Say something, I chastised myself. For once in your life, be as human as a goddamned monkey. Because it was plain from the girl’s tone that she did remember her father, though I could hardly correct her. “I’m sorry to hear that.” A long pause ensued. The camera panned in for a dramatic close-up. I railed against the maddening self-consciousness and stumbled ahead. “How old were you?”
Delmore stopped moaning long enough to snarl at me. “Three years, seven months and nine days. Christ! What difference does it make how old she was?”
“I think I was four. My mom doesn’t like to talk about it. Except sometimes, when she’s been . . . she . . .” Chelsea suddenly pulled her coat together at her neck, as if Greg Arious were the past that she didn’t want to escape into the open. “And my grandpa, he
