by H. B. Rae
"I think you missed a spot." Devin's father Roland said, pointing a thick and calloused finger toward a bare spot at what would be at the tree's belly. He was laying on the couch wearing a warm flannel shirt, jeans and white socks on his feet that were propped up on the arm rest opposite his head.
Devin gasped and covered the spot.
"That was close. Thanks, dad." Devin said, pretending to wipe sweat from his brow.
"Okay, you need to hurry up with that tree," Jessica ordered, "Because these cookies are just about cooled off and we need to start adding the frosting and sprinkles on them."
"How many do we get to eat?" Roland asked loudly without lifting his head from the pillow tucked behind it.
"Well, Mr. McGee, I've allotted each of us two cookies out of the three dozen and the rest will be brought over to the Shaky Hands...
"It's Shady Sands, Jess. Shady Sands Retirement Community." Devin corrected, shaking his head and clicking his tongue.
"That's what I meant." She said, laughing at herself and Devin's response. "And don't act all innocent over there. You call it shaky hands, too."
"I have never done such a rude and insensitive thing. Just stop your lying." Devin teased with a straight face making Jessica laugh out loud. He did that to her all the time. Ever since kindergarten where they first met, Devin had always been able to make Jessica laugh sometimes without even saying a word but just looking at her, no expression but blank on his face. She was his best audience.
The chemistry between them was a double edged sword to say the least. They were inseparable from the word go and never failed to stop and thank God or fate or the universe that they lived walking distance from each other's house. They had been together through the getting bullied phases of grade school, the awkward and puberty stricken chapters of middle school and finally the honeymoon of completing high school. But, this bond also saw them in plenty of detentions together, a few write-ups at the BrementownTheater where they both worked, and without dates to homecomings, mixers or prom.
"Invite an outsider?" Jessica would say to Devin whenever he brought up a dance that was in their future. Shaking her head as if he had just asked her to hold a live scorpion she'd look up at his handsome face with her blue eyes and tuck her brown hair behind her ears. "I'd rather eat glass."
Devin watched Jessica as she set the timer for the cookies and arranged the frosting and sprinkles in an assembly line. He wasn't sure why his eyes travelled over her smiling face so much more these days. She looked the same as she always had. At least, he tried to tell himself that. The truth was he thought she had suddenly gone from cute to beautiful.
"You waiting for the tree to finish decorating itself?" Roland asked, again the only thing moving on him being his jaw.
"No. I'm trying to figure out my motivation. What I want this year's tree to say. What emotions I want to stir." He said sarcastically looking down at his dad who had caught him watching Jessica. He felt his cheeks redden just a little so he turned quickly and grabbed a couple of the red and green glass balls to start hanging.
The McGee family was not into the expensive, heirloom type of Christmas. Even though they lived in a modest little house Devin liked to call it trailer park chic, when his mother wasn't around, of course, which was most of the time. She worked as a nurse on the three to eleven shift and two nights a week she managed the convenience store over on Moose Road and Main Street working the graveyard shift. Devin was sure he hadn't seen her in the evening since he was in diapers.
They had a few gaudy plastic lawn ornaments that were put out every year and the Christmas tree looked like dozens of dark green pipe cleaners all wound together. The only thing that his mother had paid good money for and insisted it be displayed prominently was the simple Nativity scene. They weren't very religious. But Devin's mother, having seen her share of heartbreak and miracles working for so many years at the hospital, was a believer.
"How would you feel if everyone forgot it was your birthday?" she asked Devin one year when he asked her why the little ceramic statues had to be placed on the coffee table where he liked to park his feet sometimes. "We do it so we don't forget."
"You're making a Rembrandt." his father teased, knowing he had embarrassed his boy just a little.
"Don't you have to work today, dad?"
Roland moved his arm so he could see his wrist and then tucked it back behind his head.
"I don't have to leave for two hours. Aren't you glad?"
"I'm glad!" Jessica piped up from the kitchen. "I'm just thrilled to my very foundation."
"Hey, Jess. No one likes a suck-up. Besides, you're not getting anything in the will. He's leaving this entire dynasty to me. Me!" Devin said pointing into his own chest.
Again Jessica started to laugh.
"I don't know why you encourage him, Jess. I really don't." Roland said his eyes glued to the television that had some football game playing. He worked at Clemen's Fishery where most of the men in Homer, Alaska worked. He rotated his schedule and in the next few days he'd be on the water for two weeks and in the cannery for one with the last week off. The work was hard but the pay was good and with one kid heading off for college and the other heading somewhere the McGee household could use every extra dime they made.
Devin gave Jessica a wink to which she stuck out her tongue. He continued unpacking decorations, smiling to himself as he did so.
There were four red stockings with white, furry trim around the tops that hung from the bookshelves and a couple of weird stuffed elves, pillows of Santa and Frosty the Snowman and several handmade ornaments that Devin and his sister had made when they were little.
It was at that precise moment that Devin was hanging up the tacky little decorations made by clumsy little hands that the front door opened and slammed shut. Only his sister slammed the door that way. She didn't come into the living room but instead stomped upstairs to her room.
A collective breath had been taken and slowly released by Jessica, Devin and his father. Kelly was home. No one said anything but it would have been obvious to a blind man that there was a change in the air.
Roland seemed to instinctively grab the television remote control and turn the volume down. Devin continued to put the ornaments on the tree but moved several boxes out of the way and stacked them on the wall behind him by the window where foot traffic was rare.
Jessica looked at Devin and smiled kindly, tilting her head to the right as if to tell him it would be alright. But when she heard the stomping footsteps of Devin's sixteen year old sister pounding down the stairs she rolled her eyes.
"Please just walk back out the front door." Jessica mumbled out loud to herself. She listened but instead of hearing the creak of the front door opening she heard the girl's footsteps getting closer.
Kelly McGee was a plump girl with a round pudgy face who wore too much make-up and not enough clothing. It was snowing outside and as she appeared at the end of the hallway that opened to the kitchen and living room Jessica noted her black fishnet stockings and ankle high boots. Her backside was barely covered by a pair of tattered black cut-off shorts and a white tank top with a thin, black hoodie did nothing to conceal her cleavage.
"What are you doing?" she snapped at Devin.
He picked up another ornament from the plastic tub they were stored in and turned his back to his sister as he found a place to hang it on the tree.
"What does it look like." he said back calmly.
Kelly shifted from her left foot to her right and let out a huge sigh.
"Don't you think I might want to help decorate the tree?"
"You weren't home. I'm not going to wait for you."
"And you just let him do whatever he wants?" she barked at her father who clicked the television off and sat up on the couch. "Devin always gets to do whatever he wants! You never say shit to him!"
"Shut up, Kelly." Devin said, in a low, calm voice shaking his head as he reached for another ornament.
"Don't tell me to shut up! That tree looks like crap anyways."
"Kelly, that's enough." Roland said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"He started it!" Kelly looked in the kitchen and saw Jessica watching her. Jessica wasn't afraid of Kelly like Roland and Mrs. McGee were. They were afraid if they had her arrested or checked her into rehab she'd never come back or get killed on the street or some other guilt-riddled excuse. But Jessica felt nothing but disgust for the girl. And the sentiment was mutual.
"What the hell are you looking at? Real nice of you to make yourself at home using our gas and electricity and water. Don't you have a home to go to?"
Jessica rolled her eyes, not giving Kelly the satisfaction of a reply and turned her back to take the last of the Christmas cookies out of the oven.
"I asked you a question!" Kelly yelled.
"Kelly, stop that right now." Roland said, standing up. "I have to go to work." He slipped past his daughter and made his way to the front door where he put on his heavy work boots, thick winter jacket and a hat. Without another word he opened the door and left. Kelly had the ability to empty a room this way. Devin wasn't surprised at his father's behavior. He had left the house a thousand times before just so he wouldn't have to listen to his daughter have another temper tantrum.
But Devin knew Kelly’s outbursts were more than just tantrums. Some people on talk shows would say that she was a victim. Poor thing just wanted love and discipline. Ship her off to some resort in one of the warmer lower forty-eight states where she can ride horses and paint pictures and whine in a circle with a bunch of other brats who felt at the age of sixteen life was too hard. That would cure her anger issues. Not.
The truth was Devin knew there was something wrong with Kelly all their life. He always felt there was a short circuit in her brain that made her enjoy hurting people. If he could blame it on drugs he'd feel a lot better about her but the truth was she wasn't on drugs. Sure she experimented but she wasn't what you'd call a doper. She was just mean. Cruelty was a sport to her. And Devin wasn't embarrassed to say he hated her.
"Give me that!" She yelled at Devin, stomping up to him to snatch the ornament he was holding out of his hand. "That one is mine!"
"Fine. Take it." He said, still calm. He looked at Jessica.
"What are you looking at her for? Gotta get permission to do anything?" Kelly said, standing on tip-toe to hang the red ornament she had taken. "Jessica? Is it okay if I wipe my ass?" she said in a sing-songy voice loud enough for Jessica to hear.
Devin shook his head and stepped around his sister.
"Let's get going." He said.
Jessica nodded her head and piled the cookies that had cooled off into a festive blue tin with white snowflakes all over it.
"Shaky Hands will still eat them, even without the frosting." she said, smiling up at Devin.
"What have you got? I want a cookie." Kelly said, walking over to the kitchen. Jessica reached into the tin, took one out and handed it to Kelly. She stood there with the cookie in her hand like she had just been handed poop.
"Oh, I didn't know you were that stingy. Sure you can spare a crumb?"
"They're for the people at the retirement home." Jessica said, not flinching. "You know, people less fortunate than us."
"Sure. I'd hate to make all the old farts your taking these to go without, considering half of them don't even know they are alive anymore." Kelly hissed with her mouth full of cookie. "These taste like crap."
Devin took the tin from Jessica then grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the kitchen away from his sister.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door.
"I'll get it!" Kelly yelled, violently pushing her way past both Devin and Jessica. Standing in the doorway was a man, easily in his early twenties who mumbled a salutation to Kelly who grabbed her coat from the floor and walked out the door without uttering another word.
Jessica smiled.
Devin handed the cookies back to her and they headed back to the kitchen.
"She'll be gone for hours."
"Good. Put the ballgame back on."
"How about some Christmas music?"
"Yes, please!" Jessica said, bumping Devin with her hip as she headed back to the kitchen. The disruption from Kelly was already lost like the snowflakes that blew past the window.
Chapter 2
It was early the next morning when Devin met Jessica at the corner of Burr Oak Lane and Bald Eagle Street. It was the halfway point between their houses. The sun had just crept over the horizon pushing its way through clouds that looked like pillows across the sky. On one side they were dark gray and along the bottoms they were bright yellow and pink as the sun reflected off them. The fresh layer of snow was completely smooth across all the lawns with the exception of a few squirrel tracks. It crunched under their feet. They smiled their good morning and just started walking in the direction of a forest preserve they had been going to since they were old enough to leave the streets they lived on.
Devin wore a bright yellow cap that Jessica had knitted for him when he was in eighth grade. She had improved on her craft since then and had made him other caps and scarves that weren’t so lumpy and lopsided. But he insisted on wearing the uneven, bulging yellow cap. It had become part of his winter ensemble for the past five years.
Jessica had made herself a lovely cap with a knitted flower on the side, matching mittens and a scarf in a vintage pink color that was barely visible underneath her heavy winter coat.
“What time did you go to sleep last night?” Devin asked.
“Well, you called after I left around eleven, right? So after we got off the phone. Around twelve-thirty.”
Devin nodded.
“Did your sister come home last night?” Jessica asked, more as a courtesy not because she was actually interested.
“No.” Devin answered matter-of-factly.
Silence wrapped around them except for the innocent chirping of the birds in the trees and the squawking of squirrels that chased each other up and around the trees as the pair passed.
“How come you’re so quiet this morning?” Jessica asked, peeking up at Devin as they walked. She wiped her nose and sniffled as her body became warmer from trudging along. She thought Devin looked cute when his cheeks were all red and he was bundled up. Even the slightest grin made dimples in his cheeks that were irresistible. But she’d never tell him that. Not to his face.
Devin shook his head.
“Is it Kelly?” Jessica asked, knowing the answer would be yes. “Don’t worry about her. You know, whatever happens to her she’ll have brought on herself. What I don’t understand is how completely nice, harmless people get abducted going to a grocery store but someone as careless and stupid as your sister hops in and out of cars and God knows what else and still manages to make it home every few nights to remind her family that she hates them.”
“It’s gotten worse than that.” Devin said, looking down at his feet as they walked in unison.
“What do you mean?”
“Do you remember last week when you saw my mom?”
“Yeah, one of the rare glimpses of the elusive Bev McGee. Yeah, I remember.”
“And you asked her what had happened to her lip? She told you she slipped on some ice.”
Jessica stopped. Her blue eyes twinkled coldly in the light.
“You don’t have to say another word, Dev. I know what’s coming.”
Devin walked a little bit ahead of Jessica. The forest preserve had a trail but the pair preferred the seclusion and spontaneity of taking the road less travelled. No joggers would interrupt their private conversations. No speed walkers eavesdropping on their secret plans to take over the world. It seemed like there among the trees and barren shrubs their secrets were meant to be shared. Nature promised to never tell as long they didn’t. So Devin sat down on a log and shook his head sadly.
“You and I were at work. Dad was in the shower. She just walked up to my mom and grabbed h
er purse saying she needed money. My mom, all five feet of her told Kelly no. When she went to grab her purse Kelly hauled off and slapped her across the face. Knocked her to the floor. Started screaming, again, like usual and left with grocery and gas money. About three hundred dollars.”
Jessica stood in front of Devin with her mouth hanging wide open.
“Do you think that is all? Are you ready for the rest?” Devin said looking up at Jessica.
“You mean there’s more?”
“Oh yeah.”
Folding her arms across her chest Jessica nodded.
“You know Stinky Joe from the sunglasses kiosk at Brementown?”
Jessica nodded her head. Stinky Joe was about four hundred pounds and had been a staple at the run down mall that was home the theaters where Jessica and Devin worked. He was a nice enough guy. In fact, he was really nice. Joe was always happy to give you a jump if your car wouldn’t start. He’d loan you his cell phone if you didn’t have your own on you. He even once gave Rudy Singleton one hundred dollars to pay a speeding ticket he got when he rolled through a red light at two o’clock in the morning and got his picture taken by one of those photo enforced corners. Then told Rudy he didn’t have to pay him back. No strings. No hassle. Stinky Joe had a good heart but for some reason personal hygiene was just not a priority.
“Stinky Joe told me that some of the guys who loiter around the empty side of the mall were telling him about a girl who fit Kelly’s description.”
“What did they say? I think I can guess.”
“No, it isn’t what you think. Well, it’s partly what you think but not all together.”
“Oh, God.” Jessica said, rolling her eyes. “Is she having sex for money?”
“Not quite.”
“Drugs?”
“Knives.” Devin said shaking his head. He had a tired smile on his face. “Can you believe that? She is pimping herself out to these lowlifes for knives.”
