He pulled on a pair of shorts, stumbled down the front stairs, and opened the door to find a sinewy woman in cargo pants and a yellow T-shirt carrying a bucket and sponge. She smiled primly as she entered, pretending not to notice Nathan’s bed head, and in return Nathan pretended not to notice that she’d nearly beaten the door off its frame. “You called Monday saying,” she looked down at her clipboard, “Eleanor Broderick wanted a bath this morning.” Nathan noticed the nurse’s badge clipped to the woman’s pocket, nodded, and said, “That’s right.” Back home, Ralph had told him that Ellen employed a nursing service in Cleveland to help her bathe, so Nathan had scanned the local yellow pages to find someone to do the same for her here. After introducing the nurse to Ellen, he guided them upstairs to the bathroom, then told them he’d be back in half an hour. The sky was a threatening concrete slab, but Nathan wanted a little exercise, so he decided to walk the quarter-mile to Gilman’s grocery.
