little brother? Eight thousand in cash... at least... and twice that in jewelry. Thirty thousand in stocks, maybe. And she wanted to give it to the library." A glare of contempt closed his face like a cramp. "Jesus please us."

I looked to Evvie. "Your husband Jack... the construction business..."

"Jack's had a hard two years," she said. "He's in trouble. Every bank within fifty miles is carrying his paper. How much he owes is all that's propping him up." She laughed, but her eyes were frightened. "Just something else you didn't know. Sophie's Randall is a little better off - "

"We keep even, but get ahead?" Sophie also laughed. "Not likely. Floyd helped all of us along when he could, but since Oren double-crossed him..."

"That snake," Maddy said. "That fucking snake."

I turned to Floyd, and nodded at the little flask. "Maybe you've been taking a little too much of that. Maybe that's why you didn't mind your business a little better when you had a little more business to mind."

Floyd's fist came slowly up again. This time I stuck out my chin. You get to a point when you just don't care anymore. I know that now.

"Go ahead,