WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.900 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.900 --> 00:00:04.470 align:middle line:84% Anyway, she gets the Frigidaire at the end, 00:00:04.470 --> 00:00:07.620 align:middle line:84% and she believes there's a wild child that 00:00:07.620 --> 00:00:11.580 align:middle line:84% lives with the cows in the gully, and lots of things 00:00:11.580 --> 00:00:12.750 align:middle line:90% happened. 00:00:12.750 --> 00:00:17.070 align:middle line:84% And from my last little bit, I'll read you the first-- 00:00:17.070 --> 00:00:18.570 align:middle line:84% I don't know where the story is now, 00:00:18.570 --> 00:00:20.850 align:middle line:84% but anyway, a story called "Sundress." 00:00:20.850 --> 00:00:23.940 align:middle line:90% 00:00:23.940 --> 00:00:27.660 align:middle line:90% It's the same two characters-- 00:00:27.660 --> 00:00:30.210 align:middle line:90% Ernie and this voice. 00:00:30.210 --> 00:00:32.610 align:middle line:90% And she still wears a sundress. 00:00:32.610 --> 00:00:34.800 align:middle line:84% And it must be later in their life-- 00:00:34.800 --> 00:00:36.660 align:middle line:84% I got all these ideas and dreams. 00:00:36.660 --> 00:00:41.100 align:middle line:84% I'm not responsible for some of it. 00:00:41.100 --> 00:00:42.480 align:middle line:90% Anyway, it's called "Sundress." 00:00:42.480 --> 00:00:45.650 align:middle line:90% 00:00:45.650 --> 00:00:47.600 align:middle line:84% "It's a terrible thing to be kicked out. 00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:50.600 align:middle line:84% I hold the kicked-out birdcage, the kicked-out double geranium, 00:00:50.600 --> 00:00:52.340 align:middle line:90% and the kicked-out dog. 00:00:52.340 --> 00:00:54.560 align:middle line:84% But after we look at all this kicked-out stuff, 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:56.600 align:middle line:90% there really isn't much we want. 00:00:56.600 --> 00:00:59.450 align:middle line:84% I mean, those pillows have seen heads. 00:00:59.450 --> 00:01:01.580 align:middle line:84% So we leave the birdcage and flower 00:01:01.580 --> 00:01:05.360 align:middle line:84% with the ironing boards in hope of Stayprest and recycling, 00:01:05.360 --> 00:01:07.040 align:middle line:90% and go for a walk. 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:10.580 align:middle line:84% Ernie in his most impressive Just-A-Moment-Sir suit, 00:01:10.580 --> 00:01:13.460 align:middle line:84% which he puts on as a sort of armor this morning, 00:01:13.460 --> 00:01:16.820 align:middle line:84% and I in my sundress off-the-shoulder, 00:01:16.820 --> 00:01:20.960 align:middle line:84% with a pattern swirly and close, one that if you look too long 00:01:20.960 --> 00:01:25.670 align:middle line:84% at, well, instead of being thanked, you get kicked out. 00:01:25.670 --> 00:01:29.750 align:middle line:84% The walk goes into the subway and out to the suburbs. 00:01:29.750 --> 00:01:32.660 align:middle line:84% Ernie walks with the dog's leash held high 00:01:32.660 --> 00:01:36.230 align:middle line:84% and his own saggy chin tilted, scenting promise 00:01:36.230 --> 00:01:38.090 align:middle line:90% because what else? 00:01:38.090 --> 00:01:41.450 align:middle line:84% I bring up the rear with the two mostly empty bags bumping 00:01:41.450 --> 00:01:44.720 align:middle line:84% syncopated on a carrier up and down the high curbs 00:01:44.720 --> 00:01:46.670 align:middle line:90% they have here. 00:01:46.670 --> 00:01:48.410 align:middle line:90% We don't go far. 00:01:48.410 --> 00:01:51.050 align:middle line:84% Ernie comes up with a couple of nearly last bills 00:01:51.050 --> 00:01:55.040 align:middle line:84% and buys sodas, something with a lot of escape, he says, 00:01:55.040 --> 00:01:57.290 align:middle line:84% and we sip them outside the store, 00:01:57.290 --> 00:02:01.460 align:middle line:84% looking at wide lawns and white houses. 00:02:01.460 --> 00:02:02.600 align:middle line:90% We don't talk. 00:02:02.600 --> 00:02:05.810 align:middle line:84% I know Ernie from the beginning, from when we crossed twice 00:02:05.810 --> 00:02:07.130 align:middle line:90% in foster homes. 00:02:07.130 --> 00:02:10.910 align:middle line:84% We had luck and not luck after leaving fifty years between us 00:02:10.910 --> 00:02:15.200 align:middle line:84% and them, and now I can see, even with dime-store bifocals, 00:02:15.200 --> 00:02:17.970 align:middle line:84% Ernie is already thinking up some new way, 00:02:17.970 --> 00:02:21.290 align:middle line:84% taking in the neighborhood with his careful old-man looks 00:02:21.290 --> 00:02:23.300 align:middle line:90% over soda. 00:02:23.300 --> 00:02:25.490 align:middle line:90% After a while he calls a taxi. 00:02:25.490 --> 00:02:27.890 align:middle line:84% I'm not surprised at the why, not to mention the 00:02:27.890 --> 00:02:30.590 align:middle line:84% where, for those are the very, very last bills 00:02:30.590 --> 00:02:32.300 align:middle line:90% he is now waving. 00:02:32.300 --> 00:02:35.270 align:middle line:84% This Ernie is quick as well as silent. 00:02:35.270 --> 00:02:37.670 align:middle line:84% I am seated inside before I hear him say-- 00:02:37.670 --> 00:02:41.660 align:middle line:84% Three times around the block and make it snappy. 00:02:41.660 --> 00:02:44.570 align:middle line:84% We stop in front of the house we'd stared out over sodas 00:02:44.570 --> 00:02:46.700 align:middle line:84% and pull right into the driveway. 00:02:46.700 --> 00:02:48.920 align:middle line:84% Ernie pops out and surveys the short walk 00:02:48.920 --> 00:02:52.190 align:middle line:84% to the door, all mystery and smiles. 00:02:52.190 --> 00:02:55.310 align:middle line:84% The driver says as I whip out the two suitcases, 00:02:55.310 --> 00:02:59.600 align:middle line:84% They're not home, and he slips his gears into reverse. 00:02:59.600 --> 00:03:02.900 align:middle line:90% We are, says Ernie and pays him. 00:03:02.900 --> 00:03:05.210 align:middle line:84% The driver looks at me in my sundress, 00:03:05.210 --> 00:03:08.270 align:middle line:84% then he takes his time backing out, but finally does gun 00:03:08.270 --> 00:03:11.510 align:middle line:84% off when Ernie settles the bags on the front step. 00:03:11.510 --> 00:03:14.660 align:middle line:84% Then Ernie pats me on my bare shoulder and says, 00:03:14.660 --> 00:03:16.610 align:middle line:84% I'll be just a minute, and ducks out 00:03:16.610 --> 00:03:19.070 align:middle line:90% to the stucco-front neighbors. 00:03:19.070 --> 00:03:22.400 align:middle line:84% But what exactly does he say to the blonde with curls 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:25.850 align:middle line:84% down to here and a face of collapsed Saran Wrap 00:03:25.850 --> 00:03:28.550 align:middle line:84% to have her hand over the house keys? 00:03:28.550 --> 00:03:30.410 align:middle line:84% To me not more than a minute later 00:03:30.410 --> 00:03:33.650 align:middle line:84% he says, We're the Olsen's first cousins, 00:03:33.650 --> 00:03:36.860 align:middle line:84% and tosses his almost white anybody-cousin hair 00:03:36.860 --> 00:03:41.510 align:middle line:84% out of this part to open the door with the key. 00:03:41.510 --> 00:03:44.450 align:middle line:84% While he gets the bags, I like it. 00:03:44.450 --> 00:03:48.680 align:middle line:84% I like the dark wood, the books, the lots of things to dust. 00:03:48.680 --> 00:03:50.810 align:middle line:84% There's a place for the rag under the sink 00:03:50.810 --> 00:03:53.300 align:middle line:84% and secret spots for the laundry. 00:03:53.300 --> 00:03:55.910 align:middle line:84% When I opened the fridge, it is so empty, 00:03:55.910 --> 00:03:58.370 align:middle line:84% it's like a bulldozed half-building. 00:03:58.370 --> 00:04:01.700 align:middle line:84% But the pantry is walk in olives and Sherry. 00:04:01.700 --> 00:04:03.800 align:middle line:84% Not like the last with its locks, 00:04:03.800 --> 00:04:07.790 align:middle line:84% with its May I this and that, it's curtsy and shuffle. 00:04:07.790 --> 00:04:11.240 align:middle line:84% Being help is the foster home forever. 00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:11.990 align:middle line:90% Hey, Ernie! 00:04:11.990 --> 00:04:12.770 align:middle line:90% I yell. 00:04:12.770 --> 00:04:18.200 align:middle line:84% Handling a quart of homemade piccalilli, but Ernie is out. 00:04:18.200 --> 00:04:20.180 align:middle line:84% From the picture window I catch him, 00:04:20.180 --> 00:04:23.600 align:middle line:84% changed into his only other outfit, patched dungarees, 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:28.160 align:middle line:84% wringing a wrench against the neighbor's stuck ex. 00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:30.020 align:middle line:84% The woman with the stucco waves at me 00:04:30.020 --> 00:04:33.230 align:middle line:84% as soon as Ernie fixes it, wiping his hands and wrench 00:04:33.230 --> 00:04:35.600 align:middle line:84% on his clean shirtfront, then accepting 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:39.830 align:middle line:84% her invite to come in, wash up, and no doubt, eat cookies. 00:04:39.830 --> 00:04:42.830 align:middle line:84% The woman at the window has cookie and a Saran Wrap face, 00:04:42.830 --> 00:04:45.080 align:middle line:90% not sex which is flatter. 00:04:45.080 --> 00:04:47.180 align:middle line:90% He goes in. 00:04:47.180 --> 00:04:50.090 align:middle line:84% I don't panic at being so elsewhere so fast. 00:04:50.090 --> 00:04:51.290 align:middle line:90% I know Ernie. 00:04:51.290 --> 00:04:54.350 align:middle line:84% Ernie will talk us up, we will stay the night, 00:04:54.350 --> 00:04:56.180 align:middle line:90% the night is something. 00:04:56.180 --> 00:04:58.790 align:middle line:84% I open cocktail wieners and feed them singly 00:04:58.790 --> 00:05:02.450 align:middle line:84% to the dog, who likes the smell of dark wood and low books, 00:05:02.450 --> 00:05:05.600 align:middle line:84% but does not mark anything, not once. 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:10.220 align:middle line:84% When Ernie comes back we agree, night is something. 00:05:10.220 --> 00:05:13.030 align:middle line:84% But we are there weeks and weeks."