Minding Frankie Read Online Free Page A

already.…”
    He gave her a long, level look.
    She understood.
    This woman he had never met until this morning realized, without having to be told, exactly what had happened to Charles Lynch. Something that his own wife and son hadn’t seen at all.
    ·   ·   ·
    The chicken pie that evening was a great success. Emily had made a salad as well. They talked easily, all three of them, and Emily introduced the subject of her own retirement.
    “It’s just amazing—the very thing you most dread can turn out to be a huge blessing in disguise! I never realized until it was over that I spent so much of my life on trains and crosstown buses. No wonder there were no hours left to learn the Internet and small-scale gardening.”
    Charles watched in admiration. Without ever appearing to have done so, she was making his path very smooth. He could tell Josie tomorrow, but maybe he would tell her now, this very minute.
    It was much easier than he would ever have believed possible. He explained slowly that he had been thinking for a long time about leaving the hotel. The matter had come up recently in conversation and, amazingly, it turned out that it would suit the hotel too and so the departure would be by mutual agreement. All he had to do now was make sure that he was going to get some kind of reasonable compensation.
    He said that for the whole afternoon his head had been bursting with ideas for what he would like to do.
    Josie was taken aback. She looked at Charles anxiously in case this was just a front. Perhaps he was only blustering when inside he was very upset. But inasmuch as she could see he seemed to be speaking from the heart.
    “I suppose it’s what Our Lord wants for you,” she said piously.
    “Yes, and I’m grabbing it with both hands.” Charles Lynch was indeed telling the truth. He had not felt so liberated for a long time. Since talking to Emily today at lunchtime, he had begun to feel that there was a whole world out there.
    Emily moved in and out, clearing dishes and bringing in some dessert, and from time to time she entered the conversation easily. When her uncle said he had to walk Mrs. Monty’s dog until she was released from wherever she was, Emily suggested that Charles could mind other people’s dogs as well.
    “That nice man Paddy Carroll, the butcher, has a huge dog named Dimples who needs to lose at least ten pounds,” she said enthusiastically.
    “I couldn’t ask Paddy for money,” Charles protested.
    Josie agreed with him. “You see, Emily, Paddy and Molly Carroll are neighbors. It would be odd to ask them to pay Charles to walk that big foolish dog. It would sound very grasping.”
    “I see that, of course, and you wouldn’t want to be grasping, but then again he might see a way to giving you some lamb chops or best ground beef from time to time.” Emily was a great believer in barter, and Charles seemed to think that this was completely possible.
    “But would there be a real job, Emily, you know, a
profession
, a life like Charles had in the hotel, where he was a person that mattered?” Josie asked.
    “I wouldn’t survive just with dog walking alone, but maybe I could get a job in a kennel—I’d really love that,” Charles said.
    “And if there was anything else that you had both
really
wanted to do?” Emily was gentle. “You know, I so enjoyed looking up all my roots and making a family tree. Not that I’m suggesting that to you, of course.”
    “Well, do you know what we always wanted to do?” Josie began tentatively.
    “No. What is that?” Emily was interested in everything so she was easy to talk to.
    Josie continued. “We always thought that it was a pity that St. Jarlath was never properly celebrated in this neighborhood. I mean our street is called after him, but nobody you’d meet knows a thing about him. Charles and I were thinking we might raise money to erect a statue to his memory.”
    “A statue to St. Jarlath! Imagine!” Emily was surprised.