Characters in The Answer Man

The self-styled Answer Man was right about one thing, Phil thought; getting good answers was mostly a matter of asking good questions.

In 1995, he began to suffer migraines for the first time in his life. He went to see Dr. Barlow, who he still thought of as the New Doc, although Phil had been seeing him for checkups and arthritis for ten years.

Phil thought that would be a fine thing. Blaylock Atherton called one evening and asked if Phil had thought any more about running for the Senate, perhaps not this time but what about ’56?

Ronald Lacasse was a long-haul truck driver, making good money, but gone much of the time. Christine Lacasse did ladies’ hair at home, and her driers and blowers were always shorting out.

Phil was aware of Myers staggering backward in a spray of blood. Destry and Molocky fell on either side of him. He heard bullets whip by on both sides of his head.

“There is a thing for women, it’s called a diaphragm, but if I ask Dr. Grayson, he’ll tell my parents.” “A doctor is enjoined from such behavior,” Phil said. “He would do it, just the same. So... French letters.

“He and his friends sometimes tussle, but it’s all in fun.” “I want to do a blood test,” Dr. Richmond said. “Just crossing t’s, you know—” “Oh my God,” Sally Ann said. Later she would tell Phil that she knew, right then she knew.

Not that you will, I’d bet a cracker. I’ve been to half a dozen other lawyers, including Feld and Pillsbury in Portland, and not one of em will have anything to do with me or my case. NEF’s too big for em.

… us back home in one piece, Frank? And without killing someone? Bark once for yes, twice for no.” Frank barked once, so it was yes. It was yes. For Jonathan Leonard …

… After Private Frankland broke his leg in another hole and Private Gordon nearly put out an eye running into a tree, Phil radioed HQ and asked permission to camp for the night because the terrain was difficult.

After Private Frankland broke his leg in another hole and Private Gordon nearly put out an eye running into a tree, Phil radioed HQ and asked permission to camp for the night because the terrain was difficult.

Or when. Then he saw his son peering in at him. His friend Harry Washburn was with him, both wearing identical Red Sox caps. That slotted Phil into place. Not 1937 but 1951.

Then came the crash. Jacob Theodore Parker died in Portsmouth Regional Hospital on March 23rd, 1953, at the age of ten.

Phil’s father was a senior partner in an old Boston law firm of the white shoe variety—Warwick, Lodge, Nestor, Parker, Allburton, and Frye. Sally Ann’s father was a senior partner in the same firm. John Parker and Ted Allburton had been best friends since college.

He was speaking of Colonel John T. Walker, who was …

Because Phil no longer drove except around town, he hired a young fellow named Logan Phipps to chauffeur him.

Marie retired. He began to suffer arthritis in his hands, feet, and hips. Marie died. He announced his retirement and the town (Curry was now on the verge of becoming a small city) threw him one hell of a party.

Phil was aware of Myers staggering backward in a spray of blood. Destry and Molocky fell on either side of him. He heard bullets whip by on both sides of his head.

… “Unfair business practices... pain and suffering... financial deception...” “That’s outrageous,” Mr. Lathrop said. “You’d never win.” “Perhaps not, but the bank would lose either way. I think five hundred dollars paid into Mr. Toomey’s account …

… would crack a dirty joke about the farmer’s daughter—but he was pretty sure there were people (Mrs. Keene for one, his mom for another) who knew it wasn’t just grief that had overcome his wife. It was the first lie he told about her drinking, …

And thus, Philip Yeager Parker, Harvard Law School graduate, became possible.

… I’ve been to half a dozen other lawyers, including Feld and Pillsbury in Portland, and not one of em will have anything to do with me or my case.

… broken his leg in one of them; a Japanese infantryman might have been at the bottom, looking up, as Rangell and Sergeant Myers pulled him out of it. Myers now put a hand on Phil’s shoulder and murmured, “Not a word, not a sound. They might miss us …

On the very afternoon he opened for business, a farmer named Regis Toomey walked in. He was wearing bib overalls and a straw hat. He was everything Phil’s father had predicted.

What she saw out the bedroom window was Rona Duffy, her next-door neighbor, rolling around in the snow, trying to put out her flaming nightgown.

Ronald Lacasse was a long-haul truck driver, making good money, but gone much of the time.

… of Colonel John T. Walker, who was bossing this little farrago along with his fellow colonel, Russell Ayers. “It don’t sound secure,” said Private First Class Molocky. He nodded toward the south. But by 1500, the shooting had fizzled away to …

Would she still give him her hand in marriage? Parents be damned. Phil Parker and Sally Ann Allburton were married in Boston’s Old South Church on April 29th, 1938. Ted Allburton walked his daughter down the aisle.

“I gotted it on me, too,” Sammy Dillon said. He and Harry had come into the kitchen. The other boys were standing behind them. “But I warshed it off.”

Her name was Sarah Coombes. He did her legal work and paid off the mortgage on her house.

“Marines! Marines! Don’t shoot! Marines!” The counterattack—such as it was—ended. Sergeant Rick Myers was awarded a Silver Star (he said he would rather have had his right eye back).

The Answer Man didn’t hesitate. “Sporan.” Phil’s mouth dropped open. “How in the hell do you know that?”

Sally Ann’s father was a senior partner in the same firm. John Parker and Ted Allburton had been best friends since college. They had married less than a year apart, each serving as the other’s best man.

Tim Lacasse finally agreed to the split, and on a day in 1970, Phil hung a framed picture on his office wall, where he would see it first thing every …