ever hauling unsecured loads of trash that blow off and
litter our roadsides. Was this another example?
I switched my car radio to a local news station, but
heard nothing on this latest development.
After picking up Bandit’s heartworm pills at the vet’s,
I swung by Kate and Rob’s to collect Cal. The new baby
was fussing and Kate had dark circles under her eyes.
“He got me up four times last night,” she said, jig-
gling little R.W. on her shoulder with soothing pats as
Cal went upstairs with Mary Pat to retrieve his back-
pack. Through the archway to the den, I saw young
Jake watch them go, then he settled back on the couch
and turned his eyes to the video playing on the TV.
“I thought he was sleeping six hours at a stretch
now.”
“So did I,” she said wearily. “I was wrong.”
A middle-aged Hispanic woman came down the hall.
Kate’s cleaning woman, Maria, whose last name I can
never remember. She wore a heavy winter coat and drew
on a pair of thick knitted gloves. She gave me a shy smile
of greeting and said to Kate, “I go now,
“Thanks, Maria. See you on Monday?”
“Monday,
She let herself out the kitchen door and Kate said, “I
don’t know how I’d manage without her.”
She transferred the fretful baby to her other shoulder.
“Before this one, I only needed her every other week
and still put in a twenty-five-hour week in my studio.”
Kate was a freelance fabric designer and had remodeled
the farm’s old packhouse into a modern studio. “Now
79
MARGARET MARON
she’s here twice a week and I still haven’t done a lick of
drawing since R.W. was born.”
“Slacker,” I said.
She gave me a wan smile.
“Kate, he’s not even two months old. Give yourself a
break. Are you sure it’s not too much to have Cal here
every afternoon?”
“He’s no real extra trouble.”
“But?” I asked, hearing something in her voice.
“It’s only the usual bickering,” she sighed. “The
four-year age difference. And it’s probably Mary Pat’s
fault more than Cal’s. She’s just not as patient with Jake
now that she has Cal to play with. He’s so happy when
they get home from school and it really hurts his feel-
ings when they exclude him. I had to give her a time-
out this afternoon and we’re going to have a serious
sit-down tonight after Jake goes to bed, so maybe you
