No Talking - John Fetto

Hawely barely talked to anyone but Johanna, but he sure listened. He watched. He worked on his boat, or out on in the garage. Sometimes he wasn’t sure he was even listening, and she’d ask him a question, and then he’d answer, telling her something she said three months ago, word for word.

When her mother complained about the broken step on the porch, he didn’t say anything, but two days later the step was fixed, and the railing around the porch painted. When the garbage disposal broke and her mother told Johanna to get it fixed, and fixed right now, he went out and bought one and put it in himself. Then came the t.v., and how she couldn’t see anything because the color broke apart into three colors with the shadows. Her mother cursed the t.v. to Johanna until Hawley came in and sat with them. She bit her lip, not saying anything. But Hawley heard her.

When Johanna came home the next day, he was up on the roof, installing a new antenna, a huge thing that he tied down to the roof with guide wires. Her mother was in the living room watching her perfect screen, but still not saying anything good about Hawley. Johanna didn’t mind. No talking was better than listening to her complain.