Chapter Twenty-Seven, Part Two

Although he had promised Sophie they wouldn’t go to church, he decided, after much consideration, that his best chance at finding Alejandro Gonzalez was to go to the Catholic service the next morning. It was possible, of course, that Alejandro went to the other church or steered clear of them both entirely, but most of the townspeople were practicing Catholics and even if he wasn’t there, someone who knew him would be.

True to his word, he allowed Sophie to exempt herself from going along, provided she stay at home and not leave the property for any reason short of an emergency. He had found an old suit in one of the closets, whether his brother’s or his father’s he wasn’t sure, and although it didn’t fit as well as he would have liked, it would do for now.

As he walked up the church steps, townspeople who had already run into him earlier in the week smiled or gave a little wave while those who didn’t recognize him stared and whispered to their friends. Robert tried not to let the scrutiny annoy him. If there was any place in town where he was likely to finish reintroducing himself, this was it. So he gamely returned the curious looks with a smile and made a point of talking to as many people as he could, reminding them who he was, pretending amusement at their embarrassed laughter, and asking polite questions. This last wasn’t entirely fake, since he needed to get up to speed as quickly as possible about the changes in his hometown. Was Dr. Grant still practicing? Did that plan to open a bank ever come to pass? What were prices like these days at the feed store?

But no one could talk for long because they all had to find their seats for the service. So Robert accepted an offer to sit with Jim Eichmann and his wife Amy, along with their four children. He had known Jim and Amy in school and remembered Jim being quite the cutup. But if Robert had hoped they could catch up on old times in whispers during the sermon, he was mistaken. Amy, prig that she had always been, kept him on a tight leash. So Robert pretended to listen while the priest talked about the soul-redeeming benefits of prayer. He was glad Sophie had stayed at home. She would have been bored to tears.

Finally the service was over, the congregation duly blessed, and everyone could file into the shabby community room for refreshments. “Coffee and donuts,” Robert observed, trying to sound pleased. “Some things never change.”

“Darn right.” Jim grabbed a pastry that was gooey with caramelized honey. “Why mess with perfection?”

Robert took a cake donut that looked only marginally less bad for one’s health than the glazed and sugared ones.

“Where’s your daughter?” Jim asked. “Scuttlebutt around town is that she’s a quiet one.”

“It’s been a challenge getting my daughter settled in. I took her from the only home she’s ever known. But she’s resilient. She’ll adjust.”

“It’s your own damn fault she’s got to go through that,” Jim pointed out. “Running off to join the war like that, then going to…where did you go, anyway? There were a lot of rumors.”

“Kentucky.”

“That’s right.” Jim chewed his gooey donut. “What’s it like in the United States these days? I hear it’s full of crime, inflation, racial tensions…”

“There are places like that, but not where I was. It’s still a big country, you know, even with half of it having seceded.”

“It was too big. That was the problem. No one knew their neighbors, let alone the folks up the road or in the next state. We’ve done well here because we stay close and keep to ourselves.”

Robert glanced toward the coffee urn. The too-sweet donut was making him thirsty. “You’re right, of course. I’m glad to be back. Coffee?”

“Don’t mind if I do.”

While they stood off to one side blowing on their mugs of coffee to cool them, Robert pretended to glance around the room. “Is Alejandro Gonzalez here today, by any chance?”

Jim looked around, too. “Don’t see him. He generally only comes to church on holidays. What do you want with him?”

From the tone of his voice, Robert got the impression there was something slightly unsavory about Alejandro. He should have already thought of a reason to be looking for him. There had been a time when he could hold his own against some of the cleverest spies and diplomats in three countries, but now he was out of practice.

Luckily Jim spared him the trouble of having to answer right away. “You’ll never catch me turning down a cold beer on a hot day or a glass of wine with a nice dinner, but I just can’t approve of Gonzalez operating a damn liquor store out of his living room. Some folks say he lets the teenagers around here buy whiskey on Saturday nights, and you can bet when my kids get to be a little older, I’ll be keeping a close eye on them.”

Robert nodded agreement. “Kids don’t need to be drinking, that’s a fact. No, I’m trying to do some cleaning up at the lodge and some of the windows have adhesive residue on them, like from when we used to have scotch tape, remember?”

“I remember that stuff.” Jim laughed. “I put some on the paws of my sister’s cat once. It was hilarious!”

“For you, or the cat?”

“Oh, come on. It was good clean fun.”

“Well, anyway, I’ve tried everything I can think of on those windows and then I heard that vodka might work. So I figured if I ran into Alejandro here, I’d ask him if he had any and what it costs. I don’t need much, just enough to clean a couple windows.”

Jim nodded. “He lives out Third Street, near the end. Blue house. Or at least it used to be blue. Hard to tell what color it is these days. You can give him a try, but I’ve got to warn you, everyone says he keeps the good stuff for his own use and fills the empty bottles with corn liquor.”

“So you think I should try using ammonia on the windows, then?”

“How the hell would I know?” Jim waved his wife over. “Amy, come tell this man how to clean windows. He’s treating it like some sort of complicated science project.”

Amy strolled over, stirring a cup of coffee that was at least half cream. “That’s no big surprise,” she said, giving Robert a prim smile. “You always did overthink things. Birds, roads, clouds, politics…you were always making things out to be much more complex than they really are.”

Now it was Robert’s turn to offer a phony smile. “I guess I haven’t changed a bit. None of us have, have we?” Then while Jim and Amy giggled over their coffee, he gave a little wave and slipped away. He had no interest in what Amy had to say about window cleaning. He had a liquor trader to catch up with.