“Yeah,” he said.
“Like, you canreallycook.”
“That’s what I did before I came here,” he said. “I’ve been a chef at a little place in the North End for six years.”
“But, I mean…” I didn’t even know what I meant. I couldn’t think. I took another bite. “Oh my God. You should go on a cooking competition show and win a billion dollars.”
“I’ll get right on that,” he said.
Later, remembering this moment with the rookie, I would wonder what on earth he was doing fainting at the sight of blood in a firehouse when he could have been off absolutelywriting poetrywith food.
That’s not the question that came out in the moment, though. The question that came out was “Why the hell is DeStasio cooking our meals?”
The rookie smiled and looked down. “He likes to cook. I think he needs something to do.”
“He’s going to kill us all.”
“Did you hear that his wife left him?”
I shook my head. “No.”
The rookie nodded. “DeStasio was talking about it before bed the other night. She moved to Framingham last Friday to live with her sister. She couldn’t take the drinking anymore.”
“DeStasio drinks?”
“I guess he must,” the rookie said. “You know their son Tony died, right?”
I shook my head. There was a lot I didn’t know about DeStasio.
“Yeah,” the rookie said, “about two years ago. Drunk driver.”
I winced.
“Except that Tony was the drunk driver.”
“Poor DeStasio,” I said. No wonder he never laughed.
The rookie nodded. “He’s had a tough few years. Add the back injury, and he’s a superhero for just getting out of bed every morning.”
I found myself wanting to come up with ways to fix his loneliness. “Maybe we could set him up on a date,” I suggested.
“Wouldyouwant to go on a date with DeStasio?”
“Maybe we could start a Friday night barbecue club and just start showing up at his place for dinner,” I said.
“Have you seen DeStasio’s place?” he asked. “It’s like a war zone.”
“We could clean it up.”
“He’d hate that. He’d chase you out with a broom.”
I gave the rookie a look. “I’m only trying to help.”
“Some guys don’t want to be helped.”
“We can’t just let him suffer.”
“I said the same thing to the captain. But he said DeStasio’s got too much pride.”
