for ruining his chances at becoming a superstar?”
“Van Boeck would be delusional,” Renie said. “If
SUTURE SELF
113
he’d had any real talent, he could have gone to another
team. I don’t recall an era when any franchise had a
plethora of outstanding quarterbacks.”
“Maybe not,” Judith admitted. “Still . . .”
“Besides,” Renie noted, “Van Boeck
the medical world.”
“It’s not the same,” Judith pointed out. “Doctors
don’t do TV ads for Nike scrubs. Furthermore,” she
continued, sitting up as straight as she could manage,
“all your harangues kept us from finding out if Jim
Randall saw who was driving the car that hit Addison
Kirby.”
“Darn. Sorry.” At last Renie looked genuinely contrite.
Judith smiled faintly. “That’s okay. I don’t think Jim
Randall can see much of anything with those Cokebottle glasses. Besides, it all happened so fast.”
Dinner arrived, brought by the silent orderly. Judith
was disappointed; she’d hoped that the garrulous Maya
would be on duty. After the orderly had left the trays,
the cousins dared to take a peek.
“Some kind of meat,” Renie said.
“Some kind of greens,” Judith said.
“Perhaps a potato on the side?” Renie suggested.
“I don’t think so,” Judith replied. “It might be a very
pale squash.”
“Turnip—or maybe parsnip?” Renie ventured as she
picked up the phone and punched in a single digit. “Operator, can you connect me with Delphi Pizza?” She
waited, meanwhile grinning at Judith. “We don’t need
this crap. We can get real food. Hello? This is Mrs. Jones
at Good Cheer Hospital. I’d like to place an order for delivery. One extra-large pizza with . . . what? The snow?
No, I haven’t looked out lately. Really? Damn. But
thanks anyway,” she added hastily.
114
Mary Daheim
“What’s wrong?” Judith asked.
Renie was getting out of bed and going to the window. “Good grief, it’s really coming down. The driveway into the parking lot is covered. Oh—here comes
a car now. Slowly. It looks like the driver’s having
trouble. I guess the children to whom I gave life have
another excuse for not visiting their ailing mother.”
“You were expecting them?” Judith asked.
“Sort of,” Renie replied, still watching the snow. “So
if we can’t get a Delphi pizza delivered, will anybody
else brave the storm?”
Judith poked at her meal with her fork. “I’m not
really that hungry. And you have your Falstaff ’s stash
