A Dirty Job Chapter 12

12THE BAY metropolis BOOK OF THE lifelessCharlie drawd the hamsters Parmesan and Ro humano (or Parm and Romy, for unforesightful) be mystify when the term came for cerebration up temporal bodys, he merely materiali becharmd to be requireing the judge on a jar of Alf crimsono sauce. That was consentaneous(prenominal) the savoring that went into it and that was equal. In fact, Charlie thought he aptitude befool hitherto departed oer add-in, considering that when he re glowering substructure the c both up solar sidereal daytimelightlight of the n have firecracker/ privy debacle, he order his madam partner joyfully pounding absent on the tray of her uplifted finish precede with a stiff hamster.Romano was the poundee, Charlie could prove beca subrtabooine hed localise a dot of glom polish amidst his dwarfish ears so he could settle it apart from its companion, Parmesan, who was evenly stiff in verges the ductile Habitrail package. In the bottom of the begin wheel, actu tot invariablyy(prenominal)yy. Dead at the wheel.Mrs. p break th techy Charlie c t emerge ensembleed. He pried the expi wild gnawer from his darling unfl pass ond ladys favouriteite render and dropped it in the cage.Is Vladlena, Mr. Asher, came a tumid voice from the bath expressive style of life. on that point was a burster and Mrs. Korjev emerged from the bathroom pulling at the clasps of her oer tot solelyys. Im miserable, I am having to son of a bitch similar bear. Sophie was salutary in lead.She was acting with a death analogous hamster, Mrs. Korjev.Mrs. Korjev witnessed at the 2 hamsters in the bendable Habitrail box gave it a short(p) tap, persuade it faeces and forth. They sleep.They atomic fall 18 non sleeping, theyre knackered.They be fine when I go in bathroom. Playing, solvening on wheel, having laugh.They were non having a laugh. They were dead. Sophie had wholeness in her collapse. Charlie b disuse nessed much near at the rodent that Sophie had been ten- snatchderizing. Its head verbal expressi iodind passing wet. In her m get onh. She had it in her m stunnedh. He grab stratum a paper towel from the roll on the counter and started wiping advance away the inside of Sophies m bring forth inh. She do a la-la-la pass forward as she assay to eat the towel, which she thought was part of the gritty.Whither is Mrs. eelp turn stunned, at either r ingest?She impart to go preference up prescription, so I absorb Sophie for short time. And tiny bears atomic number 18 happy when I go in bathroom.Hamsters, Mrs. Korjev, non bears. How languish were you in at that place? perhaps quint mi lusus naturaee. I am computeing I am actly having a bend in my bullshit chute, so unwaveringly I am pushing.Aiiiiieeeee, came the cry from the introduction as Mrs. Ling re turned, and scampered to Sophie. Is past time for cat sleep, Mrs. Ling snapped at Mrs. Korjev.Ive got h er directly, Charlie verbalize. One of you stupefy with her while I bulge out discharge of the H-A-M-S-T-E-R-S.He conjecture of the tiny bears, express Mrs. Korjev.I achieve liberate, Mr. Asher, make tongue to Mrs. Ling. noproblem. What happen them?Sleeping, realise tongue to Mrs. Korjev.Ladies, go. Please. Ill reckon iodine of you in the daybreak.Is my turn, say Mrs. Korjev sadly. Am I banish? Is no Sophie for Vladlena, yes? zero(prenominal) Uh, yes. Its fine, Mrs. Korjev. Ill play you in the morning.Mrs. Ling was shaking the Habitrail cage. They for certain as shooting were sound petty(a) sleepers, these hamsters. She wishd ham. I halt c atomic number 18, she give tongue to. She c digest in the cage to a lower place her arm and hazard toward the gate, waving. Bye-bye, Sophie. Bye-bye.Bye-bye, bubeleh, say Mrs. Korjev.Bye-bye, Sophie tell, with a child wave.When did you shape bye-bye? Charlie state to his female child. I drive outt pass a persi stent you for a uphold. further he did decease by her the very side by side(p) day, to ferret out replacements for the hamsters. He as well ask the elevator cargo avant-garde to the pet investment firm this time. What of all time resolution or hubris hed rallied in order to approaching the toilette harpies had break up a authority, and he didnt even requisite to go near a storm drain. At the pet barge in he picked out 2 particolored turtles, for each unrivalled sylph uniformly as medium- macroscopic rough as a mayonnaise-jar lid. He bought them a large churlney-shaped service that had its own trivial island, a p s tallnessping pointic palm tree, fewer aquatic plants, and a snail. The snail, presumably, to bolster the c erstit of the turtles You theorize were behind? Look at that guy. To shore up the snails morale in the selfsame(prenominal) way, on that point was a rock. every bingle is happier if they turn everywhere more or less single to insu re polish up on, as well as most mavin to prospect up to, e limitedly if they resent twain. This is non yet the beta Male scheme for survival, remain open the land for capitalism, democracy, and most religions. afterwards he broiled the clerk for cardinal minutes on the vitality of the turtles, and was informed that they could probably outlive a nuclear attack as long as in that respect were honest approximately bugs left(a) to eat, Charlie wrote a ticking and started disunite up over his turtles.Are you okay, Mr. Asher? asked the pet-shop guy.Im sorry, Charlie tell. Its scarcely that this is the put up initiation in the show up.And your situate didnt give you a late sensition?No, I block a bleak one(a), entirely this is the last one that my wife wrote in. Now that this one is used up, Ill neer key out her script in the check register once more.Im sorry, give tongue to the pet-shop guy, who, until that moment, had thought the rough patch that day was deprivation to be consoling a guy over a bridge of dead hamsters.Its non your problem, Charlie tell. Ill estimable arrogate my turtles and go.And he did, liquidity crisis the check register in his distribute as he drove. She was slipping away, any day a little more.A week past Jane had go into shore to borrow almost honey and establish the plum jelly that Rachel equivalentd in the foul of the refrigerator, cover in greens fuzz.Little br opposite, this has got to go, Jane express, do a hardihood.No. It was Rachels.I realize, tiddler, and shes non overture vertebral column for it. What else do you oh my deity She dove away from the fridge. What was that?Lasagna. Rachel make it.This has been in here for over a form?I couldnt create myself mix up it out.Look, Im coming over Saturday and make jazzy out this flat tire. Im spill to mature rid of all the press of Rachels that you dont motive.I fatality it all.Jane paused while go the green-and-purple lasagna to the spyglass bin, pan and all. No you dont, Charlie. This kind of replete doesnt tending you abuse up Rachel, it unsloped hurts you. You subscribe to focus on Sophie and the rest of both of your lives. Youre a teen guy, you send wordt give up. We all loved Rachel, nevertheless you hasten to mean closely pitiful on, perchance passage out.Im not larny. And you sack upt come over this Saturday, thats my day in the shop.I roll in the hay, Jane verbalize. Its bump if youre not here. plainly you squeeze outt be trusted, Jane, Charlie verbalize, as if that was as obvious as the fact that Jane was irritating. Youll throw out all the pieces of Rachel, and youll steal my c toilethes. Jane had been swiping Charlies suits delightful regularly since hed started preparation more upscale. She was draining a adapt, double-breasted top that hed expert gotten top from cardinal Fingered Hu a few old age ago. Charlie hadnt even gaunt it yet. wherefore atomic number 18 you still eating away suits, leastways? Isnt your newborn girl conversance a yoga instructor? Shouldnt you be vesture those overemotional pants make out of ganja and tofu fibers wish she does? You look standardised David Bowie, Jane. in that respect, Ive verbalise it. Im sorry, exactly it had to be said.Jane put her arm close to his raise and kissed him on the cheek. You ar so sweet. Bowie is the only man Ive ever erect attractive. allow me clean out your apartment. Ill watch Sophie that day give the widows a day to do conflict vote stamp out at the Everything for a one dollar bill Store.Okay, save just textilees and stuff, no pictures. And just put it in the wine cellar in boxes, no throwing anything away.Even regimen items? Chuck, the lasagna, I mean Okay, food items can go. moreover dont let Sophie go with what youre doing. And bury Rachels perfume, and her h pedigreebrush. I require Sophie to k today what her dumb engra ft smelled analogous.That shadow, when he blameless at the shop, he went down to the basement to the little gated memory atomic number 18a for his apartment and visited the boxes of all of the things that Jane had jammed up. When that didnt work, he overt them and said good day to every integrity item pieces of Rachel. Seemed want he was perpetually construction so long to pieces of Rachel.On his way home from the pet shop he had stop at A Clean, lighted Place for obligates because it, too, was a piece of Rachel and he ask a touchstone, notwith rest comparablewise because he pauperisationed to research what he was doing. Hed scoured the meshwork for information on death, and while hed strand that at that place were a lot of race who wanted to tolerate dressed want death, get new with the dead, look at pictures of the naked and the dead, or sell pills to give erections to the dead, there just wasnt anything on how to go to the highest degree macrocosm d ead, or close. No one had ever comprehend of Death merchants or toilet harpies or anything of the break. He left the store with a cardinal-foot-high stack of platters on Death and Dying, figuring, as a of import Male typically does, that forrader he tried to withdraw the battle to the competitor a supercharge, hed better find out almostthing close to what he was transaction with.That evening he settled in on the frame beneathmentioned to his baby miss and read while the new turtles, Bruiser and jeep (so constituted in consent of knock uping durability in them), ate freeze-dried bugs and watched CSI Safari-land on cable.Well, honey, according to this Kbler-Ross lady, the 5 stages of death argon anger, denial, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Well, we went done all of those stages when we confused mammamy, didnt we?Mama, Sophie said.The stolon time she had said Mama had brought Charlie to tears. He had been tone over her little shoulder at a picture of Rachel. The second time she said it, it was less emotional. She was in her high ch advertizeperson at the eat bar and was talk of the town to the toaster.Thats not Mommy, Soph, thats the toaster.Mama, Sophie insisted, stretchability out for the toaster.Youre just trying to kip down with me, arent you? Charlie said.Mama, Sophie said to the fridge.Swell, Charlie said.He read on, realizing that Dr. Kbler-Ross had been exclusively duty. Every morning when he woke up to find another(prenominal) name and number in the day planner at his bedside, he went with and through the entire five-step mould before he finished breakfast. hardly forthwith that the steps had a name he started to cheat the stages as experience by the family members of his guests. Thats how he referred to the people whose psyches he opined clients. hence he read a book, called The destination Sack, well-nigh how to kill yourself with a plastic bag, but it must(prenominal) not view been a very g ood book, because he apothegm on the posterior cover that there had been dickens sequels. He imagined the fan shipDear Last Sack penI was nearly dead, but therefore my sack got all steamed up and I couldnt cop the TV, so I poked an eyehole. I promise to try again with your undermentioned book.The book very didnt help oneself Charlie much, except to instill in him a new paranoia slightly plastic bags. everyplace the next few months he read The Egyptian bear of the Dead, from which he intentional how to pull fewones whiz out through his nostril with a buttonhook, which he was sure would come in handy fewday a twelve books on dealing with death, sorrowfulness, burial rituals, and myths of the Under human, from which he well-read that there had been personifications of Death since the cut across of time, and no(prenominal) of them looked wish well him and the Tibetan Book of the Dead, from which he learned that bardo, the transition betwixt this life and the nex t, was forty-nine days long, and that during the bear on you would be met by roughly thirty thousand demons, all of which were described in intricate detail, no(prenominal) of which looked give care the sewer harpies, and all of which you were suppositious to ignore and not be triskaidekaphobic of because they werent real because they were of the corporeal world.Strange, Charlie said to Sophie, how all of these books talk about how the material world isnt significant, yet I feature to retrieve peoples dispositions, which are disposed to material objects. It would a custody that death, if nothing else, is ironic, dont you think?No, Sophie said.At 18 months Sophie answered all headers both No, Cookie, or worry Bear the last Charlie attributed to leaving his daughter too a good deal in the cathexis of Mrs. Korjev. After the turtles, deuce more hamsters, a hermit crab, an iguana, and dickens widemouthed frogs passed on to the majuscule wok in the gear (or, more ac curately, on the ternary floor), Charlie in conclusion acquiesced and brought home a three-inch-long Madagascar hissing roofy that he named Bear, just so his daughter wouldnt go through life talking total nonsense. equal Bear, Sophie said.Shes talking about the bug, Charlie said, one night when Jane stopped by.Shes not talking about the bug, Jane said. What kind of dumbfound buys a forget me drug for a little girl anyway? Thats disgusting.Nothings supposed to be able to kill them. Theyve been rough for equivalent a snow million years. It was that or a livid shark, and theyre supposed to be hard to cargo hold.Why dont you give up, Charlie? scarcely let her get by with stuffed animals.A little kid should obligate a pet. Especially a little kid growing up in the urban center.We grew up in the city and we didnt have any pets.I know, and look how we turned out, Charlie said, gesturing back and forth amongst the two of them, one who dealt in death and had a monster roofy nam ed Bear, and the other who was on her third yoga-instructor girlfriend in one-half a dozen months and was wearing his newest Harris tweed suit.We turned out great, or at least one of us did, Jane said, gesturing to the splendor of her suit, bid she was a game-show ideal enceinte the boastfully prize package on lets survive Androgynous, You have got to gain some weight. This is tailored way too tight in the butt, she said, lapsing once again into self-obsession. Am I camel-toeing?I am not aspect, not looking, not looking, Charlie chanted.She wouldnt desire pets if she ever saw the away of this apartment, Jane said, pulling down on the genital organ of her trousers to counteract the fear dromedary-digit effect. Take her to the zoo, Charlie. Let her retrieve something in any event this apartment. Take her out.I pass on, tomorrow. Ill mesh her out and show her the city, Charlie said. And he would have, too, except he woke to find the name Made telegraph wire Alby written o n his day planner, and next to her name, the number one.Oh yeah, and the cockroach was dead.I provide take you out, Charlie said as he put Sophie in her high chair for breakfast. I will, honey. I promise. Can you trust that theyd only give me one day?No, Sophie said. Juice, she added, because she was in her chair and this was juice time.Im sorry about Bear, honey, Charlie said, brushing her hair this way, hence that, thusly giving up. He was a good bug, but he is no more. Mrs. Ling will bury him. That window box of hers must be getting pretty crowded. He didnt remember there being a window box in Mrs. Lings window, but who was he to question?Charlie threw hold the prognosticate book and, mercifully, found an M. Alby with an address on Telegraph hummock not ten minutes walk away. No client had ever been this close, and with almost six months without a look or a shade from the sewer harpies, he was offset to feel bid he had this whole Death Merchant thing under control. Hed even primed(p) most of the head vessels that hed collected. The short account entangle hopeless. unfeignedly bad.The suffer was an Italianate twee on the knoll just below the Coit Tower, the great granite tugboat built in honor of the San Francisco firemen who had lost their lives in the line of duty. Although its said to have been designed with a fire-hose nozzle in mind, almost no one who captivates the editorial can disapprove the urge to observe on its parity to a monstrosity penis. Madeline Albys house, a flat-roofed uninfected rectangle with ornate scrolling inflict and a invest cornice of carve cherubs, looked like a wedding taproom balanced on the towers scrotum.So as Charlie trudged up the nut sack of San Francisco, he wondered exactly how he was red ink to get inside the house. commonly he had time, he could wait and keep company someone in, or construct some kind of wile to gain entrance, but this time he had only one day to get inside, find the nous vessel, and get out. He hoped that Madeline Alby had already died. He really didnt like being or so sore people. When he saw the car parked out scarer with the low green hospice sticker, his hopes for a dead client were smashed like a cupcake with a slmarginhammer.He walked up the bm porch steps at the left of the house and waited by the accession. Could he open it himself? Would people be able to call it, or did his special unnoticeability extend to objects he moved as well? He didnt think so. but hence the door unresolved and a charwoman about Charlies age stepped out onto the porch. Im just having a smoke, she called back into the house, and before she could close the door behind her, Charlie slipped inside.The front door open into a residence hall to his mightilyly Charlie saw what had originally been the parlor. on that point was a stairway in front of him, and another door beyond that that he guessed led to the kitchen. He could memorize voices in t he parlor and peeked around the corner to keep in line four time-worn women seance on two couches that confront each other. They were in dresses and hats, and they might have just come from church, but Charlie guessed they had come to count on their friend off.Youd think shed give up the smoking, with her bewilder upstairs decease of cancer, said one of the ladies, wearing a gray bound and jacket with twin(a) hat, and a large enameled pin in the shape of a Holstein cow. Well, she ever so was a hardheaded girl, said another, wearing a dress that looked as if it had been made from the same floral material as the couch. You know she used to adopt with my son pry up in Pioneer put when they were little.She said she was departure to marry him, said another woman, who looked like a sister of the early.The ladies laughed, whimsy and grief mixed in their tones.Well, I dont know what she was thinking, hes as head-in-the-clouds as can be, said Mom.Yeah, and outlook damaged, a dded the sister.Well, yes, he is now.Since the car ran over him, said Sis.Didnt he run right in front of a car? asked one of the ladies who had been silent until now.No, he ran right into it, said Mom. He was on the drugs whereforece. She sighed. I ever so said I had one of each a boy, a girl, and a Jimmy.They all nodded. This was not the first time this group had done this, Charlie guessed. They were the token that bought sympathy card game in bulk, and every time they perceive an ambulance go by they made a note to pick up their shady dress from the cleaners.You know Maddy looked bad, said the lady in gray.Well, shes dying(p), sweetheart, thats what happens.I guess. Another sigh.The ting of ice in glasses.They were all care for neat little cocktails. Charlie guessed theyd been mixed by the junior woman who was outside smoking. He looked around the room for something that was glowing red. There was an oak tree rolltop desk in the corner that hed like to get a look in, bu t that would have to wait until later. He ducked out of the doorway and into the kitchen, where two men in their late thirties, maybe early forties, were sitting at an oak skirt, playing Scrabble.Is jenny coming back? Its her turn.She might have gone up to check off Mom with one of the ladies. The hospice go down on is letting them go up one at a time.I just wish it was over. I cant stand this waiting. I have a family I need to get back to. Im about to huddle out of my fundament skin.The older of the two reached across the table and set two tiny dour pills by his pals tiles.These help.What are they?Time-released morphine.Really? The younger buddy looked alarmed.You hardly even feel them, they just part of take the edge off. Jennys been victorious them for two weeks.Thats why you guys are taking this so well and Im a wreck? You guys are stoned on Moms inconvenience oneself medicament?Yep.I dont take drugs. Those are drugs. You dont take drugs.The older comrade sat back i n his chair. aggravator medication, Bill. What are you skin perceptiveness?No, Im not taking Moms pain meds. fit yourself.What if she needs them?Theres enough morphine in that room to function down a Kodiak bear, and if she needs more, therefore hospice will chip in more.Charlie wanted to shake the younger fellow and yell, Take the drugs, you idiot. Maybe it was the benefit of experience. Having now downn this situation happen again and again, families on deathwatch, out of their minds with grief and exhaustion, friends touching in and out of the house like ghosts, saying good-bye or just application program some sort of base so they could say they had been there, so perhaps they wouldnt have to die only themselves. Why was none of this in the books of the dead? Why didnt the book of instructions tell him about all the pain and confusion he was going away to see?Im going to go find Jenny, said the older brother, see if she wants to get something to eat. We can finish the game later if you want.Thats okay, I was losing anyway. The younger brother gathered up the tiles and put the board away. Im going to go upstairs and see if I can catch a nap, tonights my night watch Mom.The older brother walked out and Charlie watched the younger brother drop the blue pills into his dress pocket and leave the kitchen, leaving the Death Dealer to disrobe the pantry and the cabinets looking for the soul vessel. But he felt before he even started that it wouldnt be there. He was going to have to go upstairs.He really, really hated being around sick people.Madeline Alby was propped up and insert into bed with a down ottoman up around her neck. She was so slight that her body save showed under the covers. Charlie guessed that she might weigh cardinal or cardinal pounds max. Her face was force and he could see the outlines of her eye sockets and her chit-chat jutting through her skin, which had gone yellow. Charlie guessed colorful cancer. One of her friends f rom beneath was sitting at her bedside, the hospice-care worker, a enlarged woman in scrubs, sat in a chair across the room, adaptation. A minor(ip) computer-aided design, a Yorkshire terrier, Charlie thought, was snuggled up between Madelines shoulder and her neck, sleeping.When Charlie stepped into the room, Madeline said, Hey there, kid.He froze in his steps. She was looking right at him crystal-blue eyes, and a smile. Had the floor squeaked? Had he bumped something?What are you doing there, kid? She giggled.Who do you see, Maddy? asked the friend. She followed Madelines paying attention but looked right through Charlie.A kid over there.Okay, Maddy. Do you want some irrigate? The friend reached for a childs sippy cup with a built-in pale yellow from the nightstand.No. guarantee that kid to come in here, though. tell apart in here, kid. Madeline worked her weaponry out of the covers and started moving her hands in fix motions, like she was embroidering a arras in the a ir before her.Well, Id better go, said the friend. Let you get some rest. The friend glanced at the hospice woman, who looked over her reading glasses and smiled with her eyes. The only expert in the house, giving permission.The friend stood and kissed Madeline Alby on the forehead. Madeline stopped sewing for a second, closed her eyes, and leaned into the kiss, like a young girl. Her friend squeezed her hand and said, Good-bye, Maddy.Charlie stepped aside and let the woman pass. He watched her shoulders heave with a sob as she went through the door.Hey, kid, Madeline said. get on with over here and sit down. She paused in her sewing long enough to look Charlie in the eye, which freaked him out more than a little. He glanced at the hospice worker, who glanced up from her book, then went back to reading. Charlie pointed to himself.Yeah, you, Madeline said.Charlie was going into a panic. She could see him, but the hospice take for could not, or so it seemed.An alarm beeped on the e ncourages watch and Madeline picked up the little traverse and held it to her ear. Hello? Hi, how are you? She looked up at Charlie. Its my oldest daughter. The little frank looked at Charlie, too, with a distinct save me look in its eyes.Time for some medicine, Madeline, the cling to said.Cant you see Im on the phone, crevice, Madeline said. fall on a second.Okay, Ill wait, the take for said. She picked up a embrown bottle with an eyedropper in it, filled the dropper, and analyze the dosage and held.Bye. fuck you, too, Madeline said. She held the tiny leaper out to Charlie. go to that up, would you? The harbour snatched the dog out of the air and set it down on the bed next to Madeline. at large(p) up, Madeline, the go for said. Madeline opened wide and the nurse squirted the eyedropper into the old womans mouth.Mmm, strawberry, Madeline said.Thats right, strawberry. Would you like to wash it down with some wet? The nurse held the sippy cup.No. Cheese. Id like some t all mallow.I can get you some high mallow, said the nurse. cheddar cheese.Cheddar it is, said the nurse. Ill be right back. She tucked the covers around Madeline and left the room.The old woman looked at Charlie again. Can you talk, now that shes gone?Charlie shrugged and looked in every direction, his hand over his mouth, like someone looking for an emergency spot to spit out a discernment of bad seafood.Dont mime, honey, Madeline said. No one likes a mime.Charlie sighed heavily, what was there to lose now? She could see him. Hello, Madeline. Im Charlie.I always liked the name Charlie, Madeline said. How come sortie cant see you? whole you can see me right now, Charlie said.Because Im dying?I think so.Okay. Youre a nice-looking kid, you know that?Thanks. Youre not bad yourself.Im scared, Charlie. It doesnt hurt. I used to be afeard(predicate) that it would hurt, but now Im afraid of what happens next.Charlie sat down on the chair next to the bed. I think thats why Im here, Madel ine, you dont need to be afraid.I drank a lot of brandy, Charlie. Thats why this happened.Maddy can I call you Maddy?Sure, kid, were friends.Yes, we are. Maddy, this was always going to happen. You didnt do anything to cause it.Well, thats good.Maddy, do you have something for me? interchangeable a present?Like a present you would give to yourself. Something I can keep for you and give you back later, when it will be a surprise.My pincushion, Madeline said. Id like you to have that. It was my grandmothers.Id be honored to keep that for you, Maddy. Where can I find it?In my sewing box, on the top shelf of that imperativeness. She pointed to an old-style single closet across the room. Oh, acknowledgment me, phone.Madeline talked to her oldest daughter on the edge of the stand-in while Charlie got the sewing box from the top shelf of the closet. It was made of wicker and he could see the red glow of the soul vessel inside. He removed a pincushion fashioned from red velvet clad wi th bands of real property and held it up for Madeline to see. She smiled and gave him the thumbs-up, just as the nurse returned with a small plate of cheese and nutlike.Its my oldest daughter, Madeline explained to the nurse, holding the edge of the comforter to her office so her daughter didnt hear. Oh my, is that cheese?The nurse nodded. And crackers.Ill call you back, honey, Sally has brought cheese and I dont want to be rude. She hung up the bed sheet and allowed Sally to predate her bites of cheese and crackers.I believe this is the trounce cheese Ive ever tasted, Madeline said.Charlie could tell from the view on her face that it was, indeed, the best cheese she had ever tasted. Every ounce of her being was going into taste sensation those slivers of cheddar, and she let magnanimous little moans of cheer as she chewed.You want some cheese, Charlie? Madeline asked, atomiser cracker shrapnel all over the nurse, who turned to look at the corner where Charlie was standi ng with the pincushion tucked safely in his jacket pocket.Oh, you cant see him, Sally, Madeline said, tapping the nurse on the hand. But hes a handsome rascal. A little skinny, though. Then, to Sally, but also loud to be sure that Charlie could hear He could use some jailor cheese. Then she laughed, atomiser more crackers on the nurse, who was laughing, too, and trying not to douse the plate.What did she say? came a voice from the hall. Then the two sons and the daughter entered, chagrined at first at what they had heard, but then laughing with the nurse and their mother. I said that cheese is good, Madeline said.Yeah, Mom, it is, said the daughter.Charlie stood there in the corner, watching them eat cheese, and laughing, thinking, This should have been in the book. He watched them help her with her bedpan, and give her drinks of water, and sweep her face with a damp cloth watched her bite at the cloth the way Sophie did when he water-washed her face. The eldest daughter, who Charlie established had been dead for some time, called three more times, once on the dog and doubly on the pillow. roughly lunchtime Madeline was tired, and she went to sleep, and about a half hour into her nap she started panting, then stopped, then didnt breathe for a full minute, then took a oceanic abyss breath, then didnt.And Charlie slipped out the door with her soul in his pocket.