"Not important. The important thing was she didn't have her leg brace on."
"Come on in while I make coffee."
Bates followed Nick inside and said, "Didn't you hear me? I said she didn't have her leg brace on."
"Why not?"
"Because she didn't need it. She's never needed it. Her leg's as good as yours or mine."
"You must be joking."
"Did I ever joke, Nick?" Cecil asked tonelessly.
Nick had to concede that one. In all the time he'd owned the lunch room, he'd never seen Cecil Bates smile or say a light word. "What did Biddy have to say about it?"
"Oh, she had some gobberish about a man up in the hills making her leg well. Something Dan probably told her to say if she ever got caught."