He filled the sink and, taking up the small box of De-Luxe Laundry Powder he kept on the shelf beside it, sprinkled some into the water. It foamed up nicely, making drifts of white bubbles he thought probably looked like snow, which he’d never seen.

He washed the overalls, taking care to work the soap into the stains. Then he removed his shirt and washed that too, particularly the collar and the cuffs, where his body left its marks.

He drained the sink and ran fresh water over the clothes until no more soap came out. Then he wrung out as much of the water as he could and hung the clothes over the line he’d nailed up between the walls over the tub. The tub faucet had not worked for some time, but he bathed in the sink anyway and didn’t miss it.

He returned to the bedroom. This time he did sit on the bed, his bare feet on the floor and his hands in his lap. He got up again and turned on the radio. A girl’s voice filled his room, singing something about a robin and its nest. Charlie sat down again and listened to her for a minute, but then the song ended and a commercial for Ford automobiles came on. He had no use for a Ford, so he ignored it.

He wondered what Tom was doing. Probably he was asleep already. Maybe Alice had helped him off with his clothes. Or maybe she’d just let him fall into bed with them on. He doubted that. Women didn’t like things dirty. She’d probably made him take off his overalls and shirt, even if she hadn’t made him wash.

What would it be like to take care of someone like Tom? he wondered. Did Alice worry, or was she used to his behavior? She must be, he thought. After all, they’d been married a long time.

Tom was twenty-eight. Charlie knew this because Tom had mentioned once when his birthday was. It was August the seventeenth. He’d remembered it, and when that date had come around, Charlie had bought Tom a beer. Tom had been surprised that Charlie remembered. He’d clapped his hand on Charlie’s back and told him what a friend he was. But he hadn’t asked Charlie his own birth date, which was February the ninth.