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Mendel

Mendel emerged from the curtain, not knowing what to feel. 

  "Mendel!" Trina gasped. She was sitting in a nearby chair, hugging Jason, who was standing next to her like a statue, staring in disbelief. She got up out of the chair and stumbled over, tripping on her high heels. "Mendel, is he-" 

  He pulled her into a hug and they stood there for just a minute, him stroking her hair. "I don't know, Trina. They're taking care of him, I guess, that's what hospitals do. All we can do is wait." 

  What should he feel? His patient's lover, his wife's ex-husband's lover - no one he ever expected to care about. Someone who shouldn't have made a real difference in his life one way or another, he supposed. Unless you counted Marvin going off with Whizzer the reason Mendel had gotten together with Trina, the love of his life, which would mean that Whizzer made every difference. 

  Maybe I need to stop being a psychiatrist. I analyze stuff too much. 

  Besides, what could he analyze? The well of sadness growing in his heart that was unexplainable, the urge to weep like Trina wept? Why did she care about him, anyway? Wasn't he the man that took her husband from her? Shouldn't she hate him? Shouldn't she all but enjoy the possibility of his death? 

  Stop. You're being an asshole now. Just because Whizzer and Marvin are together doesn't mean Trina has to hate Whizzer. 

  Mendel withdrew from the hug and glanced at Jason. He hadn't moved. 

  "Should we go?" he mouthed at Trina. He spoke, lowering his voice so Jason couldn't hear. "I don't want him to be here for this. Maybe we should just go home."

  "I have to be here for Marvin." Trina wiped her eyes with the handkerchief. "Take Jason home. I'll get a ride home with someone. Please." 

  Knowing better than to go against orders from Trina, Mendel gave her one last kiss on the cheek and walked past her to Jason, grasping his hand and leading them out the door. 

  The instant the door closed behind them, Jason turned to face Mendel. "Is Whizzer okay?" There was a ferocity behind his eyes that Mendel had never seen on him before, a ferocity he didn't even know Jason was capable of. "I'm not leaving till we know he's okay." 

  Dammit. How to break it to the kid that one of his best friends, almost like a father, was dying, maybe already dead? As far as he knew, no one had really had the "talk" with Jason about Whizzer's illness, and what it could lead to. Where was Trina when you needed her? 

  She trusts me to care for Jason. I have to do this on my own. 

  "I know you don't want to go," Mendel said hesitantly, "but . . . uh . . . you haven't had dinner yet and your mom wants you to eat." 

  Real smooth, Weisenbachfeld. 

  "Don't lie!" Jason shouted. Luckily, they were alone in the hallway. Mendel got embarrassed when people shouted at him in public. "Something's wrong!" 

  "We don't know that yet," Mendel lied. "Maybe he'll be okay. Your mother says we need to go." 

  "I can't." Jason's face looked stony. "He wouldn't leave me." 

  Well, what the hell could he do now? There was no denying it was probably true, but Trina had told Mendel to take Jason home, and he could see why. Whizzer's death would be hard enough without Jason having to be there for it. Mendel took a deep breath and crouched down so he was eye level with the boy, and saw pain, fear, and barely held-back tears in his eyes. 

  "Jason, this is going to be difficult. I'm not going to tell you that 'that's how life is' because that doesn't make it better, we both know that. But I am going to ask you to be brave, and I do know you can do that. For Whizzer." 

  Maybe he was imagining it, but Jason stood a little taller. Some of the grief disappeared from behind his eyes. "For Whizzer." 

  The two walked silently out to the parking lot, into the small car. Mendel almost hit a fire hydrant on the way out, but some form of luck at least happened to be on their side, and they made it home without incident.

  Jason was sleeping in the backseat when they pulled into the driveway of their dark, quiet house, and Mendel carried him inside.