“Ladies,” he began patiently, “since Irving is now so important, and since neither he nor any of you could ever bear the thought of through traffic, or the rush and noise of life on such an unimportant street with him, this is far too downmarket a place for you. Only little people live here. People of no consequence whatsoever. No, no, you’re right not to waste your time. This is really a low-class area. A surgeon needs a high-class home…” He tapped the side of his nose and winked at Irving.
The large woman looked at him uncertainly. Had he meant what he said? Was he serious?
Irving had said not a word. He smiled uncertainly at Paul, and prepared to drive off, but stopped sharply. Another woman, this one in a lime-green pantsuit, had just dashed in front of the Cadillac. “Oh, sorry,” she said, breathlessly, to Irving at the wheel, “I thought you were going to take Pancho– I mean Dr. Price– away from us, but I see he’s about to go back into his house. That’s why I came out–of my house: I wanted to catch him. You should just see his operating room, so state-of-the-art! He’s so busy these days, with all his patients, we don’t get to see him much, except, sometimes, like today, on a weekend, when he’s busy with his lawn. I never ring his doorbell. Oh, I’m so out of breath! Sorry, I’m Margaret, from across the street: are you from out of town, just passing through? I saw your ‘Noo-Yawk’ plates-that’s how I knew you weren’t local…”
All of the Cadillac’s occupants were speechless. Margaret assumed they had nothing to say, so the flood of words continued. She turned to Paul. “How is our little munchkin, doctor? Do tell how the operation went, please! The children are dying to know, they asked me to find out. How’s she doing?”
“She’s fine, Margaret. She’ll be home with you tomorrow.”
“Oh, goody, the kids’ll be so pleased. Gotta go now and tell them. Nice to meet you folks! Happy trails!” And in a flash of lime green, she dashed back across the street with the news.
Paul, with a nod and an ironic bow to the Cadillac, walked back up his driveway with nothing more to say. Irving’s family sat still, deflated. The women looked at one another as if stupefied. Irving moved the car slowly down the street. The indicator flashed at the corner stop sign, and the car vanished, never to return. No-one knows how long the silence inside it lasted…
Margaret closed her front door and called her children. “Debbie, Ronnie, Cindy: it’s OK, Tigress is fine! She’ll be home again tomorrow. She’s been fixed. All went well, but she can’t have any more kittens, I’m afraid. Now, don’t start, Cindy: we had enough problems finding homes for her last litter…”
As for Dr. Price, he turned from his side door and headed to the garage once more. “Now to fix those darned dandelions once and for all… After all, that’s what I am : a fixer…”
