E VA N M A N D E R Y
Chapter 16 ***
T
HE DAY AF TER DAVID AND KRISTIN’S DATE at the Mr. Donut parking lot,
Ron Hendrickson rang the Howards’ doorbell around one o’clock, stirring the house from its Sunday afternoon stupor. Other than the
occasional Jehovah’s Witness and young Beth Willard, who came around each February to sell Girl Scout cookies, the Howards didn’t get many visitors. Adina had once had friends, but they’d disappeared over the years— some through normal attrition, the rest because Mal found fault with them or perceived that they’d slighted him in some way. Mal never explicitly demanded that Adina end a friendship, but she understood that failing to do so would be perceived as disloyal. Disloyalty had repercussions. Mal had no friends per se. He had drinking buddies, and perhaps an illicit relation or two, but he kept these segregated from his home life. David had heard an occasional story about Frank and Joe from the bar, but they seemed like apocryphal characters from a novel. David had friends, but he’d never thought of bringing any of them by. Even Kristin had only been to the house a couple of times. When the ball rang, Adina was busy doing laundry, so she called for Mal to answer the door. On any day other than Sunday, Mal would, in turn, have summoned David. On Sundays, Mal allowed David to suspend his rigid practice routine and play with friends or the club pros. 167