Skin Puppet

by Jeffery Craig

  “Dunno. Soon?”

  “Okay. I’ll scout the places out on my walk. Since Saturday seems to be a good placeholder, we can talk about it and maybe even try one that night.”

  “Is this like…a date?”

  “Yes.”

  “Ummm, okay.”

  “Okay.”

  Toby was lucky there wasn’t much traffic, or he might not have made it safely across the street. Dazed by the confusing thoughts in his mind, he pulled open the door and wandered past SarahJune without saying a word. He grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and drank half of it on the way to his desk. He took a seat and pulled his textbook toward him, opened the cover, and pretended to read until Melba practically shouted in his face.

  “Toby!”

  “What?”

  “I’ve been talking to you for the last five minutes, and I don’t think you heard a single word. Are you okay?”

  “Sorry. Did you need something?”

  Melba gave him a puzzled glance, and finally shook her head. “Not really. I was just filling you in on Zhou Li’s latest addition to the grand opening. It’s turning into quite a shindig.”

  “What’d she do now? We don’t have to address more envelopes, do we?”

  “No, thank goodness. But get this —she’s hired a band.”

  He tried to process what that meant, but lost interest and went back to his sham reading.

  “Toby, did you hear me? She went out and hired a band!”

  “Yeah. That’s nice.”

  “That’s all you can think to say? Are you sure you’re all right? Has something happened?”

  Toby started to nod his head, and then turned it into a shake instead. Then, he went back to nodding, not sure which question he was answering or which response was appropriate. After a minute, he gave up and looked up into her face. “I think I was just asked out on a date?”

  “You’re not sure?”

  “No, not at all.”

  “This sounds serious.” Melba retrieved her rolling chair and pulled it over and took a seat beside him. “Okay—spill it.”

  “What?”

  “Did you hit your head or something? Who asked you on what you think is a date, and why aren’t you sure? When did this happen? I want details.”

  “Jon.”

  “Jon Chiang?”

  “Uh huh.”

  She digested the information and nodded her head sagely. “Now I understand.”

  “Now you understand what?”

  “You did hit your head! SarahJune said you went for a walk, so all I can think is that you did hit your head. Or maybe you got mugged and now you’re hallucinating.”

  “Melba, what are you talking about?”

  “I knew it! Do I need to call EMS or take you to the emergency room? You’re obviously experiencing short-term memory loss and having problems understanding simple statements.”

  “I’m fine. Nothing’s wrong. I’m just confused.”

  “That’s what I’m trying to tell you, Toby. “

  “No! Not confused like that! I’m confused on whether or not Jon Chiang really asked me out on a date, or if he meant it some other way.”

  “Jon really asked you out?”

  “Yep.” Thankfully, Melba stopped her hysterics and gave Toby a minute to catch up. “I ran into him earlier,” he tried to suppress his giggle and failed. “I mean, we talked. A little while ago. About new places in the neighborhood. I was walking. He was going to go walking. We were both walking. I mean, we were walking after we got our legs untangled and were standing up. And then we talked.”

  “Toby, I think you’d better start at the beginning, and don’t you dare leave out the part about how your legs got tangled.”

  Toby tried his best to explain and, to her credit, Melba kept her mouth mostly shut and only interrupted twice. Once he was through, he slumped back in his chair and let out a big breath. “That’s why I’m confused. I’m not sure what he meant.”

  “I can see how it’s confusing. Maybe he just means you should grab a pizza and hang out together like…well, like two normal guys. Well, I didn’t mean that like it sounded. I meant like two guys that were hanging out and having food together and…oh hell, you get the point.”

  “Yeah. You’re probably right.” He wondered if his voice sounded as disappointed at the likelihood as he felt. From the loud silence coming from the other chair, he figured it had. “Melba? What if he did mean it like a date?”

  She apparently didn’t have a ready answer, or else, decided not to share. Instead, she stood up and gave him a huge hug, which, when he thought about it later, was better anyway.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The bright, flashing red and blue lights and shrieking carousel music woke Lucy Escabar, just like it did every morning. Groggy and disoriented, she pulled the grey, threadbare blanket over her head until she remembered where she was. The blanket wasn’t doing to block the noise and she knew from past experience that neither the sleep-piercing music, nor the whirling pattern of light illuminating her cage was going to stop until everyone was up and standing at attention.

  She rubbed her face and pulled the blanket around her shoulders in a fruitless effort to ward off the ever-present chill. She found her soft cloth slippers next to her cot and hurried to tug them onto her feet and then stood and scrambled to the metal bars surrounding her cell. At least they’d removed the weird wrist restraints once they’d determined she wasn’t going to be too much trouble. She closed her eyes, trying to shut out the light and waiting for the music to stop.

  The first time she experienced the terrible wake-up alarm, Lucy thought maybe there’d been a fire or something. Not remembering where she was, she looked around the small, enclosed space and frantically searched for her momma and Hector. It only took her a minute to realize her mother and little brother weren’t here in this place. For some reason, the thought made her feel better, comforted that they weren’t locked up like she was. Her family was somewhere else, and she hoped they were safe. She allowed herself to imagine momma fixing Hector his breakfast, humming softly in the background while she did so. She pushed away the worry that her momma might never fix breakfast for her again, and tried to control her shaking hands. Looking through the small spaces between the steel bars which surrounded her, she saw the other occupants of this scary jail move to the front of their cells and stand silently, waiting for something. She mirrored their movements until she too was standing near the door to her cell. She looked across the small expanse of bare floor between her cage and the next, and her eyes met those of the girl watching her intently from the next cell.

  Beth’s hair was ragged and short, and her loose, gray dress hung off her slender shoulders and reached just past her knees. The dark gray cloth slippers on her feet were scuffed with dust and almost worn through near the toes. Beth hugged thin arms to her chest and then placed a finger on her lips and shook her head quickly, reminding Lucy not to make a sound.

  Andrea was also standing at attention. She was taller, with short, spikey red hair and was dressed the same, but her smock clung to the frame of her body, accentuating the small curves at her chest and hips. Lucy tried to make out the features of the few others she could see, but the flashing lights and the riot of color they threw around the room made it impossible. Lucy blinked, trying to focus her eyes, but it didn’t help.

  After minute, the lights went out, and the blue and red glow was replaced by a dim yellowish glow. The loud, ugly music continued for a while longer, and then suddenly, there was silence. From somewhere far across the room came a noise like jingling keys, followed by a loud click and then a squeaking groan. Lucy decided a heavy door was being pushed open.

  There was another moment of silence, and then, the slow tread of footsteps could be heard coming down what must be a set of stairs positioned just outside Lucy’s range of vision. Lucy saw Beth’s shoulder’s tense, and the hair on the back of her own neck begin to go all prickly as the sound of sof
t, high-pitched laughter filled the room. Beth shook her head again and hugged herself tighter.

  Lucy knew from the sound of the footsteps that more than one person was coming down the stairs. She could hear the stomp of heavy boots, and a click-clomp-click sound on the concrete floor. She could just make out a soft, rhythmic squishy noise as well. She gripped the bars in front of her tightly to try and stop her hands from shaking.

  “No!” Beth hissed. “Don’t touch the bars!”

  The laughter flowed into the space again. Lucy quickly released the bars and knotted her hands in front of her.

  “Naughty. Naughty. Naughty,” a deep voice echoed through the room. “Some lil ol’ mouse is making noise, and that’s a no-no. Looks like I git to have me some fun time this morning. Now, which one of you was squeakin’? Come on, don’t be bashful.”

  None of the girls made a sound, although Lucy wanted to cry out in fear at the mean, teasing sound of the man’s voice.

  “Nobody gonna fess up to bein’ bad?” The voice was getting closer to Lucy’s cage. “Now, ain’t that a damn shame! Just goes to show folks ain’t raising kids right these day. Ain’t nobody believin’ in a little old-fashion discipline, but me. Don’t ya’ll worry none, though. Georgie Porgie Puddin’ and Pie will find out which one of our lil ol’ mice is ruining the peace and quiet this morning’.”

  Lucy dared a glance across the way, and could see Beth looking down at the floor. She could tell the other girl was breathing heavily and had one hand clamped over her mouth. She was shaking her head in jerky back and forth motions. Lucy looked away from the trembling girl and felt her eyes begin to water in confused terror. She didn’t know what was going to happen, but knew it wasn’t going to be good. A sharp banging sound caused her to flinch in surprise. She peered through the bars in the direction of the noise, and through the hazy yellow light, could just make out three figures standing in front of another bar-enclosed space about twenty or thirty feet from her.

  “Nicole, baby doll, was it you that was makin’ the noise? Come on now, sugar, you can tell Georgie if it was.”

  A small soft voice cut through the silence. ”No, Georgie. It wasn’t me! I promise! I know the rules. I know the rules!”

  “I know you do, but jus’ cause you know ‘em doesn’t mean you abide by ‘em. You’ve had to have your memory refreshed more than once, and maybe it’s time you had another reminder.”

  “Please, Georgie. It wasn’t me, I swear! I know the rules, Georgie! You have to believe me.”

  There was a moment of considering silence and then the eerie laughter from before bubbled out at from one of the figures standing by Georgie’s side. “I think Nicole’s lyin’ to you, Georgie.” The voice was high-pitched like a little girl’s and spoke in a sing-song way. “She’s always lyin’ ‘bout stuff. I think you need to teach her a good lesson.”

  “Is Dorrie right, Nicole? Is you lyin’ to me this morning?”

  The girl didn’t answer, except an uncontrollable whimper.

  “Come over here by the bars, honey. Georgie just wants to get a good look at your face while you answer him again,” the man wheedled. After a moment, he spoke again, but his voice had lost its cajoling tone and was now harsh and cruel. “You want Georgie to come in there with you? Is that what you want? Me and you could have us a lil’ fun to start the day off right. Is that what you want?”

  “No!” Nicole answered, her voice almost like a shout in the quiet room. “No,” she spoke again, her voice more controlled. “I’m coming.”

  “Good girl. Though I must say, I’m mighty disappointed you don’t seem to want to have any fun with Georgie. It hurts my feelin’s in an awful way. Now, put your hands on the bars and grip ‘em real tight. I’m gonna ask you one more time if it was you who was talkin’. I’m gonna be watching your face real close and you know what’ll happen if I think you’re telling me a fib. You know what’ll happen, don’t you, Nicole?”

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  A moment passed and Lucy wondered if Nicole had placed her hands around the bars as instructed. She decided she must have, when Georgie murmured approvingly, “Good girl. That’s right, you just hold those bars real tight while I ask you again. Were you the lil’ mouse that squeaked?”

  Lucy could barely hear her answer. “No.”

  Georgie gave a big sigh. “Okay, honey. I believe you. But you see, I have to find out who was being bad. Maybe you know who it was whispering down here. Do you?”

  “No. I didn’t hear anything.”

  “Hmmm. You saying I’m making it up?”

  When Nicole didn’t answer, there was a loud banging noise, and Lucy could hear her cry out in pain.

  “You think I’m making it up? You callin’ me a liar? You tellin’ me I don’t know what I heard with my own two ears?” Lucy heard the sharp sound of something striking the bars between each question. “You think—” he started to shout out another question when the high-pitched little girl voice interrupted. “Stop! Puppet says that’s enough, Georgie!”

  “I think she’s lyin’ to me. She’s a sneaky one.”

  “Yes, she is, but Puppet said that’s enough. It’s time to move along.”

  The man gave a disappointed groan as the little group made its way through the paths between cages and stopped in front of one closer to Lucy.

  “And I know it wasn’t little Lauren ‘cause we fixed it so she can’t talk right now.

  “Then, she wasn’t the one makin’ noise was she?” the girl-voice answered.

  “Probably not,” Georgie replied as they moved to the next row of cages. “So, that means our squeaker is either angel-girl Andrea, beautiful baby Beth or…our new little sweetie, Lucy.”

  He stopped right outside her bars and gave her a sweet smile. “Was it you, Lucy? Was it you squeakin’ like a scared mouse?”

  She shook her head frantically and eased back from the steel bars while the three figures leered at her from a few feet away. She nervously eyed the man’s huge hands, trying to figure out what he held. The funny-looking stick thing had two prongs at one end and a white twisty nob on the other. It was about as long as his arm from elbow to fingertip, and he carried it like she’d seen kings and queens in fairytales carry their fancy scepters. Momma said theirs were made out of pure gold and jewels, but his was very plain and looked like it was made out of metal with some sort of plastic coating. The tips of the prongs weren’t sharp and pointing, but were kind of flat on the ends and gleamed like pennies.

  For the first time, Lucy got a good look at the very tall girl standing next to him. Her hair was pulled into two messy braids on the top of her head and fastened on the ends with bright pink clips shaped like bunnies. The girl’s dress was pink like the bunnies, shiny and covered in torn and dirty lace. The high heels on her large, sock-covered feet were decorated with fuzzy pom-poms down by her toes. Bright blue make-up covered the eyelids of her small and squinty brown eyes all the way to her dark, heavy eyebrows, and a blur of dark red lipstick was smeared over her mouth.

  The final figure was very strange looking, and Lucy couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. It was dressed kind of like a clown, but that wasn’t quite right. The figure’s one-piece outfit was covered in bright, funny squares of blue, purple, and white, and there were several big pockets attached in different places. The large, floppy collar was white and puffy and completely hid the figure’s neck. The big blue shoes seemed way too large, and the blue gloves completely hid the hands. The face was painted white and the mouth and eyes were outlined in black, with pointy triangles where the eyebrows should be. There wasn’t any colored make-up on the face, but there were thin black lines drawn from the sides of the nose down to the corners of the mouth, and more lines that went from the edge of the dark, black lips to the sides of the chin. On top of the head was a wild mess of different colored hair with big blue bows holding the end of several clumps. Some of it was dark and straight and some was blond or red, straight and curly. In
one hand, the strange figure carried a small white board just like her teachers used in school at the front of the classroom, and in the other was a black marker. Lucy could see the tops of other markers peeking out from one of the pockets. Little, round, smoky-lensed glasses—almost dark enough to be sun glasses, but not quite—covered the person’s eyes, and Lucy couldn’t tell what color they were.

  “Lucy, were you a bad little girl? Were you making noise?”

  She shook her head and backed away a little more. “No, sir.”

  The tall girl in pink laughed again. “She called you sir, Georgie!” She laughed again, and Lucy shivered at the sound.

  “Hush your mouth, Dorrie!” Georgie replied. “We just haven’t been introduced all proper like yet.”

  “His name’s Georgie Porgie,” Dorrie informed her. “Do you know why we call him that?”

  “No,” Lucy replied and thinking it might help, corrected herself. “No, ma’am.”

  Dorrie laughed again, delighted at the form of address. “Did you hear, Georgie? She called me ma’am.” Dorrie leaned forward and pressed her large face in between the bars. “I think I’m going to like this one.” Georgie grunted and slapped the stick-thing against his side.

  “Hey, Georgie, why don’t you tell her why we call you Georgie Porgie!” Don’t you want to know?” Dorrie asked.

  Not knowing what else to do, Lucy nodded.

  “Come on, Georgie!” Dorrie reached out and pulled the man closer until his face was looking through the bars as well. “Tell her! Tell her why we call you that!”

  Georgie smiled from between the bars, showing his yellow teeth and flattening his checks against the bars on either side. “Do you really want to know, sweet little Lucy?”

  She nodded again and fisted her hands in the edges of the blanket to hide their shaking.

  “They call me Georgie Porgie Puddin’ and Pie, ‘cause I kiss all the girls and make them cry.”

  Dorrie’s laughter rang out again until the figure in blue scribbled something on the whiteboard and used it to tap her on the shoulder. Dorrie quickly stopped and turned around and read what had been written. Once she finished, she held out the edges of her pink dress to curtsy and then returned back to the cage.