One or the Other by John McFetridge Page A

going out.”
    â€œYou sure?”
    â€œYeah, I’m just waiting for Mark and Ralph.”
    Judy said, “Okay.” She still had the folded menus in her hand, and she was just staring at them.
    Dougherty said, “Why don’t you get the Chinese, there’ll be leftovers.”
    â€œYeah, okay.”
    Abby put her empty glass in the sink and walked out.
    Dougherty was trying to think of something to say to Judy but he couldn’t come up with anything, and then Audrey came into the kitchen and said, “Have you decided?” She got out the ice cubes and started making herself another drink.
    Judy said, “Chinese.”
    â€œGet won ton soup, too.” She turned to Dougherty. “Do you want another drink?”
    â€œSure.” He drank the last of what he had and handed her the empty glass.
    While Audrey was making the drink, she said, “So how are the interviews going, have you picked a school yet?”
    Judy was dialling the phone and she said, “I’m going to have to take whatever I can get. Oh hi, I’d like to place an order . . . Yes, dinner number four . . . for six, I guess. And two, no three, won ton soups.” She gave the address and then went over the order again.
    Audrey handed Dougherty his drink and picked up her own glass off the counter.
    Judy hung up and said, “Half an hour.”
    â€œHave you applied to all the school boards?”
    â€œAll the Protestant ones: Greater Montreal, south shore, Laval.”
    â€œWhat about West Island?”
    Dougherty walked out of the kitchen. He was glad they were talking, he was glad it was just normal conversation but it still felt odd, the way they could just move on.
    Abby was coming up from the basement and heading to the front door without slowing down. Dougherty followed her and stepped out onto the balcony as she headed down the walk. A couple of boys were standing on the sidewalk waiting. They both had long hair and were trying to grow beards, and they were both wearing jean jackets and jeans and one of them had on a t-shirt that said
Disco Sucks
across the front. They all looked serious, Abby and both boys, no one smiled and they didn’t seem to say much to each other as they walked away.
    Dougherty looked up and down the street, and now he was starting to see what Judy meant about all the houses being the same. Still, it was quiet.
    And it was quiet inside the house. Judy and Audrey were sitting at the kitchen table talking.
    Dougherty went down into the basement and turned on the TV. There were album covers scattered on the floor in front of the stereo and the place smelled like cigarettes and pot and he wondered how long the girls had been smoking at home. Since before their dad moved out, he figured, however long that had been.
----
    Monday afternoon Dougherty stopped in for a cup of coffee at the restaurant a few doors down from the bank building and saw Paquette on a stool at the counter.
    Dougherty was thinking about walking out when Paquette said, “Hey, Eddie,” looking like he wanted to talk.
    â€œClaude, ça va?”
    â€œDid you hear?” Speaking English.
    Dougherty said, “No, what?”
    â€œ
Tabarnak
, Gagnon and Levine, they got jumped last night.”
    â€œWhat the hell?”
    The lunch rush was over, and there were only a few people in the restaurant. A guy behind the counter refilled Paquette’s mug and held up the coffee pot for Dougherty, who said, “I’m going to get a takeout, okay, boss?”
    â€œSure thing.” The guy moved away to get a paper cup.
    Paquette said, “At Molly McGuire’s.”
    â€œThey went there by themselves?”
    â€œThey were looking for a guy, some guy Levine says he knows. Place was crowded.”
    â€œThat’s the one upstairs, right?”
    Paquette drank some coffee, nodding, and said, “Yeah, that narrow stairway, so steep.”
    â€œYeah.”