The Silver Linings Playbook Chapter 41

How Is She?My natal day f altogethers on a Friday. December 29. In the laternoon, milliampere helps me videotape trash bags around my cast so I back tooth make for my first shower since I broke my wooden leg. This is sort of embarrassing to whistle roughly, precisely mammy has to help me keep my cast reveal of the shower, so she holds the shower curtain for me, protecting the cast, as I straddle the molding of the tub, exhausting to keep my weight on my good leg. Mom turn over me the soap when I need it and similarly the shampoo. She pret subverts non to look at my naked body, just now I am sure she gets a coup doeil at near ab pop point, which makes me notioning strange. I havent worked out in days, so I feel very small and weak but Mom doesnt say some(prenominal)thing about my diminished girth, because she is a kind woman.After my shower, Mom helps me put on a pair of sweatpants she has modified, cutting one leg off at the thigh so my cast can go amodal valu e through. I also put on a button-down shirt from the Gap and my new leather jacket. I hop down the steps, crutch my way out the door and into the backseat of Moms car, rallyting sideways so my cast entrust fit.When we arrive at the Voorhees house, I crutch my way into drop cloths office, pick the black recliner, prop my cast up on the footrest, and tell Cliff eitherthing.When I terminate my story, Cliff says, So youve been in bed since Christmas?Yeah.And you have no worry in reading or watching television?No.And youre non working out your upper body at all? No weights?No.What do you do all day?I sleep, or I think. Some periods I write, but Danny has been approaching to visit me too. I had already told Cliff all about God reuniting Danny and me, which even Cliff had to admit was a bit of a miracle and maybe the silver facing to my awful Christmas.What do you and Danny do when he visits?We play Parcheesi.Parcheesi?Its the Royal bet on of India. How can you non k this insta nt it?I know Parcheesi. Im just surprise you and Danny play board games together.Why?Cliff makes a funny face, but doesnt say anything.Danny brings his Parcheesi game all the way from North Philly. He rides the trains.Thats good, veracious? It must be square-toed to see your old friend.I was low-spirited to learn that he still cant rap, even after a stake operation, but his aunt got him a job doing the janitorial work at her church, which is also a day-care center. He wipes down the pews with pine oil and mops the floors and empties the trash and vacuums every night stuff interchangeable that. He smells like pine trees now too, which is sort of a nice bonus. But Danny is quieter than I ring him organism in the bad place.Did you tell Danny about what Tiffany did to you? Cliff makes.Yeah, I did.What did he say?Nothing.He didnt give you any advice?I didnt ask him for any advice.I see. Cliff grabs his chin, which lets me know he is sledding to say something my produce has told him. Pat, I know how you lost your warehousing. Everyone does. He pauses here, gauging my reaction. And I think you remember too. Do you?No.Do you want me to tell you how you lost your memory?No.Why?I dont say anything.I know Dr. Timbers utilise to tell you the story every day as part of your therapy. Thats why I never brought it up. I thought maybe you would talk about it when you were ready, but its been almost five months and now you have a mazed leg, and things seem to have gotten worse. I cant help feeling as though we need to start trying other tactics. What Tiffany suggested about closure is true. Im not saying her methods were honorable, but you really do need to come to term with what happened, Pat. You need closure.Maybe my movie isnt over, I say, because sometimes moviemakers trick the reference with a false bad ending, and just when you think the movie is going to end badly, something dramatic happens, which leads to the happy ending. This seems like a good ident ify for something dramatic to happen, particularly since its my birthday.Your life is not a movie, Pat. Life is not a movie. Youre an Eagles fan. After watching so many NFL seasons without a superior Bowl, you should know that real life often ends poorly.How can you say that now, especially since the Eagles have won four straight and are headed into the play-offs even after McNabb went down Cliff just looks at me, almost as if he is scared, and suddenly I realize that I was just yelling. But I cant help adding, With a negative attitude like that, it will end poorly, Cliff Youre starting to sound like Dr. Timbers You better watch out, or youre going to be defeated by pessimismThere is a considerable silence, and Cliff looks really worried, which begins to worry me.On the drive home, Mom tells me that great deal are coming over for my birthday. She is making me a birthday dinner. Is Nikki coming? I ask.No, Pat. Nikki is never coming, Mom says. Never.When we arrive home, Mom makes me sit in the family room while she cooks meat loaf and mashed potatoes and green beans and an apple pie. She keeps trying to talk to me, but I really do not feel like talking.Jake and Caitlin arrive first, and they try to cheer me up by talking really enthusiastically about the Birds, but it doesnt work.When Ronnie and Veronica arrive, Emily climbs onto my lap, which makes me feel a little better. Caitlin asks Emily if she wants to draw a picture on my cast, and when she nods, Mom finds some markers and we all watch little Emily draw. She starts off by making a wobbly circle, which is understandable, since the cast is not perfectly flat, nor smooth. But then she just scribbles all sorts of colors everywhere, and I cannot tell what she is up to until she points to her creation and says, titDid you draw a picture of Uncle Pat? Ronnie says, and when Emily nods, everyone laughs because it looks nothing like me.When we sit down at the dining-room table, my father is still not home. r egular(a) after the win over Dallas, he has been pretty distant lately, covert in his study again. Nobody mentions my dads absence, so I dont either.Moms meal is delicious, and everyone says so.When it is time for pie, they sing Happy Birthday to me, and then little Emily helps me blow out the candles that make the shape of the number 35. I hardly believe that I can actually be thirty-five, because I still feel like I am thirty maybe I only neediness I were thirty, because then Id have Nikki in my life.After we eat our pie, Emily helps me broadcast my presents. I get a brand-new wooden hand-painted Parcheesi board from Mom, who says she invited Danny to my party, but he had to work. Ronnie, Emily, and Veronica give me an Eagles fleece blanket. Jake and Caitlin give me a rank to a gym in Philadelphia. The brochure in the box says the baseball club has a pool and a steam room and basketball courts and racquetball courts and all types of weight-lifting equipment and other machines that build muscles. Its where I work out, my brother says. And I was persuasion we could start working out together once your leg mends. however though Im not all that interested in working out so much anymore, I realize that the membership is a nice present, so I thank Jake.When we retire to the living room, I ask Veronica about Tiffany. Hows Tiffany? I say. Im not really sure why I ask. The words just sort of slip out of my mouth, and when they do, everyone kale talking and a silence hangs in the air.I invited her to your party, Mom last offers, probably just so Veronica will not feel badly about her sister being excluded.Why? Jake asks. So she can lie to Pat again? Set him back a a few(prenominal) more years?She was only trying to help, Veronica says.Your sister has a funny way of helping.Stop, Caitlin says to Jake.And then the room is silent again.So how is she? I ask, because I really do want to know.