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Clyde nervously straightened the bedcovers in the guest bedroom one more time. They were military straight edges but he still carefully adjusted the pillows, the pink flower print finally free of wrinkles.
The whole room had been one of his last projects on the house. His new home, after selling the double wide he used to share with his brother, had been in bad shape when he purchased it but thanks to his ‘inheritance’ he was able to do necessary repairs and slowly create a space all his own.
He had never lived alone. Straight into the military after high school then coming home to live with his brother, both their parents long dead, and living with his sister temporarily before buying the house he now lived in.
It had been an adjustment to say the least.
His siblings had been sure to help him with his projects and making it accessible for all his needs. Clyde didn’t have too much trouble, it was really his clothes he ever needed help with.
Mellie had been doing her best, her sewing skills weren’t great but she had adjusted most of his clothes to make them easy to close with one hand. Velcro had been fine for a while until it wore down, Sylvie had suggested magnets after seeing clothes from other amputees she worked with.
Her sewing skills were a bit better even if she was used to skin instead of cloth.
Sadie had clumsily done one of his shirts, adding another hobby to her roster, the stitches all different sizes and almost not usable but it was his favorite shirt. She was coming to stay the night, his first guest in the house.
It was Jimmy’s weekend but he had been called into work, one of his cashiers not showing up for their shift when he should have. As the newest manager he had to go in and cover for it since they couldn’t get ahold of any other workers.
He hummed along to the radio that quietly pumped out music from his bedroom, his socks sliding on the hardwood floors as he made one last round sweeping. It wouldn’t do to have Sadie step on something sharp because he had missed it.
The sound of Jimmy’s truck came up his small driveway and Clyde quickly put away the broom. The screen door banged open and his brother came inside holding Sadie’s green overnight bag, his own backpack on his shoulders.
“Damn Clyde it looks like you could eat off the floor in here.”
He shrugged and Sadie kicked off her shoes before sliding around, “Hi Uncle Clyde.”
Clyde very rarely smiled but he always did for his niece, she was just as shy as he was sometimes, save for when her urge to show off came out. She was like her parents, wanting to be the center of attention, but sometimes only Clyde understood that sometimes she just wanted to be quiet and left alone.
“Hey Sadie, ya ready to spend some time with me?”
She smiled and tugged out her doll from her bag, “Yeah, me and Kit got some new books from the library.”
Jimmy put away her things and told Clyde he would send him a message when he got off work. He would be back and sleep at Clyde’s home as well, the couch pulled out into a comfortable enough bed. After kissing his daughter goodbye he went off and Clyde was left with his niece at 4 in the afternoon.
They spent 2 hours reading and Sadie climbed all over the house. She was old enough that he didn’t really worry about her jumping from the chair to the couch but he still nearly had a panic attack when she faltered on her last jump.
“I think that’s enough of that, come on down and let’s figure out something to eat.”
There was no need for a stepstool in his kitchen so he hoisted Sadie to sit on the counter while he went through options for dinner. She wanted spaghetti and it was easy enough to make, she wasn’t real picky about the store bought tomato sauce he had.
Sadie insisted on cutting the garlic bread and he kept his hand on hers while she slowly cut the loaf. It was mangled when she was done with it but the pieces were thick enough and he put it in the oven.
She wanted to change her doll’s clothes so she went to the bedroom while he kept an eye on the pasta. The food was finished and it was a little too quiet when he called her name. Making sure the oven and burners were off he went to check on her and found her on the floor, tugging a brush through the now tangled hair.
“Well what have you done here hon?”
There were frustrated tears in her eyes, “I just wanted to make her hair big like Aunt Mellie’s, so I was teasin’ it but I can’t get my brush through it now.”
He didn’t know too much about hair, that was more Mellie’s area, but he touched the doll’s hair and tugged a little. His fat fingers made the doll look miniscule but the American Girl doll was larger than her other dolls. More expensive too.
“Well, how about we leave her in here for now and go eat. We’ll give it a try after that?”
They ate quickly, Sadie’s mood perked up a little from the food, and cleaned up. The window above his kitchen sink looked out on his backyard, the wooden deck and fold-up plastic chairs bathed in the setting sunlight. They took the doll outside with her brush and the detangler spray but didn’t get very far.
Clyde tried as well, gently tugging at the fake hair and trying not to rip anything out. He didn’t do any better than Sadie. She sat down in a slump, picking at the hair while Clyde searched on his phone for ways to detangle.
There were a few options but he wasn’t sure what would be best, what wouldn’t just ruin the doll’s hair. He knew it had been a gift from Bobbie Jo’s Grandma and there would be hell to pay if it was ruined.
So he looked up the closest toy store and called them, hoping they would know better than him on how to fix the situation. He had been through two tours in Iraq but none of it prepared him for something like this.
He had hoped while still overseas that he would come back, find a girl, and start a family. Then he got blown up, lost his hand, and retreated even further into himself.
Clyde had been set up on a few dates with Mellie’s friends but none of them had really hit it off. He knew he was too quiet, too big, kind of scary. Missing one hand. It was fine that none of them had proceeded to a second date.
It was fine.
It was fine that he wouldn’t be giving Sadie a cousin to play with, to play dolls with or pretend to fix cars. She was enough and he was going to fix this.
The voice from the other end of the phone was that of a young woman, a British accent startling him from his thoughts, “Greenpoint Toys how can I help you?”
“Uh hi, I was hoping you could answer a question for me?”
“Sure can, what can I do for you?”
It seemed embarrassing now to ask someone younger than him how to fix a problem he couldn’t solve but he saw Sadie tug again at the hair, “I have a doll that got it’s hair all tangled and I was wonderin’ if you knew anything I could do t’ fix it?”
“Well sure, what kind of doll is it?”
He told her and she described a mixture of fabric softener and water, completely soaking it before starting on the ends and working their way back to the scalp.
“Does she have a brush that came with her? You don’t want to use a plastic brush.”
Sadie showed him the fancy stiff brush that came with her doll and set it down, the toy store employee said, “Once it’s all straight you don’t want to blow dry it just let it air dry. The material in the hair could melt if you tried to blow dry it.”
“Thank you miss, I never got your name?”
“Oh it’s Rey, and it’s no trouble at all sir.”
The way her mouth shaped sir made him stiffen but he shook himself, focusing on the doll and towels in front of him.
“Do you have any more questions or are you all set?”
“I think I’ve got it figured out, again I can’t thank you enough.”
He could hear the smile in her voice, “Of course sir, happy to help. You have a good one.”
“You too.”
Sadie shook the spray bottle with fabric softener and water before spraying the hair until it was dripping onto the towel. He started at the end and slowly worked his way up, the brush looking comical in his giant hands. But it was working.
Once the hair was completely straight he put the doll down on the ground and Sadie smiled up at him, still missing a tooth that had fallen out only a week before.
“You did it Uncle Clyde, you fixed her.”
“S’pose I did. How ‘bout that.”
They stayed outside to let it dry, it was still warm enough and the remaining sun helped it dry faster. He kicked a soccer ball around with her until the fireflies started to glow, then she wanted to catch as many as she could.
With his one hand he held a mason jar for her to fill, his prosthetic inside since he had been sweating. Clyde didn’t mind the robotic hand but it was a little too heavy to run around with. Sadie was long used to it and didn’t stare like when she was a toddler, grabbing onto his stump to drag him towards more insects.
“Come on now, let’s find something with holes for the top.”
The plastic wrap was too flimsy so he took the metal mason jar lid and took a phillips head screwdriver to jam holes into it. Sadie was delighted and carefully set it on the dresser in her room, pressing her face close to watch the insects light up.
“Now you know we gotta let ‘em go in the morning right?”
She nodded and kept her eyes on the jar, fascinated like he and his siblings had been when they were children. Clyde glanced at the clock and made her take a bath while he changed into his own pajamas. He went around the upstairs windows and cracked all of them, preferring to let the cool air in instead of turning on the air conditioner.
The rest of the night went by quickly, Sadie falling asleep during a movie and Clyde tucked her into bed, making sure the hallway light was left on. Jimmy returned not too long after and after a short game of cards went to sleep as well.
Mellie wanted to go shopping and she was dragging him along, claiming Clyde needed new pants.
“You sure you just don’t need someone to carry your bags?”
“Nonsense I love spending time with my brother.”
Sure enough he was carrying 4 bags in his hand after 45 minutes. He didn’t complain too much really, he supposed he could use another pair of pants and the bookstore wasn’t too far. Walking through the strip mall to put away some bags Mellie pointed out the toy story, Sadie’s birthday was soon so why not take a look.
Clyde already had a small set of real tools for her but as Mellie looked at some of the games he noticed the doll section. A local seamstress made doll clothes and sold them through the store. He held one dress in his hand when a worker approached him, “Are you finding everything alright?”
The familiar British accent turned his entire body towards her, she was Mellie’s height and had to look up at him, her hazel eyes bright and smile giant on her face.
With a quick glance at her name tag he replied, “Yeah, um, Rey right?”
“Sure am.”
Mellie came up behind him and grabbed onto his arm, her hair tickling his skin. She didn’t say anything as Clyde’s voice caught in his throat, now more nervous seeing how pretty Rey was.
“I called about doll hair and you helped me, I just wanted to say thanks and it worked real well.”
“Oh of course! Always happy to help.”
He tensed, unsure of anything else to continue the conversation and Mellie felt it. She asked, “Y’all got any croquet sets?”
Rey showed her to their outdoor games while Clyde trailed behind, still nervous. During the rest of their short trip he didn’t say anything else, silently purchasing the doll clothes. Back out in Mellie’s car she waved a hand in front of his face, “You doin’ alright?”
“Yeah.”
Her brown eyes were sharp and being his sister she said the obvious, “No you’re not. You liked her.”
Like a child he responded, “No I don’t.”
“Oh come on, I know you do. Remember Christine Brown?” He did unfortunately, his senior year prom date who ended up spending most of the night with her friends instead of dancing with him.
“You liked her so much you never talked to her after the prom and then she ended up dating Jared. That ain’t gonna happen this time.”
The Logan siblings bickered in the car while Rey peeked out the window, wondering if they were alright.
She mourned that he was clearly in a relationship with that pretty girl and had a child he obviously loved and took care of their toys. He was so big and quietly handsome, most of the guys she had been on a date with had been loud and obnoxious, clearly posturing for her.
Rey watched them pull out of the parking lot, the classic car making plenty of noise. She wanted one of her own but at the rate she was paying off her student loans it didn’t seem likely. She tidied up an aisle when the bell chimed again and heavy footsteps approached, Rey turned to see the large customer in front of her again.
The woman had remained outside, her sunglasses lowered on her nose as she watched them. The man in front of her didn’t fidget but his face was contorted in what could be perceived as pain, so Rey asked, “Did you forget something?”
Silence for a moment, then he said in a quiet voice, “Sort of.”
He didn’t elaborate further and she could see the woman in the car getting frustrated, not seeing any movement from either of them and got out of her car.
Mellie came inside, her heels clacking against the pavement, “Miss Rey my brother here is too damn shy to ask so I’ll do it for him, you got any plans for the fair this weekend?”
Stunned for a moment by the revelation that her assumption was wrong. Rey blinked for a moment and turned to look at the man in front of her. His face wasn’t red but she could tell he was embarrassed, and that she didn’t see much familial resemblance between the siblings.
“I hadn’t planned on it, but I could make an appearance.”
“Perfect, let me get your number.”
The two women exchanged numbers, Rey glancing at the name provided on the contact as Mellie. Before the Logans could leave though Rey gently grasped Clyde’s arm, “I didn’t catch your name though.”
He told her and she smiled, testing his name on her tongue, and he wished he could listen to her whisper his name repeatedly.
But maybe after the fair first.