The Silver Linings Playbook Chapter 42

I Need a Huge FavorOn sensitive Years eventide daylight, by and by agreeing to buy unlimited beer for our neighbors, Jake manages to trade s preys with the assuage-ticket holder in battlefront of me and once Jake is seated, he props my ensn be up onto his elevate so I am able to sit go through during the Falcons granulose.A few minutes into the first quarter, head coach Andy Reid pulls the starters, and the game announcer reports that D all toldas has in virtually way lost to Detroit, which means that the Birds have clinched the NFC East for the fifth condemnation in the last six years and the current game is meaningless. eveningryone in the Linc cheers, high fives abound, and it is hard to stay in a seated position.With the show meter wide receivers pop, I get my hopes up for Hank Baskett, and he very does mother a few balls in the first half, each of which Scott, Jake, and I maintain excessively because I am wearing my Baskett jersey everywhere my wintertime coat, and we all like to root for the undrafted rookie.Its 17 10 Eagles at halftime, and Scott genuinely a callons the game, saying that he promised his wife hed deign home for recent Years eventide if the Cowboys lost and the Eagles game became meaningless. I wear bulge him a hard time about going and am surprised that my pal does non sum in with the ribbing. But shortly after Scott comprises off, Jake says, Listen, Pat. Caitlin has me going to this black-tie New Years even secerny at the Rittenhouse Hotel. She was mad at me for going to the game today, and I was salmagundi of thinking about taking off archeozoic so I could surprise her. But I dont fatality to leave you here with the cast and all. So how do you witness about leaving early?Im shocked, and a little mad.I regard to go to if Baskett gets his due south touchdown, I say. But you batch go. Ill be all regenerate here with all the real Eagles fans the people who are staying to see the whole game. It s non a very nice thing for me to say, especially since Caitlin is probably already dressed and waiting for Jake to come home, further the truth is, I pauperism my pals help getting out of the Linc on crutches. I have a feeling that Baskett leave get the ball a lot in the game half, and I hunch forward Jake really wants to see the game anyway maybe hell be able to use his mentally ill brother as a ripe excuse for dismissing the first part of Caitlins New Years Eve society maybe this is what Jake really wants and take ups. Beer man I yell to the Coors Light guy who is passing our row. When he stops, I say, hardly one beer because this guy here is leaving his crippled, mentally insane brother to go to the Rittenhouse Hotel so that he can s pass on champagne with non-Eagles fans in tuxedos. My brother looks like I punched him in the gut, and soon he is pull out his wallet.All right. Fuck it. Make it dickens beers, Jake says, and I pull a face as my brother sits down in S cotts seat and helps me prop my cast up onto the stick out of the empty seat in front of me. finished the second half, Baskett compensates to catch A. J. Feeleys throws, and early in the fourth quarter my preferent player runs an out, catches the ball, and runs down the sideline eighty-nine yards for the second touchdown of his young career. Jake helps me stand, and and then everyone in our section is high-fiving me and slapping my back because everywhere my coat I am wearing the Baskett jersey my brother gave me when I first got out of the atrocious place.I would later learn that Baskett is the first Eagles player to catch both touchdown passes spaciouser than eighty yards in the same gentle which is an accomplishment, even if spell 84 has only been a marginal player this year.And you wanted to leave, I say to Jake.Go Baskett he says, and then gives me a one-armed oblique hug shoulder-to-shoulder. after(prenominal) the Eagles backup players win the last regular concil iate game, the Birds finish their season at 10-6, locking up at least(prenominal) one home play-off game in the process. I crutch my way out of the Linc with Jake as my fullback, parting the crowds, shouting, Cripple glide path through Cripple coming through Move out the wayWe dont meet up with Cliffs coterie until we get back to the fat mens tent and the Asian onset bus. But when we do, our friends greet us with a Baskett chant because number 84 had a career-high 177-yard day and an 89-yard TD.With play-offs to discuss, everyone is reluctant to leave, so we drink beers and discuss the 8-8 Giants, whom the Birds will play in the first round. When Cliff asks me if I think our police squad will beat the Giants, I enunciate my therapist, Not only will the Eagles win, plainly Hank Baskett will catch another touchdown.Cliff nods and smiles and says, You called it before the season even started Hank Baskett is the manJake leaves first because he and Caitlin have that hotel New Years Eve party to attend, so we all make fun of him and call him whipped but even though he is leaving us for his woman, I give him a hug and thank him again for staying, getting me a season ticket, and paying for the play-off tickets too, which are pretty expensive. And I k directly Jake has forgiven me for making him miss the second Dallas game, because he hugs me back and says, No problem, brother. I have it off you. Always. You know that.After Jake leaves, we drink beers for another half hour or so, but eventually many of the guys admit they too have New Years Eve plans with their wives, and I take the Asian Invasion bus home to New Jersey.The Eagles have won the last five games and the NFC East, so theres no filet Ashwini from blowing the Asian Invasion bus horn when he pulls up to my parents house, and when he does, the chant blares loudly E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES which brings my mother to the door.Standing on the front step, mamma and I wave as the green bus pulls away.We eat a l ate New Years Eve dinner together as a family, but even after another Eagles win and with superintendent Bowl hopes alive, my father doesnt say practically, and he heads for his study before Mom finishes her meal, probably so he can read historical fiction. salutary before the ball drops on Dads huge flat- screenland television, Mom asks me if I want to go out of doors and bang pots and pans like we used to do when I was a kid. I tell Mom I dont really want to bang pots and pans, especially since I am tired from spending the day outside in the cold, so from the couch, we watch people celebrating in measure Square.Two thousand and six becomes 2007.Its going to be a faithful year for us, Mom says, and then forces a smile.I smile back at Mom, not because I think it is going to be a tidy year, but because my father went to bed an hour ago, Nikki never came back, theres not even the slightest inclination to suggest that 2007 is going to be a good year for either Mom or me, and yet Mom is muted trying to find that silver lining she taught me about so long ago. She is still safekeeping on to hope. Its going to be a good year, I say.When Mom falls hypnoid on the couch, I turn away off the television and watch her breathe. She still looks pretty, and seeing her resting so peacefully makes me angry at my dad, even though I know he cant change who he is, but I wish that he would at least try to appreciate Mom more and spend just about quality time with her, especially since he doesnt even have the Eagles to be grumpy about anymore, because the season is already a success careless(predicate) of what happens in the play-offs, especially after making it this far without McNabb. And yet I know my father is not likely to change, because I have know him for thirty-five years, and he has always been the same man.Mom tucks her knees and elbows in mop up to her body and produces to shiver, so I push myself up, grab my crutches, and crutch my way over to the exclud et. I pull a blanket from the bottom of the closet, crutch my way over to Mom, and masking piece her but she continues to shiver. Back at the closet, I see a heavier blanket on the top shelf, so I reach up and pull it down. It falls on top of my head just after I hear a little crash. I look down, and by my feet is a word-paintingcassette in a white plastic case that has two ringing bells on the cover.I crutch my way over to my mother and cover her with the heavier blanket.It is hard to pick up the cassette with my cast preventing me from squatting I actually have to sit down on the floor to pick it up. After sliding over to the TV, I slip the cassette into the VCR. I look over my shoulder, checking to make sure that Mom is sleeping soundly, and then turn down the volume before I hit PLAY.The video is not all told rewound, and the part that pops up on-screen is the beginning of the reception dinner. Our guests are seated in the junket room of the Glenmont Country Club, which is near a golf line of reasoning in a swanky little town just outside Baltimore. The camera is focused on the entrance doorway, but you can see the dance floor and the peck too. Using the micro call up, the lead singer says, Lets antedate the wedding party Philly style, at which point the horn section of the band begins playing the opening notes of Gonna Fly Now The guitarist and bassist and drummer soon begin playing, and even though it doesnt sound exactly like Rockys theme song, its close enough to get the job done.Parents of the groom, Mr. and Mrs. Patrick PeoplesOur guests clap politely as my mammary gland and dad cross the dance floor arm in arm, and the monstrous expression on my fathers face suggests that this was one of the worst experiences of his life cosmos announced at my wedding.Parents of the bride, Mr. and Mrs. George Gates.Nikkis parents do a little skipping routine into the banquet hall, making them look sloshed, which they were, and I laugh thinking about how much fun my in-laws were when they drank. I really do miss Nikkis parents.Bridesmaid, Elizabeth Richards, and groomsman, Ronnie Brown.Liz and Ronnie come out waving to our guests, as if they are royalty or something, which was rum, and the tactic all but mutes their applause. Ronnie looks young in the video, and I think about how he was not yet a father, how Emily did not even exist when this video was shot.Maid of honor, Wendy Rumsford, and best man, Jake PeoplesJake and Wendy walk across the dance floor and right away toward the camera until their faces are large on my fathers huge flat-screen television. Wendy just sort of screams like she is at an Eagles game or something, but Jake says, I love you, brother and then kisses the camera lens, leaving a lip-shaped smudge mark. I see the videographers hand emerge and quickly wipe the lens with a piece of cloth.And now, for the first time ever, allow me to introduce Mr. and Mrs. Pat PeoplesEveryone stands and cheers as we walk int o the banquet room. Nikki looks so pretty in her wedding dress. Shes holding her head in that cute, shy position, with her chin close to her chest, and seeing her now makes me cry because I miss her so much.When we move to the dance floor, the band shifts gears, and I hear those sexy synthesiser chords, faint high-hat taps, and then the threefold saxophonist steps forward and Songbird takes flight.Something in my mind begins to melt, and it feels as though I am experiencing an ice-cream headache or as if mortal is churning my brain with an ice pick. Im not seeing the television screen anymore, Im seeing the road through a fogged windshield, and its raining something fierce. Its not even four in the afternoon, but its as dark as midnight. Im upset because we have a big game coming up and yet the gym roof is leaking again like a sieve, which has strained me to cancel basketball practice.All I want to do is take a shower bath and then watch game tapes.But when I enter my house, I hear a soprano sax moaning, and its strange to hear Kenny Gs smooth jazz coming from my ass at a time like this. Mr. Gs notes are swirling all about. I open the bathroom door I feel the steam lick my skin, and I wonderment why Nikki is listening to our wedding song in the shower. Kenny Gs solo has reached a climax once more. The CD player is on the sink, and two piles of clothes rest on the floor, and a pair of mens glasses are on the sink next to the CD player. Sexy synthesizer chords, faint high-hat taps.You fucking whore I scream as I rip the shower curtain off the rod, exposing so much awful, sebaceous flesh.Im standing in the tub. My hands are around his throat. Im between them now, the shower is spraying the back of my coat with hot spokes, weighing down my sweatpants, and he is in the air, begging me with his look, pleading for a breath of air. His hands are trying to break my grip, but he is a tiny, weak man. Nikki is shrieking Kenny G is playing Nikkis lover is tu rning purple. Hes so small, I can hold him up against the tiles with one hand. I cock my elbow back, stick a tight, teeth-shattering fist, and take aim. His nose explodes like a packet of ketchup. His eyes are rolling into the back of his head his hands have fall away from mine. When I cock back my fist a second time, the music stops playing, and then Im on my back in the tub and Nikkis naked lover has fallen out of the tub and naked Nikki is holding the CD player in her trembling hands. When I try to stand, she smashes the CD player over my head once more my knees give out, and I see the silver faucet rise like some fat, promising snake to strike the hard spot just above my right eyebrow, and then I wake up in a infirmary and immediately begin vomiting all over myself, until nurses arrive and tell me not to move my head. And Im crying and calling for Nikki, but she does not come to me. My head hurts so badly. When I touch my forehead, I feel some sort of bandage, but then my han ds are being forced to my sides. The nurses are screaming and holding me down, and then doctors are restraining me too. I feel a prick in my arm, and When I blink, I see my demonstration in the blank television screen. The video has ended. I look life-size on my fathers flat screen, and I can see my mother asleep on the couch, just over my right shoulder. As I continue to stare at myself, my little white scar begins to itch, but I do not really want to smash my forehead with my fist.I find my feet and crutch my way into the kitchen. The address book is still in the storage locker above the stove. I place a call to Jakes apartment. As the phone rings, I look at the microwave and see that it is 254 a.m., but I remember that Jake is at a swanky hotel party and wont be home until tomorrow, so I decide to leave a message.Hello, youve reached Jake and Caitlins machine. Please leave a message after the beep. Beep.Jake, its your brother, Pat. I need a huge favor