July, 1948

Ed sat in the front room with Daniel and Lilly. Henry was sitting at the kitchen table, a glass of milk growing warm in front of him. He stared out into the back yard. The noon sun was hot and the leaves on most of the flowers were wilting. The daisies and brown-eyed susans in the border around the elm tree were bent over, bowing their heads. Even the leaves on the rose bushes by the front walk look dry. Everything is thirsty.

Henry took a deep breath and tried to listen to what the adults are saying in the next room. Henry thought about Ed driving him here. "What do you like to do, Henry?" he had asked him. Henry had just stared out the open window feeling the warm breeze as he held his hand out the window. While Ed talked to him, he had pushed against the resistance of the air outside of the car on his hands. But, now he wanted to hear his words.

Finally, Henry could hear something. It was Daniel's voice rising. "No. You are not a part of this family!"

Henry could hear Lilly saying something softly. Then there was silence. Henry stood and walked into the dining room. He stood behind the wall. Slowly he lowered himself to the floor and sat down, listening.

"He can't stay with you," Lilly said, "There is no reason for it. He's our son's child. We are very capable—"

Henry watched Daniel stand and he seemed like he towered over Ed. It made Henry feel safe to see Daniel protecting him.

"All right," Ed finally said. He looked up at Daniel. "I would like to help him though."

There was silence. Lilly stood and put her arm around Daniel's shoulder. Henry could see that Daniel was still angry.

"We don't need—" Daniel started.

But, Lilly stopped him. "Let him finish."

"I know that you don't think much of me," Ed said.

"You're damned right," Daniel snapped, "why should we?"

"I want to put the house in trust for Henry. That's what I wanted all along."

Daniel let out an audible breath. He sat back down. "I think that's a good idea."

"Rose asked me to take care of it for her. That is why I am there. But, it is Henry's house."

Henry wondered why his mother wanted Ed to take the house.

"She begged me," Ed said softly.

"Well, we'll never know about that, will we?"Daniel chided.

Ed looked up at him. He stared at Daniel for a long moment. "You know that what I am saying is true. You may not like it, but you know its true." Ed leaned forward. He said gently, "Rose wouldn't have done any of this if Nick were alive. I know that, but he wasn't alive. And, I loved her very much."

"Jesus Christ" Daniel said, "How dare you?"

Lilly looked down and then exchanged a look at Daniel then at Ed. "I know its true, Danny. She wanted Ed  to have the house. She didn't just want him to take care of it, she wanted it give it to him." Then she walked over and sat near Ed. She put her hand over his."What do you want to do to help Henry?"

Ed bit his lip and sighed. "I want him to live with me, at the house."

"That's not going to happen." Daniel said, raising his voice again. "I can God-damned guarantee it." Daniel rubbed his hands together and looked angrily out of the window."What are you, crazy?"

"I know you want to do something for Rosie, but there's no need for that," Lilly said. "We don't want that to happen. Henry is our—Henry is our little boy."

Henry smiled. He wanted to stay with his grandparents.

"But,tell me something, Ed" Daniel said, "why would you want to take care of him anyway, Isn't that a...that's a—a peculiar arrangement...? What the hell does your wife think about all this?"

That was it. That was what was there suspended between the three of them.

"I don't know why I do. I just do. I loved Rose and Henry is very unhappy."

"We appreciate what you are saying, but this is not something we would even consider. You can understand how this strikes us as..."But Lilly couldn't finish.

They sat quietly for a minute. Henry waited for something to happen. He pressed down on the tufts of carpeting underneath him while he waited for the grown ups to say more. He rubbed his finger on the chord that bound the rug. For a moment, he opened his eyes and stared at the gold and brown striped wallpaper. He put his finger against one of the stripes and rubbed it up and down. He licked his finger and rubbed until the wall paper started to tear.

Henry looked into the living room and could see that Ed was still looking intently at both of them. "I would like to spend time with him then," Ed finally said. "I told him that he could help me at the art school."

Lilly sat back on the couch and smoothed the fabric of her apron. "All right," she said and Daniel looked at her curiously. "You can try to help him."

Daniel stood up and walked out of the room, towards the back of the house.

Henry hurriedly returned to his seat at the kitchen table .He poked a hole in his cookie and stared at it. He wondered what he would do with Ed. He didn't know him, but he liked the way Ed noticed him. The way he spoke to him. He wanted to look through a camera and take pictures. He wanted Ed to show him how.

Lilly and Ed walked into the room.

"Henry," she said. "Grand papa and I have been talking to Mr. O'Neil. He has offered to spend some time—He wants you to help him with his art work. Would you like to do that, son?"

Henry looked up at Ed and back down at the plate of cookies.

"No," he whispered.

Ed knelt down in front of him, I thought you wanted to help me take some pictures?"

Henry shook his head.

Lilly started to say something, "Its all right. It's a lot—"

"But why not?" Ed asked.

Henry looked up at him and shrugged his shoulders. His face seemed little now. It seemed bloated from crying all of the time. Henry looked down at his hands.

"Are you sure?" Ed asked.

Henry wanted to say yes. He wanted to learn to take pictures and spend time with this person who was a friend of his mother's. He liked the way Ed sounded. He saw that he was funny in a way. He longed to talk with him again, like he had in the garden.

"Henry, I wish you would." Ed asked again.

"Just let him be—" Daniel started.

"OK," Henry whispered. Then his lip began to tremble. "Ok, I will."

Ed smiled and put his arm around Henry. Henry leaned into Ed's embrace. His little shoulders started to shake as he let the tears fall.

THE END