WHAT YOU ASK FOR

by Sarah Crysl Akhtar

"A beautiful child you have there," said Horvath.

"Think so? Really? Take her. Be my guest."

It was mostly a tough crowd and everyone knew Jeanie and her broken-glass sort of banter. But the room went quiet.

"I mean it," she said; "you think she's so gorgeous."

With so many missing pieces, Jeanie and Liane together didn't make a whole person. The boys were with their father and he'd hardly needed a lawyer to get them. No one came wanting Liane.

Liane looked younger than her age and Horvath's notice oughtn't have bothered us. Who doesn't admire pretty children?

"Ah," he said. "Yes." He left a tip on the table and took his check to Arlette at the register.

"And for the little girl's breakfast, too," he said.

Arlette hesitated and then took Horvath's money, and he went out, mild as he'd come in.

He was there the next Sunday and nothing so strange about it, even for a man like that; The Holdout had no glamour but served spectacular food.

We all assumed Horvath in his foreignness had something to do with the college, two exits over, though he'd bought an old farm spread on our side of the river. Local men were doing his renovations and they said he knew quality and had more books than anyone ought to need.

The car more than anything said money. A big old car, solid and kept purring; the kind that costs a lot to feed. A car like that's an expensive hobby. We try to do errands in one run because of the price of gas; that car got under our skin.

Jeanie tried to catch his eye, that day, but his gaze swept the room without preferment. We felt sorry for her, when he left, paying just for his own meal; she looked like the dumb kid in school who's had a mean trick played on her. But why would he have owed her anything?

And the week after, Jeanie ignored Horvath, three booths down.

He had to walk past her, to pay. He stopped, smiling at Liane.

"Would you like to ride in my car?" he asked, with the warm rich voice of a kind uncle from another side of the family.

"Yes," said Liane.

She slid out from her seat and took Horvath's hand, and he seemed to see all of us without looking at anyone, except Liane, and the two of them walked to Arlette's register where he paid his own bill.