Page 93 of Is This for Real?
Tom appears at the entrance to the living room, limping. He looks very earnest.
Myrtle gets up and disappears with Jack out of the room. Bernie’s colleague excuses himself and leaves. Rory is talking intently with his boss and Bernie, his brow furrowed. This isn’t going to work. He’s so focused on this campaign. And I understand, I really do. And now he’s looking off in the distance, like he does when he’s mulling over an idea.
“At least he’s facing the window,” Aaron says. “And his boss is not.”
“But he’s not looking at the window,” Nia says.
“Should we knock on the window and duck?” Aaron asks.
“Let’s hold my hat up on a stick,” I say, looking for a stick on the ground. “Maybe he’ll see it as a cry for help.”
“They’ll both look over,” Jack says. “Did you text him?”
“I don’t think he has his phone.”
“Okay, we need to slip him a note.” Aaron rubs his hands together. “Anybody have paper?”
“Well, you’re up then. We can’t go in because we’ll get dragged into this work discussion,” Anne says.
I pull out my black notebook from my jacket pocket and write Rory a note that we’re trying to rescue him, so he should excuse himself and come play Clue with us. But only if he wants to. I hand the note to Aaron.
“But what more can we ask for? Blankets?” I ask.
“I’ll ask for more toilet paper,” Aaron says.
We all crack up, laughing. Aaron disappears.
“Rory’s looking over at the window. Quick, put the hat up!” Jack says.
I put the hat on a stick and wave it wildly while we all duck down. I peek over the windowsill. Rory’s brow is furrowed, but I don’t know if he can see us out in the dark. And hopefully, nobody in the room can hear us. We are making a fair amount of noise as we laugh and plot.
Aaron is now in the room. He’s helped himself to a cookie from the platter. He hands Rory a napkin.
“Smooth,” Dan says.
“Did he hand him the note with the napkin?”
“I think so,” Dan says.
Myrtle arrives back, and Aaron turns to her. Myrtle looks surprised at his request. Understandably so, as the one bathroom I used had at least four rolls of toilet paper in the cabinet under the sink. He gives a thumbs-up as he leaves the room with her.
Tom slinks over. “What’s happening now?”
“Aaron just asked for toilet paper so he could hand Rory a note to come out,” I say.
Rory stands and walks over to the window. We all wave, with the hat on the stick bobbing up wildly with us. Rory grins and gives us a thumbs-up. He blows me a kiss.
“Aww,” Dan says. “He’s a keeper.”
Rory is back talking to his boss. His boss nods, and Rory leaves the room.
And then Aaron and Rory appear at the corner. We all scoot back from the window. I run to join Rory and hug him. His embrace back is light, and I release him quickly.
“I’m touched that you all came out to rescue me,” Rory says.
“Leave no man behind. We need to stick together against the powers that be,” Aaron says.
We walk back to the cottage and all pile into the living room, but while the other couples are sitting next to each other on the couches, Rory and I are each on two straight-backed chairs we brought in from the dining room. Rory reaches out to hold my hand and smiles at me. I slide my chair closer to him.
