Silly Girl

by Michel Prince

  In the third quarter, Matthias winked at her when they were up by ten, but then the Celtics came back with in two and by the last two minutes of the fourth quarter, it was a grudge match. The focus on Matthias’ face was intoxicating. He wasn’t talking shit. He was letting his game speak for him.

  Even with trading of fouls, the Emperors went on a ten-point run and he had locked up the championship with thirty seconds left. Sylvia excused herself and stood at the edge of the exit as she watched through blurred eyes as he won his fifth national title.

  Turning, she rushed out of the stadium and ran the half mile to where she had parked her car earlier that day. It was packed with most of her stuff since Simone had sold the last of her belongings over the last few days. As she headed north on Interstate thirty-five she left behind the last decade of her life and the man she loved.

  The Twin Cities had expanded as Sylvia hit the suburban areas about ten miles sooner than she’d expected. Her interview wasn’t until the next day and she needed to find a hotel. For a fleeting second she actually thought about stopping by her foster parents to show them she hadn’t become an utter failure. Then again showing up pregnant and unmarried…better not.

  She did decide she wanted to go by her childhood home. A few minutes later, she pulled up to a block of one-and-a-half story houses all in a row. Each had a driveway on the side and two steps to the front door. A few had porches, but for most, it was the front door with a large window into the living room. Midway down the block, Sylvia saw the pale yellow house she remembered. The garage door’s bottom two panels were askew leaving the contents exposed to the world. There was only one shutter on the side of the front window and it was a faded gray, no longer the black she remembered from when she was a kid. What there was of grass was overrun by crabgrass and there was a wading pool with various blown up toys floating in the water.

  Sylvia got out and leaned against her SUV as she took in the house she remembered. Why had she screamed when she was being taken away? It was just as horrible as the day she’d been removed at age six and again at ten. A woman opened the front screen door and stepped out on the stoop to smoke a cigarette.

  It was her mother. Never in a million years would Sylvia have thought her mother still lived there. Her hair was gray now and shorter than when Sylvia was younger. The wrinkles on her face made her appear to be in her seventies even though Sylvia knew she was barely fifty. She had a bandage on her leg and when she finally sat down, their eyes met.

  “You wanna take a picture or something?” her scraggly voice yelled. “I’ve got sixty days until the sheriff can even start to go after my house, and no, I’m not going to sell.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Aren’t you some damn fancy realtor or investor looking for a cheap house? Gonna sell it from under me even though I’ve been paying for this damn house for decades.”

  “No, I used to live here.”

  “I doubt it. I’ve been here for almost thirty-five years.”

  “I know.”

  “Who are you?”

  Sylvia crossed the street and walked up the cracked walkway.

  “My name is Sylvia, Sylvia Kinder.”

  “Sylvia?” The recognition caught in the woman’s mind and she flicked a few ashes off the end of her cigarette. “Well, I don’t have anything to give you if that’s what you came for.”

  “I don’t want anything. I have an interview in Minneapolis tomorrow so I’m back in town.”

  “You left?”

  “I’ve been living in Kansas City.”

  “What the hell for?”

  “School. I went there after high school.”

  “They stopped sending me info after you ran away with that man.”

  “What man?”

  “The one who knocked you up.”

  “I didn’t run away. He kidnapped me.”

  “Still saying that huh, whatever helps you sleep at night. I fought tooth and nail to keep you, but you just threw away that kid you had.”

  “I gave her up for adoption and you didn’t fight too damn hard.”

  “You don’t know what I did or didn’t do. You were just a kid.”

  “I suppose.” Sylvia sighed. “I better get going.”

  “What time’s your interview?”

  “It’s in the morning. I need to get a hotel room.”

  “That’s why you’re here. Well your sister and her kid’s in the extra bed so I don’t have room for you too.”

  “I wasn’t asking that. Wait, I have a sister?”

  “Yes, Cynthia, she takes care of me like a good daughter. After your father passed, I wasn’t able to work on account of my depression.”

  “How old is she?”

  “Eighteen. Her and her boyfriend have been helping me fix up this place.”

  “Why did no one tell me about her?”

  “I don’t know, you met her I’m sure at one of our visits. You still playing innocent victim?”

  “They didn’t take her from you?”

  “A few times,” she said as she flicked ash off the end of her cigarette. “But I got her back.”

  Sylvia rocked on her heels for a moment in an awkward silence.

  “I better head out.”

  “I must have done something right, that car looks brand new.”

  “That was me, not you, mom.” Giving this virtual stranger the title of mom felt like a cheese grater had gone over Sylvia’s tongue as she bit back a bitter taste. “I’d like to meet my sister if she’s home.”

  “No, she has a job.”

  “Do you have her number?”

  “It eludes me at the moment. Who are you interviewing with?”

  “The Timberwolves.”

  “You don’t have the body to be a cheerleader.”

  “I’m a sports trainer. I take care of the athletes when they’re injured.”

  “Like a doctor.”

  “More like a physical therapist.”

  “I saw one of those a few times, told me to stretch and take ibuprofen. Doesn’t seem like such a hard job.”

  “Right, like I said…”

  “You gonna be comin’ around more now that you’re in town?”

  “I have to get the job first, but probably not.”

  “Yeah, I figured. Your father was the one that hit you, you know that right?”

  “But you were the one that was too high to stop him.”

  “I’m done with that, have been for a few years now.”

  “I’m glad.”

  “That man you ran away with…”

  “Kidnapped and raped by.”

  “Whatever, he was in the news a few months ago. The people you dumped your kid on had to leave the state, because he kept petitioning for visitation. He was suing them for kidnapping.”

  “I’m sure he lost.”

  “Yes, but she looks a lot like you. The dark hair and all. Skinny as a rail.”

  “They showed her picture on TV?”

  “He did. Somehow his lawyer got her picture... anyway they moved him to that commitment place for sex offenders. Guess he’ll never get out now.”

  “So she’s safe.”

  “She was always safe, those people you gave her to seem like good people.”

  “They are.”

  “You pick better men than him now right?”

  “Will you ever understand what he did to me?”

  Her mother’s face twisted as she wiped under nose and, for just a second, Sylvia saw a painful memory flicker in her faded blue eyes. “You think I want that on my conscious?”

  Sylvia got it now. Her mother had allowed her daughter to be beaten and taken away. She’d allowed her child to be placed in a home where she was kidnapped, violated, and disfigured. Sylvia may never see her again, or her sister, but she could easily clear her mom’s conscious at least.

  “Yes, I pick much better men now.”

  “Good. I never understood you girls and those losers you hooked up with
when you were young.”

  “Bye mom, maybe I’ll come back sometime.”

  Sylvia crossed the street and when her hand was on her door handle, her mother yelled to her.

  “I’d understand if you didn’t.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Matthias punched the dough as he looked at Sharee who sat across from him on the barstool. She was flipping her phone in between her index finger and thumb with a snarl of annoyance that she was even in his damn apartment. How much more would he have to pay her to get Silly back?

  “Why am I here, Matthias?” Sharee asked after five minutes.

  Matthias picked up Silly’s letter with his elbows and tossed it toward Sharee. Then he kneed the dough out into a circle on the pizza stone.

  “Find out where she is, bring her back.”

  “Because someone that left you will want to come back?” Sharee sighed and picked up the letter. “Matthias, you can’t buy everything…women want more than that.”

  Matthias rolled his eyes as he ladled the sauce he had cooked up over the unbaked dough. Sharee humored him and read the letter while Matthias dug through the fridge looking for his toppings.

  Dicing the fresh basil leaves, Matthias sprinkled them over the top with pepperoni and sausage crumbles. He then started grating mozzarella over the top.

  “It’s just how can…What are you doing?”

  “I’m creating a spreadsheet on my shooting percentage,” Matthias groaned. “What does it look like, Sharee? I’m makin’ a fuckin’ pizza.”

  “You’re cooking?”

  “Yes.”

  “You don’t cook.”

  “Correction,” Matthias said while waving the rounded ball of fresh made mozzarella at her. “I didn’t cook, because I didn’t need to, but Silly taught me so we could take turns when I was in town.”

  “And you just did?”

  “I did take-out at first, then she showed me some simple box dinners and now, yes, I have the ability to follow a recipe.” Matthias angrily put the pizza in the oven.

  “Why didn’t you do that for me?”

  “To put it in Silly language, you were too busy wipin’ my ass to let me be a grown-up. I have a Masters, Sharee. But for some reason, you treated me as if I got it as an honorary degree. I earned it. I can read, I can write and yes, I can feed myself.”

  “She was right,” Sharee said solemnly. “We never let you grow up.”

  “She did. She also didn’t ask to be paid for it.”

  “Hey now, that’s not fair.”

  “Sharee, I had no problems supporting whatever you wanted to do. And you are an amazing business woman, now. But without my money—”

  “Our money. Remember that. It’s our money, Sharee. You need more I’ll make it,” Sharee mocking Matthias made him lose it.

  “If I wasn’t your client, would you still come around like you cared about me?”

  Sharee sat up straight and was about to go off.

  “Don’t answer,” Matthias said while washing his hands. “It doesn’t matter. Just leave. I’ll try to find—”

  “No. I’ll do it. And not because you pay me to, but because Silly did what I was too ignorant to see needed to be done. She said you were a man who worked hard to get what he wanted. You want her, I’ll find her, but you have to win her back.”

  Sharee flipped open the letter from Silly. Matthias kept his back to her. Pinching the bridge of his nose he staved off the headache as he reread the letter in his mind. He had it completely memorized.

  “She didn’t want to leave,” Sharee said softly.

  “The empty drawers and turned off phone confused me.”

  “Someone told her she was pulling you down.”

  “I just won the World Championship. How the hell did she bring me down?” Matthias asked, spinning around to look at Sharee.

  “Right here,” she said pointing to the middle of the page. “As much as it kills me to do this, I know it’s what’s best for you. How would it be best for you? You weren’t paying her, so she didn’t cost you money. She wasn’t out there doing interviews and destroying your rep. So how would leaving be the best for you?”

  “I don’t know?”

  “Your stats are up, you actually get sleep and your press rep doesn’t have to cover for all the women you’re sleeping with.”

  “Or get me ho’s to sleep with,” Matthias sneered.

  “We still on that?” Sharee asked in disgust. “If I stay around, I will destroy everything you’ve built. Now tell me the truth…how dramatic is Silly?”

  “Not really at all. She’s protective, not dramatic.”

  “Which means…oh that bitch,” Sharee snapped and Matthias retaliated immediately.

  “You call her—”

  “Not Sylvia. Simone.”

  “Simone?”

  “Who would say someone is destroying your rep? Who’s in charge of your rep?”

  “But I don’t understand why—”

  The door opened and Matthias could hear the clip of Simone’s stilettos as she made her way down his hallway. It hit him right before she opened the door.

  “Right, got it.”

  “Hey Matthias,” Simone smiled as she placed a paper bag on the counter. “You still down? I brought you some of that potato soup you like so much with the bacon bits in it.”

  “Handle this.” Matthias took his phone and excused himself. Sharee discretely called him and put her phone on the table.

  “It’s a shame about Sylvia isn’t it?” Sharee started the conversation.

  “If you say so, personally I was getting tired of all the crap she was pulling on the side.”

  “What crap? You’ve obviously done a great job protecting Matthias if I hadn’t even heard about it.”

  “Oh you know how Sylvia was…always playing the victim like the world owed her something.”

  Matthias grabbed his squeeze grips to avoid smashing his phone.

  “I hadn’t noticed I guess.”

  “Oh my God, yes. You know how girls like her are. If you ask me Matthias is better off without her. Sure he’s grumpy now, but soon enough he’ll get a piece and he’ll be back to player form.”

  “Are you setting up the girl?”

  “Which girl? Sylvia?”

  “No the girl he’s going to screw. I used to do it for him all the time.”

  “You did?” Simone’s voice changed from one of dominance to a little whipped puppy.

  “Yes, you can’t trust him to do it himself. When we were married, I did that and…let’s just say it was a mess.”

  “When you were married? I thought he was faithful?”

  “Matthias?” Sharee scoffed. “Matthias couldn’t last three days without a different girl.”

  Matthias breathed in deep and remembered Sharee was soiling his rep for the betterment of him, even though the lies cut deeper than he was ready for. His faithfulness was one thing he had been proud of.

  “Really?”

  “Why you so shocked? Haven’t you been cleaning up for him this whole time?”

  “No.” Simone’s voice was distant and confused.

  “Tell me more about how Sylvia was damaging him.”

  “It was little things, like when he was at that traveling tournament…with the little kid.”

  “How did that hurt him?” Sharee asked the question he wanted to.

  “You would not believe how I had to spin that. It took me hours to deal with…sure I saved his rep on that one. It was horrible. You have no idea.”

  “Anything else?”

  “I’m sure she cheated on him in Arizona. All those newly signed millionaires at training camp. That’s all Sylvia was after. Money from people that don’t know what to do with it. Hell, if I wouldn’t have—”

  “If you wouldn’t have what?”

  “Every time I turned around, she was getting money from Matthias. Fucking gold-digger is what she was you wouldn’t believe…”

  Simone trail
ed off and Matthias wanted to rush into the room and wrap his fingers around her neck for her venomous lies.

  “What did you do to get her to go?”

  “Told her the truth. She was destroying him and he needs a strong woman who knows how to carry herself. I mean seriously, did you see how she dressed? And her job…”

  That was it. He was done with Simone and her smear campaign. All Silly had done was support her because she was helping him. Tearing down the hallway Matthias heard the final nail in her coffin.

  “Matthias needs someone like me, I’m not saying…well I’d…”

  “You think you’d be better for him than she was?” Matthias could hear the smile in Sharee’s voice.

  “Sylvia almost destroyed him.”

  “How?” Matthias’ voice boomed as he practically crashed into the island. “How did she destroy me? My stats are up and I just won the goddamn World Championship.”

  The timer dinged for his pizza and Sharee got up to take it out. Matthias was locked into a stare down with Simone who backpedaled like nobody’s business.

  “Um…it’s…you don’t…”

  “I don’t what? Do not try to tell me I don’t know something.”

  Matthias turned to calm himself. The last thing he needed to do was toss this conniving bitch out his window, which was his first thought, but Silly would be mad at him if he ended up on death row, especially over Simone. Opening his eyes the first thing to come into focus was a goddamn coupon on his fridge. It was right next to the shopping list Silly always left there with a pen.

  “Matthias why do other people decide what you need?” Silly had been frustrated one day and finally snapped at him. “It’s one thing if a nutritionist gives you a meal plan for you to choose from, but it’s another for people to assume they know you. You are more than capable of knowing what you need to make your house run. Here,” she tore out a sheet of paper from her notebook and scrawled Shopping List on the top, then stuck it to the fridge. “From now on when you want something and it isn’t here or you see you’re running out write it down.”

  After that day when she had a coupon for an item that they needed or wanted she’d put it by the latest shopping list to be picked up. She must have wanted some vitamins, because the coupon was a two-fer. Simone had the nerve to say Silly was a gold-digger.