Chapter 5 Fives

By 9 p.m., the porters were gone.Exhausted, Ellie and Gage both fell asleep in their new rooms.Gage slept in his crib and Ellie on a mattress surrounded by boxes and boxes of her countless cleola dolls, some intact and some broken, Others are less responsive.There were also her Sesame Street posters in boxes, boxes, picture books, clothes, God knows what else.Of course the kitten Church was with her, purring harshly as she fell asleep.The harsh purr sounded more and more like the contented purr of a big tomcat. When they started moving things in the afternoon, Rachel kept walking up and down the house with Gage in her arms, looking at the places where Louis asked the movers to put the furniture, and asked them to rearrange the unsatisfactory parts.At last the truck was unloaded, and Louis took out the check and some tips for five dollars from his breast pocket, gave them, signed the receipt, stood on the porch, and watched them go to the truck.He thought about the possibility that these people might stop in Bangor, drink some beer, and go to the dust.This is the perfect time to have some beer.It reminded him of Chad Crandall again.

Later, as Louis and Rachel sat at the kitchen table, he saw the dark spots around his wife's eyes and said, "You, go to sleep." Rachel smiled and said, "Is it a doctor's order?" "right." "Okay." She stood up and said, "I'm exhausted. Gage will probably stay awake at night. Will you come to bed too?" He hesitated and said, "I don't want to sleep yet, that old man across the street—" "It's not a street, it's a road. In the country they call it a road. If you were Chad Crandall, I think you'd say 'Le'."

"Well, the old man across from 'Le'. He invited me to have a beer. I think I should accept the invitation. I'm tired too, but too excited to sleep." Rachel smiled. "Then you'll end up hearing Norma Crandall tell you where she hurts and what kind of mattress she sleeps on." Luis laughed, thinking how ridiculous, how terrible, wives can always see what husbands are thinking.He said: "I thought, I should do him a favor. When we needed help, he came to help us." "Equal exchange?" Louis shrugged, unwilling and not sure how to tell his wife that he had fallen in love with the old man in such a short time. "How is his wife?"

Rachel said, "So gentle. Gage was sitting on her lap. I was surprised, you know, that son wasn't feeling well today, and it's usually hard for him to fall in love with a new person in the short term. She also gave Ai A doll to play with." "Is her arthritis bad?" "Very serious." "She's in a wheelchair?" "No. But she walks very slowly, and her fingers—" Rachel held up her slender fingers, curling them to mimic claws. "Anyway, Luis, don't stay too late there, I always have a creepy feeling in a strange house." Louis nodded, kissed her, and said, "This house will be familiar to you soon."