Dinner With Henry 96:Home Alone

By Bruce Memblatt

Morning sunlight edged its way around the curtains.

Diego, eyes closed, head on her pillow, yawned, stretched her arms across the mattress and patted Henry, lying beside her, on the shoulder.

Henry rolled over and said, "I don't want to get up and no one can make me."

"This is true," Diego breathed, "no one can make you, Henry."

Henry opened his eyes, rubbed his head, stretched and yawned and began to rise from the bed.

"I thought you weren't going to get up today, Henry?"

Henry looked at Diego cross-eyed as his foot hit the floor. "Well, I can't really do that, honey."

"Sure you can, Henry," Diego said, reaching for Henry while kicking the blanket off the bed with her foot. "C'mon, Henry just one day. Let's do it, please! Let's just stay in bed all day!"

"What about the kitchen? What about Winifred?"

Diego reached for the pillow behind her head, placed it on her stomach and began fluffing it, "Winifred will be in school. We can just call in sick. Please, Henry, just one day!"

While Henry began to return to the bed, he said, "Okay, but what are we going to do all day?"

That's when Diego stared at the ceiling and sighed, "We will just be us."

"But we are always us," Henry said, scratching his head.

Diego, still eyeing the ceiling, said, "You may think we are always us, but when we go to work we put on our work faces and become other people."

Henry, looking at Diego closely, tilting his nose, said, "I don't think you have a work face, Diego."

Diego scrunched her face. "See, Henry. This is my work face."

Giggling, Henry replied, "You are so silly, Diego."

"See, Henry, I can't be silly at work, can I?"

"I think you can, Diego," Henry sighed. "You are often silly at work."

"No, Henry, I am never silly at work. I am quite sure I can only be silly here in my at-home-with-Henry face."

Henry pulled away a bit, resting his head on his pillow. He sighed again and said, "So, what are we going to do all day in bed, Diego?"

"We will just be us."

"But while we are being us?" Henry's eye gazed at the ceiling.

Diego stared at the TV that sat on the bureau facing the bed and breathed, "We will watch movies."

"Which movies?"

"Let's watch a long movie," Diego said, checking her fingernails. "Since we have all day, let's watch Scarface. Please, Henry, It actually makes me forget about my own scar."

A fascinated look came across Henry's face, like he had just discovered cheesecake. "Wow, I didn't even know you liked Scarface, Diego. Let alone took it so to heart."

Diego's eyes grew wide. "See, I told you, that is because here I can be us, I mean me, Henry."

Henry squinted. "But we have been alone before, and I don't remember you ever mentioning Scarface."

"Because today I am sharing, Henry, being more like me. So you will be more like you. I want to make it a special at-home day with us."

"But I don't know if I can be any more like me than I am now," Henry said.

Diego's eyes crossed. "What?"

Once again, Henry sighed and said, "Never mind. I'll go get the DVD."

"Thanks, Henry," Diego smiled.

While Henry made his way into the living room to pull the DVD of Scarface from the case below the TV, he wondered if there was more about Diego that he didn't know, and then he realized there must have been a universe of things about Diego she had not yet revealed to him, and he shuddered. Even though he loved her dearly, maybe Diego becoming more like Diego wasn't such a great idea.

When he approached the bedroom, he heard Diego whistling and he shuddered again.

Diego saw Henry's expression and said, "What is wrong, Henry? Don't you like me?"

Henry gulped and said, walking through the door, "Of course I like you, Diego."

"Are you sure, Henry?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Henry said, cautiously walking towards the bed.

Diego, turning, watching Henry approach the bed, said, "But you like the real me -- the me I am in in here, Henry?"

Henry placed the DVD on the mattress, and stared at Diego. "I like all your yous."

Diego grinned broadly, "Thank you, Henry. Now put the movie on."

Henry smiled back at Diego, picked the DVD up from the mattress, walked across the room to the dresser, placed it in the player under the TV set, pushed a button and then returned to the bed.

The film began to flash across the screen.

Diego breathed a sigh and held on tightly to Henry's shoulder.