“Keeps the bugs away,” Buzz Lyndon said.
Vicki stood up. “I have to . . .” She touched the top of Blaine’s head. “Josh? Wil you r——ead?”
Blaine, who was almost asleep on his grandmother’s lap, revived enough to say, “Stories! Please, Josh?”
Melanie squeezed his knee. Josh stood up. “Ohhhh-kay,” he said.
He lay down with Blaine on the mattress on the floor of Ted and Vicki’s bedroom. Porter was already fast asleep, sucking away on his pacifier.
Vicki sat on the bed. She handed Josh
“It’s sad,” she said.
“Mom cries whenever she reads it,” Blaine said.
“Does she, now?” Josh said. He winked at Vicki, then cleared his throat and started to read.
The story was about a donkey named Sylvester who finds a shiny red pebble that turns out to have magic powers. When Sylvester wishes for rain, it rains; when Sylvester wishes for the rain to stop, it stops. One day, when Sylvester is out, he sees a hungry lion approaching, and in a moment of panic, he wishes he were a rock. Sylvester turns into a rock and he is saved from the lion—but because Sylvester drops the magic pebble, he has no way to turn himself back into a donkey. He is stuck being a rock, no matter how hard he wishes otherwise. When Sylvester does not return home, his parents grow sick with worry. After weeks of searching, they come to the conclusion that Sylvester is dead. They are nearly destroyed by the loss of their only child.
In the springtime, however, Sylvester’s parents venture out for a picnic and they come across the rock that is Sylvester, and they use him as a table. Then Sylvester’s father spies the magic pebble in the grass—and, knowing it is an object his son would have loved, he picks it up and places it on the rock.
Sylvester can sense his parents’ presence; he can hear them talking. No sooner does he think, “I wish I were myself again, I wish I were my real self again,” than this becomes true—he turns back into a donkey, right before his parents’ eyes. And—oh!—what happiness!
In the end, Sylvester and his parents return home and put the marble in an iron safe.
“‘Some day they might want to use it,’” Josh read, “‘but real y, for now, what more could they wish for? They had al that they wanted.’”
“They had al that they wanted,” Blaine repeated. “Because they’re together again.”
Vicki nodded. Her mouth was a line.
Josh closed the book. He found it difficult to speak. It would be impossible to say good-bye to the boys right now, and so he kissed first Porter, and then Blaine, on the top of the head.
“Yes,” he said.
When Josh and Vicki emerged from the bedroom, the dinner party was breaking up. El en Lyndon was finishing the dishes, Brenda and Walsh had left for a walk up to the lighthouse, Ted and Buzz Lyndon were standing on the back deck, blowing smoke into the night air. Josh had wondered al through dinner if he would have the guts to stay here with Melanie tonight, and now he saw the answer was no. There was an unspoken understanding about him and Melanie, but it had to remain unspoken; there was no point lifting the veil now, on the final day. Josh said his good-byes to the elder Lyndons and gave Ted his best interview handshake.
Ted said, “Oh, wait, I have something for you,” and pul ed a check out of his wal et.
“Thanks,” Josh said. He was embarrassed by the money; he stuffed the check into the pocket of his suit pants, though he couldn’t help noticing, in a quick glance, that the check had one more zero on it than usual.
By the time Ted and Josh made it inside, the elder Lyndons had left for the Wade Cottages, down the street, where they were staying. So it was just Ted, Vicki, Josh and—pouring herself a glass of water at the kitchen sink —Melanie.
Ted said, “I’m going to bed. Good night, al .”
Vicki said, “Me, too. Tired.” She looked at Josh, and her eyes fil ed with tears. “I can’t say good——bye to you.”
There was a lump in his throat and it ached. “Oh, Boss,” he said.
She hugged him tight. “Josh,” she said. “Th——ank you.”
“Stop it. You don’t have to thank me.”
“I’m grateful.”
“I’m grateful, too,” he said. He paused, thinking of his father’s words:
Vicki wiped her eyes. They separated.
“Get better,” Josh said.
“Okay,” she said.
“I mean it, Boss.”
“I know,” she said. “I know you do.”
Vicki disappeared into the bedroom, and Josh turned around. Melanie was standing there, sniffling.
“That was beautiful,” she said. “But you know me these days, reading the phone book makes me cry.”
Josh unrol ed the sleeve of his white dress shirt and used it to wipe the tears from Melanie’s face. It had been a very, very long day, perhaps the longest day of his life, but even so, he wasn’t ready for it to end.
