“Here Honey, I circled these for you.” Iris handed Lily the Help Wanted ads in the Sunday Press-Gazette.
“Wow, Iris, that’s great! I lost my job less than five hours ago and you’ve already found me a new one. Here’s the muffin tin I borrowed; it’s been in my car for weeks. So who ratted me out?”
“Mother called. I’m just trying to help. Heaven knows you can’t count on Derek to come through.”
“Can we let Derek off the hook for this one?”
“Well if he was working, you and the kids would be set and you wouldn’t have to work at all.”
“Iris, he is working. He sends money when he’s got money.”
“Squandering a law degree to throw pots and sell crystals in Sedona is not working, it’s avoiding responsibility.”
“This is not about Derek!” Lily shouted.
Ted emerged from the living holdin the cordless phone to his wife. "Iris, it's for you." He so rarely spoke that the sound of his voice always startled Lily.
“Oh, I didn’t even hear it ring. Hello? Hello?” Iris repeated several times into the phone. “Oh for heaven’s sake! We got cut off. Who was it Ted?”
“Didn’t say.” Ted winked at Lily and retreated back to his La-Z-Boy and the Packer game.
Lily looked at some of the jobs that Iris had circled.
“Church organist?”
“Hey, it’s good money.”
“A. I’m not Lutheran.”
“They won’t mind, I asked.”
“B. I don’t play the organ.”
“You play the piano. Same difference.”
“I took three years of piano in grade school. They want someone with a degree.”
“You’ve got a degree.”
“In occupational therapy, not organ performance.”
“Well, excuse me for trying to help.”
“I’m sorry, Iris. You’re a doll to find these for me and I will look them over. Right now I have to go and rescue Vi from the wrath of Jared. And Ted,” she called to the living room, "you’re beautiful, Baby, don’t ever change.”
Ted threw her a kiss without ever taking his eyes off the game.