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Scene #2
Dani snuck past the desk at the nursing home. She felt somewhat
guilty, but hey ... diet schmiet. On his hundredth birthday, a man
had a right to a little buttercream icing. She slipped in her
great-grandfather's room and shut the door behind her. He sat by
the window with his eyes closed, face upturned in the morning sun.
As she drew closer, his eyes fluttered open. "Lily!" he said
breathlessly. "No, Poppy. It's Dani." For an instant,
disappointment flickered in his eyes, then he gave her a sleepy
smile. "Dani! I'm sorry, hon. How's the world is treating my
favorite girl?" "Just fine," she lied, and brushed a kiss on
his wrinkled cheek. "Happy Birthday, Poppy!" She whipped open
the box to reveal the two cupcakes inside and giggled at his
gleeful expression. He was like her, a sugar fiend. "Shhhh!"
He grinned. "If Nurse Winnie catches us with these—" "I know
..." Dani made a face of mock horror. "It's both our asses."
Rummaging through her pocketbook, she extracted a lighter and a
candle. "You'll set off the smoke alarm," he chided, but his
eyes were twinkling. "Hurry!" "Yeah, yeah. Men are so
impatient." She stuck the candle in the cupcake and lit it. "Make a
wish, Poppy, and make it good. Number 100 has to count for
something." He closed his eyes and blew it out. "Yay!
Now dispose of the evidence." They demolished the cupcakes in
seconds, then laughed at each other. "Umm, hey," he said,
smacking his lips. "That was great. But I thought those things came
in six packs, or dozens ... or something." "Don't push it, old
man. They've had you on the blech diet so long, I'm scared you'll
go into sugar shock any second." He pretended to quiver.
"Would you like to get out of here for awhile?" she asked. "We
could go to a movie or—hey, I know. The marquee at the mall
advertised that the senior exercise class is having a mall walk
today." She wagged her eyebrows. "You could check out the
chicks." He laughed. "Not the mall walkers. I can't keep up
with them." "Wanna come home with me for the weekend? We
could go back to my apartment and eat S'mores until we lay in the
floor twitching." "I love you," he said suddenly, and tears
sprung to her eyes. She squeezed his hand. "I love you
too." He cleared his throat. "There is somewhere I'd like to
go ... if you have the time." "You bet I do. Name the
place." "Home." "But Poppy ... your old house is gone
now." "Not that home. The old home place in Tennessee, where
I grew up. ‘Course, it could be gone by now too, but I'd sure like
to see it one more time before I die." "Poppy, don't—"
"Now, girl. It's gotta happen sometime. I'm closer to dust than
diapers these days." He winced. "At least, I hope." Dani
laughed. "Okay, then. Let's blow this popsicle stand." After
a twenty minute lecture from the head nurse, they were on their
way. "Now, young lady," Dani said in a mock stern voice. "The
staff and residents have gone through a lot of trouble to prepare a
birthday celebration ..." She paused. "You sure you want to miss your
party, Poppy?" "Party!" he scoffed. "A lopsided cake with
artificial sweetener and a bunch of old geezers like me, singing
‘Happy Birthday'—except for Melvin, who always sings ‘God Save the
Queen.' " "Wonder what Winnie the Shrew will do when we're
not back by lunch time?" Dani asked, as she helped him into her
truck. "Call out the National Guard, probably."
"Scottsboro to Gruetli-Laager will probably take us—what, an hour
and a half?" "Something like that. And it doesn't matter
about Winnie. I'm on her short-list anyway." Dani saw the
mischief in his eyes and asked, "What did you do to her this
time?" "Tell you after you get me out here." Dani
saluted him and hurried around her side of the truck. After they
were through them main gate, he said, "You know those cashews you
send me sometimes, the big ones? I love those things. About the
only good thing they let me have on this stupid diet. I keep them
in a bowl by the bed. Every time she came in to check my vitals,
she'd grab a handful of them. Drove me crazy. That's what was
sending my blood pressure through the roof, and she knew it. I
considered hiding them from her, but then I thought, ‘What am I, a
squirrel?'" Dani giggled. "She cleaned me out yesterday,
then had the gall to say, ‘Oops, sorry. Maybe she'll bring you
more.' I told her it wasn't a big deal, that since I'd lost my
teeth, all I could do was suck the chocolate off them anyway. She
turned three shades of green." Dani howled with laughter.
"Poppy, you are a baaaad man!" His countenance changed. His
smile disappeared and his eyes filled with tears. "If you only
knew," he said, his voice scarcely more than a whisper.
Alarmed, she took his hand. "Poppy, what's wrong?" "If you
knew how bad I was, you wouldn't love me anymore." The
conviction in his voice spooked her. Whatever this was about, he
was serious. "Get this straight, old man: there is
nothing—absolutely nothing—you could do to make me stop loving
you." "I'm gonna tell you something I never told anyone." His
Tennessee accent, already thick, deepened when he was upset. "Your
great-grandma knew, but she never said nothing either. We just
didn't talk about it. Sometimes I think that's why the Good Lord
has let me live as long as I have, so I'd have plenty of time to
think about what I've done." It took some effort for Dani to
speak. "What did you do, Poppy?" His rheumy eyes met hers. "I
killed my brother and sister."
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