The Woman in Oil Fields Read Online Free

you.” She cupped herself around my ass. “There’s very little I feel excited about anymore. When I latch onto a new idea I tend to get carried away.”
    In the mornings she rose early and did fifty push-ups and fifty sit-ups. On Tuesdays at noon she had an aerobics class. In the evenings she liked to throw a softball around with me in the park. She’d developed a strong arm.
    â€œI’ll do everything,” I said in the park one afternoon, returning to my old subject. “Feeding, nurturing –”
    â€œDoesn’t track with reality, bucko,” she called back, whacking her mitt. “Babies just naturally go for the mother. We have the milk.”
    â€œIt’d be different with an adopted child. They prefer a fuller menu.”
    She fired a fastball into my mitt.
    â€œOw.”
    â€œEven an adopted child would imprint on me. I’m just not willing to do it.”
    I watched Mustangs, Impalas, and Gremlins shuttle by on the freeway down the hill from the park. On an overpass someone had painted “War Pigs in Space.” A few miles away, helicopters lowered white stretchers onto the gleaming glass towers of the medical center.
    Jean picked up the bat. “You need to decide if you’re committed to this marriage before we start talking seriously about adopting a child. Because if we do have one, then you run off with your little Leftie, that kid is your responsibility, not mine. I won’t get stuck at my age with being a single mother again – Roy’s enough.” She tried to hit me a pop fly but the ball sailed over my head. “I told you you’d get tired of me. That day on the golf course, remember? I knew then why you were coming on so strong.”
    â€œI liked you.”
    â€œIt was the novelty of seeing an old woman who could wear a pair of shorts.”
    â€œJean –”
    â€œOh, I have a very clear-eyed view of myself. I have nice legs, but I’m forty-nine years old. You can’t hang on to that beautiful young body of yours forever, you know? Golden belly, strong thighs – they’re not yours to keep. You don’t know what that means yet. Believe me, it’s a shock.”
    â€œLet’s go get some ice cream.”
    â€œWake up one morning –”
    â€œOkay? Jean?”
    She started to cry.
    â€œFor God’s sake, you’re talking to me the way you talk to Roy,” I said. “I’m just trying to make things smoother here.”
    â€œMy breasts sag, George! I have these handles on my hips! I told you that.” She threw the ball in the dirt. “Why didn’t you listen to me? Why didn’t you leave me alone?”
    ______
    Kelly exhausted and drawn. Another fire at the Casa. They’d lost the whole kitchen and one of the downstairs bathrooms.
    â€œI have to go back there,” she said.
    â€œIt’s after midnight.”
    â€œCan you stay with the girls?”
    Monica and Kate were wide awake. I made some hot chocolate.
    â€œWhere’s Mommy going?” Kate said. “She has to take care of some business.”
    â€œGeorge, remember that pony we saw at the stable? With the brown spots on his back?”
    â€œNo, honey, I wasn’t there.”
    â€œYes you were.”
    â€œYour mother took you to the stable by herself.”
    â€œNo she didn’t.”
    â€œDid so.” Monica shoved her sister.
    â€œSnotty snotty snotty.”
    â€œThat’s enough, you two.”
    Kate grabbed my hand. “Remember his bulgy eye, George? Was his eye sticky?”
    â€œI don’t know, Kate. Probably.”
    She tugged my fingers.
    â€œYes, honey, what is it?” I said.
    â€œMommy says you live with another lady.”
    â€œThat’s right.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œBecause she’s my friend.”
    â€œBetter friends than us?”
    â€œI’ve known her longer than you,” I explained.
    â€œMy robot can