Chapter 11 eleven

At breakfast the next day, Allie saw the new memo on her notepad and asked Louis what it meant. Lewis said: "Church is going to have a minor operation and maybe he will spend the night in the veterinarian's clinic. When he comes back, he will be willing to stay in our yard and not like to run around so much. It's gone." "You don't want to run on the road, do you?" Ellie asked. "That's right," Louis said, thinking: My daughter isn't slow at all, even though she's only five years old. "Yeah! That's great!" Allie said.They never mentioned it again.Louis was a little surprised at the ease with which his daughter had accepted the arrangement, which he had expected would cause her to throw a tantrum and make a scene by keeping Church away for the night.Later he realized that since his daughter went to the pet cemetery, she must have worried a lot about Church, as his wife said.

Rachel was feeding her son eggs, and after hearing the conversation between the father and daughter, she gave Louis a grateful and approving look.Louis felt a stone drop from his heart.His wife's demeanor told him that the cold war between them had passed, and the two had made up.Louis wished it was forever. Later, after Ellie was picked up by the school's rhubarb bus, Rachel walked up to Louis, hugged him, kissed him tenderly and said, "Louis, it was so kind of you to do that. Forgive me, I was like a witch yesterday." Yes." Louis kissed his wife back, but felt a little uncomfortable.Because he remembered his wife's "forgive me, I'm acting like a witch," which wasn't a cliché, but it was what Rachel usually said when she lost her temper.Louis has heard it several times.

Then Gage staggered to the door, looked out at the empty road through the lowest pane of the door, and said, casually tugging at the dangling diaper, "Car, Elle—car." "My son is growing up so fast," Lewis said. Rachel nodded and said, "No, it's growing so fast that I can barely handle him." "When he grows out of diapers, he won't grow so fast." Rachel laughed, and now they were completely on good terms.The wife stepped back, adjusted Louis' tie a little, and looked her husband up and down. Louis asked, "Am I qualified for this?"

"You look good." "Yeah, I know. But, do I look like a heart surgeon? Someone making $200,000 a year?" "No, it's still old Louis," said Rachel, giggling. "Like a wag animal." Louis glanced at his watch and said, "The woggle animal has to put on his boogie shoes and go." Rachel asked, "Are you nervous?" "Yeah, sort of." "Take it easy. Think, $67,000 a year for bandages for hurt students, prescriptions for flu students or drunk students, pills for girls—" "Don't forget the lice cream," Louis said with a smile.He remembered Miss Charlton, the head nurse, who had said with a sarcasm: "The off-campus apartments in this area are dirty." That's why when he first came to the school, he found that the school hospital had a lot of Quayle's lice cream. up.

"Good luck today," Rachel said, kissing Louis again, a little reluctantly.But after she left Louis, she became a little stern and sarcastic again. "For heaven's sake, you must remember that you are a hospital administrator, not some intern or two-year resident!" "Yes, doctor," Louis said modestly, and they both laughed again.For a moment Louis wanted to ask his wife: Honey, is it Zelda who upset you?Does she give you the creeps?Is she bringing you down?How did she die?But Louis didn't ask, and he couldn't ask now.As a doctor he knows many things, and although death is as natural as life, it is also important not to uncover the scars that are about to heal.So instead of asking his wife these questions, Louis kissed her again and left.

It's a great start and a great day.Driving in a cloudless blue sky in late summer and a pleasant 72 degrees Fahrenheit, Louis thought to himself that he hadn't seen such a beautiful view of trees, but he could wait until later.He drove to the school, thinking that Rachel would call the vet this morning to make an appointment, and then they'd have the cat neutered, and then all pet cemeteries and fear of death would be forgotten.There was no need to think about death on such a beautiful September morning.Louis thought, turned on the radio, tuned to Ramones's "Swing and Swing to the Beach," turned up the volume, and sang along, not very well, but with energy and joy.