Suncatchers Read Free

his mind off things. “You could look at it as lucky timing,” Cal had said. “I mean, I know the divorce is rotten and all that, but think about it. There’s your sister’s house sitting empty for a whole year, and where is it? Right in the heart of Bible Land. And what kind of job do I line up for you? A book about fire-and-brimstone fanatics, and you even said yourself that your sister lives right next door to a family of Bible thumpers. Think about it, Perry. You’re a lucky man. This is the perfect thing to get you back on track. Your novels—well, they’ve done fine, don’t get me wrong, but the research will be good for you.”
    Perry looked down at the music box he was still holding and shook it a little. He was dismayed to see that during the move one of the little figures had somehow broken loose and was drifting around with the fake snow inside the globe. He curved his hand back over the glass dome and thought suddenly of the big glass doorknobs in old houses. You turned those knobs and walked into strange dark rooms with high ceilings. And you got the same kind of feeling he had now, of being alone in a cold, dark place and wishing you were back home. “A lucky man”—that’s what Cal had called him. But lucky men didn’t get turned out into the cold.
    The woman outside was still sweeping steadily. He moved into the living room to see her better. It didn’t seem to be the quickest way to sweep, going in only one direction, right to left. A lot of wasted motion.
    But then he realized he had never really swept a driveway. Maybe you did it that way to direct the dirt so it didn’t swirl up and around and sneak in behind you again. He’d always used a leaf blower. Well, okay, maybe Dinah had used it more than he had, but he was the one who had gone down to Sears to buy it. He didn’t even know if they’d owned a broom, now that he thought about it. He couldn’t remember having seen one around the house anywhere. Maybe there had been one, though, and Dinah had kept it for herself, which wasn’t very fair considering she had also kept the leaf blower.
    He heard somebody call—a full, resonating voice—and Jewel turned around and squinted toward the house. Maybe it was the old lady. The one Beth had called “a real case.” Or maybe the boy. He saw Jewel shake her head and smile a little at whoever it was. “In a minute,” she said. “When I’m done here,” and she turned back to her sweeping. She was working along the side of the driveway now, closer to him. Some of the dust and leaves flew over into his driveway, but she didn’t seem to notice it. Thanks a lot, lady, he thought.
    Why not go out and meet her now? He could pretend to be getting something from the car, and then he’d catch sight of her and say, “Oh, hi there. I was just getting something from my car.” Then she’d say something and they would introduce themselves and then that first awkward step would be over. Dinah had always fussed about that—what she called his overplanning everything and using little ploys to avoid being straightforward. He supposed he could just go out and say he’d seen her from the window and wanted to meet her and his name was Perry Warren and he was Beth’s brother. Or maybe he should just wait till later. “You’re like a little old woman,” Dinah had told him not too long ago. “You fret over the stupidest details. Just quit worrying and stalling and do something.” Grown men weren’t supposed to worry, she had told him. “And sociologists are supposed to have all their hang-ups worked out.” Dinah was always getting sociology mixed up with psychology.
    It was uncanny the way Dinah could read his mind. He’d be sitting in his recliner—just sitting there not doing a thing—and she’d walk by and say, “Oh, stop it! Stop