of her students is pitiful. Faye has always had to supply a few each year with paper and pencils, but now it’s toothbrushes, deodorant, sometimes money for the cafeteria.”
“That’s messed up,” Davey said.
“Yes, it is,” George said.
That bit of encouragement was all he needed to keep on.
“Even yesterday, Faye and I were at the grocery store checkout and this woman about our age zipped the bacon past the scanner, and Faye saw that it cost five dollars,” he said. “So she said to the woman, ‘I thought that was on sale.’ The woman seemed offended. She said, ‘It is on sale. That’s a good price.’ When we were walking out of there, what did you say to me, Faye?”
Faye shook her head. “I can’t remember.”
“You said, ‘That used to be a job for teenagers. When did grown women start doing it? And what jobs do teenagers have now?’ ”
“Yeah,” Davey said, nodding. “Hell yeah.”
Elisabeth wondered if he was stoned.
“What does that have to do with guns?” Charlotte said.
“It has to do with the state this country is in,” George said. “Those are two small examples of hundreds. Thousands. I look through the papers every day and cut out articles about how the average American is getting screwed. You look at them side by side, you start to see a pattern. This morning even, there’s a story about people going bankrupt from medical bills on the front page of the Gazette. On Christmas Day. There’s no end to it.”
Elisabeth’s father cocked his head to the side. She could tell he was thinking it over. She appreciated this, as she knew George looked up to him, in a way. Despite his many flaws, her father was successful, well educated, worldly.
“You sound a little nuts, George,” he said at last.
“Dad!” Elisabeth said.
“Michael!” said both her mother and Gloria.
Poor George looked like he’d been hit from behind. Elisabeth sent him an apologetic smile. For years now, George had been the closest thing she had to a father figure. How dare her father treat him like that?
She thought of how George prominently displayed her two books on the coffee table in his living room, and how, after reading each of them, he had taken the time to write her a long letter detailing his favorite parts. Her father hadn’t finished either book and didn’t even feel bad about it, just said, You know me, I like a thick presidential biography and that’s about it.
“George, have you tried the potatoes?” Gloria said. She lifted the serving dish and reached across the table to pass it to him.
Elisabeth watched her father watching Gloria.
The woman wore slacks and a silvery old-lady blouse, but you’d think she was Claudia Schiffer in a negligee the way he stared.
“Gloria is so good at taking care of a man,” he said. “On our second date, I went to her place for dinner. She cooked. I’d thrown out my neck doing something or other. She gave me a two-hour massage. Best I’ve ever had.”
Why he would choose this moment to say those words was anyone’s guess.
“What did you do on your first date?” Davey asked. A question nobody else cared to hear the answer to.
Her father and Gloria exchanged a revolting look.
“Dinner and dancing,” he said. “You know, Davey, women like to be shown a great time. If you do that for them, they’ll make you happy. It’s as simple as that.”
As if anything could be simple when you were telling the story of your new great love in front of the woman who, until recently, had been your wife for forty years.
“Young men today have no clue what they’re doing,” he went on. “They send a girl a text message. They can’t fathom talking to her and asking her out on a date. You should try it, Davey. You’ll have them lining up at the door. Women are starved for romance.”
“He’s right,” Gloria said. “Elisabeth, hon, do you have any butter for these rolls?”
“Oh shoot, I forgot to put it out,” Andrew said, rising.
Gloria stood up. “Keep your seat. I’ll grab it.”
She left the room. Elisabeth’s father followed.
“Mom, are you okay?” Charlotte said.
Their mother nodded. “I could use more wine.”
“I’ll get it,” Elisabeth said.
“Bring the bottle, will you?” her mother said.
Elisabeth took her mother’s empty glass into the kitchen.
Her father and Gloria were locked in an embrace by the sink. She covered her eyes.
“Oops. Caught in the act.” Gloria giggled.
“Dad,” Elisabeth said. “Why are you giving Charlotte’s boyfriend dating advice?”
“That guy?”