Eles voltaram para Cincinnati. Raymond sentou na parte de trás do Buick e observou a estrada passar. Ele não disse nada a Charlie ou Susanna, mas murmurou coisas estranhas para si mesmo.
Eles foram para um hotel e levaram dois quartos. Charlie mostrou a Raymond seu quarto.
“Este é o seu quarto, Ray”, ele disse.
Aquilo foi um grande erro.
Raymond olhou ao redor da sala. “Este não é o meu quarto”, disse ele. Havia uma expressão assustada no rosto dele. ‘Isto é… não é o meu quarto.’
“Só por esta noite”, disse Charlie.
“Até levarmos você para casa”, disse Susanna.
Mas Raymond estava muito chateado agora. Ele estava balançando a cabeça de um lado para o outro e murmurando para si mesmo. ‘Claro, eu vou estar aqui há muito tempo. A muito tempo … Claro, eles se mudaram minha cama.’
“Desculpe, Raymond”, disse Charlie. “Você gosta da cama embaixo da janela.” Ele começou a empurrar a cama para o novo lugar.
Mas Raymond ainda estava infeliz. Ele começou a murmurar sobre livros. O único livro na sala era uma lista telefônica para Cincinnati.
“Charlie, vamos levá-lo para casa”, disse Susanna. Ela gostava de Raymond e não gostava de vê-lo chateado.
‘He’s OK,’ Charlie said. ‘Do you like pizza, Ray?’
‘Do you like pizza, Charlie Babbitt?’ Raymond knew the word “pizza” because “pizza” was a Wallbrook word. This calmed him a little.
‘I’ll ask the hotel to send a pizza up to your room,’ Charlie said. ‘We like pizza, don’t we, Ray? We’re brothers.’
‘Charlie, he still doesn’t look happy,’ Susanna said. ‘I don’t understand why you brought him here. I think he wants to go back to Wallbrook.’
‘Ray’s fine,’ Charlie said, ‘all he needs is some TV and some pizza. What’s on TV, Ray?’
Raymond looked at his watch. ‘The Lucky Money Wheel,’ he told the watch.
‘Great. Sit down and you can watch it.’
Charlie turned on the TV. The Lucky Money Wheel came on.
‘You’ve got your TV,’ Charlie said. ‘You’ve got a pizza coming. Aren’t things good, Ray?’
Charlie looked at Raymond and Raymond looked at Charlie, but there was no expression on his face.
‘Do you ever smile, Ray?’ Charlie asked.
‘Do you ever smile?’ Raymond repeated. There was still no expression on his face.
Raymond sat on his bed and watched television. Charlie came in with a pizza.
Ray looked at the pizza and shook his head. ‘What’s the problem, Ray?’ Charlie asked.
Raymond wanted to eat the pizza the way that he ate it at Wallbrook. Charlie cut the pizza into tiny squares for him, and put each square on a toothpick.
Charlie and Susanna went off to their room. Raymond watched a film. A man in the film told his son to turn the television off. Raymond got up and turned his television off.
Raymond continued to look at the television, but now there was nothing to watch. He heard the sound of another television in Charlie and Susanna’s room. Raymond got up and went into their room.
Charlie and Susanna were in bed. They did not see Raymond come into the room. Raymond sat on the end of the bed and watched the television.
Susanna saw him first. ‘Charlie,’ she said, in a quiet voice. ‘Raymond is sitting at the end of the bed.’
Charlie sat up and saw that Raymond was watching TV and eating pizza. ‘Raymond, what are you doing in here?’ he shouted. ‘Get out!’
Raymond got up and went back to his room. Susanna looked at Charlie with an angry expression on her face. ‘Go and talk to him!’ she said.
‘What for?’ Charlie asked.
‘Because he’s frightened,’ Susanna said. ‘He’s never been away from Wallbrook before. You’ve upset him!’
Charlie got angry. ‘Raymond is not going back to Wallbrook,’ he said. ‘He has to learn how to live in the real world.’
Susanna was astonished. ‘What do you mean he’s not going back to Wallbrook?’
Charlie looked away from her and bit his lip. ‘I took Raymond,’ he said quietly, ‘and I’m keeping him until I get my money.’
Susanna’s eyes widened. ‘What money?’ she asked.
‘Dad left Ray some money. A lot of money.’
Money! Now Susanna was beginning to understand. ‘How much money… did… your… father… leave Raymond?’ she asked angrily.
Charlie looked away again. ‘He left him his house and all his money,’ he said. ‘Three million dollars.’
Susanna muttered some angry words in Italian and jumped out of bed. Then she picked up her suitcase from the floor and threw it open.
‘What are you doing?’ Charlie asked.
‘I’m leaving, Charlie.’ She was coldly angry.
Agora Charlie ficou surpreso. ‘Por quê?’ ele perguntou.
Susanna enfiou as coisas na mala e vestiu o casaco. “Porque você raptou seu irmão por dinheiro”, ela gritou.
‘Eu não o seqüestrei! Eu só quero meu dinheiro. O que há de errado com isso?
‘Tudo!’ Susanna gritou. Ela olhou para Charlie por um segundo e balançou a cabeça. Então ela pegou sua mala e foi até a porta. Quando ela chegou à porta, ela se virou e olhou para Charlie novamente. “Eu te amei, Charlie”, ela disse tristemente. “Mas você não é o homem que eu pensei que você fosse.”