Capítulo Sete
Charlie dirigiu toda a noite. Ele se sentia cansado e ansioso. Ele precisava voltar a Los Angeles rapidamente para tentar salvar seus negócios. Ele estava perdendo tempo que ele não tinha.
Na noite seguinte, pararam num hotel. Seu quarto tinha um banheiro pequeno. Charlie entrou para tomar um banho. Raymond estava limpando os dentes e sua boca estava cheia de pasta de dente.
‘Não use muito creme dental, Ray!’ Charlie disse.
O ônibus Raymond continuou limpando os dentes. Creme dental saiu de sua boca e caiu em sua camisa.
‘Você vai parar com isso, Ray!’ Charlie disse.
Raymond não parou. “Você gosta disso, Charlie Babbitt”, ele murmurou.
Charlie shook his head, ‘No, I do not like it!’ he shouted.
‘You say, ”Funny Rain Man… funny teeth.”’
Suddenly Charlie stopped shouting. Funny Rain Man. Rain Man! That was the name of his secret friend when he was a child. ‘What did you say?’ he asked.
‘You can’t say Raymond,’ his brother said. ‘You’re a baby. You say, “Rain Man”. “Funny Rain Man”.’
Charlie sat down on the side of the bath. He didn’t know what to think. He was finding difficult to breathe. ‘You… you’re the Rain Man?’ Charlie said finally.
Raymond put his hand in his pocket and pulled out an envelope. He opened the envelope and carefully took out a small photograph.
Charlie took the photograph and looked at it. A young man of about eighteen was looking at the camera but not smiling. He was holding a baby in his arms. The baby was Charlie Babbitt, and the young man was Raymond Babbitt.
‘Daddy took the picture,’ Raymond said.
Charlie looked at the photograph for a long time. He was astonished. He and Raymond. Charlie and Raymond. Charlie and the Rain Man.
‘And you… lived with us then? When did you leave us?’
‘It was Thursday,’ Raymond said.
‘Which Thursday, Ray?’
‘It was snowing outside. Maria stayed with you when Daddy took me to my home. January 21st, 1965. On a Thursday.’
‘That’s when our mother died,’ Charlie breathed softly. ‘Just after New Year.’
‘And you had your coat. And you waved to me from the window. Goodbye, Rain Man. Goodbye, Rain Man. On a Thursday.’
Suddenly Charlie remembered deep into his past. He remembered the snow. And waving to Rain Man. And later crying. Crying for Rain Man. He wanted Rain Man, but Raymond didn’t come. He never came again.
‘I sat with that coat,’ Charlie said. Now he remembered his brother’s eighteen-year-old face. ‘And you sang to me.’
For a minute Raymond just looked at his brother. Then, very softly, he began to sing a song by The Beatles.
When Raymond finished singing, Charlie moved closer to him. Then he said, ‘I remember I liked it. When you sang to me. ‘
But Raymond was cleaning his teeth again. Charlie picked up the photograph and muttered something about how nice it was. Then he put it down on the side of the bath and turned on the water.
Suddenly Raymond began to scream. ‘No, no, no, no!’ Charlie looked up and saw a terrible expression on his brother’s face. Raymond was looking down at the water. ‘It’s BURNING him!’ he screamed.
Quickly, Charlie turned off the water. He remembered it all now. His brother giving a two-year-old boy a bath that was too hot. Sanford Babbitt screaming. ‘He’s burning Charlie! He’s going to kill him!’
That was why his father sent Raymond to Wallbrook. That was the end of the relationship between Charlie and Rain Man. And poor Raymond remembered it all.
‘It’s OK, Ray,’ Charlie said softly to his brother. ‘It’s OK, man. I didn’t burn. I’m fine.’
It was late. Raymond was sleeping on one of the two beds in the hotel room. Charlie lay on the other bed, and smoked a cigarette. He felt very tired and very sad. He needed someone to love. Someone who loved him. He needed Susanna.
Charlie pulled the telephone towards him.
‘Hello?’
‘Hello, it’s me, Charlie,’ he said softly.
There was no answer.
‘I… just want to hear… that our relationship is not…’ Charlie waited for Susanna to say something. When she still did not speak, he said, ‘I’m frightened that it is finished between us.’
Finally Susanna spoke. ‘Don’t ask me today, Charlie. You won’t like my answer. Give me some time.’
‘I’m … going to get custody of Ray. I’ve talked to my lawyer and he says that it is possible. Firstly, I have to take Ray to see a special doctor in Los Angeles.’
“Charlie, eles não lhe darão a custódia de Ray”, disse Susanna. ‘Dr. Bruner cuida dele há mais de vinte anos. Você o conhece há quatro dias.
Ela não entendeu. Ninguém entendeu seu relacionamento com Raymond. “Posso ligar para você quando voltar a Los Angeles?”
Susanna não disse sim, mas também não disse não.