down, didn't dare give voice to it, not in front of Toby.
'That's not so bad, in the leg,' Toby said, but his lower lip was
trembling.
'What about the bad guy?'
'He's dead.'
'Daddy got him?'
'Yes, he got him.'
'Good,' Toby said solemnly.
'Daddy did what was right, and now we have to do what's right too, we
have to be strong. Okay?'
'Yeah.'
He was so small. It wasn't fair to put such a weight on a boy so
small.
She said, 'Daddy needs to know we're okay, that we're strong, so he
doesn't have to worry about us and can concentrate on getting well.'
'Sure.'
'That's my boy.' She squeezed his hands. 'I'm real proud of you, do
you know that?'
Suddenly shy, he looked at the floor. 'Well ... I'm ... I'm proud of
Daddy.'
'You should be, Toby. Your dad's a hero.'
He nodded but couldn't speak. His face was screwed up as he strained
to avoid tears.
'You be good for Mae.'
'Yeah.'
'I'll be back as soon as I can.'
'When?'
'As soon as I can.'
He sprang off the chair, into her arms, so fast and with such force he
almost knocked her off the stool. She hugged him fiercely. He was
shuddering as if with fever chills, though that stage of his illness
had passed almost two days ago. Heather squeezed her eyes shut, bit
down on her tongue almost hard enough to draw blood, being strong,
being strong even if, damn it, no one should ever have to be so
strong.
'Gotta go,' she said softly.
Toby pulled back from her.
She smiled at him, smoothed his tousled hair.
He settled into the armchair and propped his legs on the stool again.
She tucked the blankets around him, then turned the sound up on the
television once more.
Elmer Fudd trying to terminate Bugs Bunny. Cwazy wabbit. Boom-boom,
bang-bang, whapitta-whapittawhap, thud, clunk, hoo-ha, around and
around in perpetual pursuit.
In the kitchen, Heather hugged Mae Hong and whispered, 'Don't let him
watch any regular channels, where he might see a news brief.'
Mae nodded. 'If he gets tired of cartoons, we'll play games.'
'Those bastards on the TV news, they always have to show you the blood,
get the ratings. I don't want him seeing his father's blood on the
ground.'
