by Greg Jolley
“I don’t know. I mean I do, but, well, I have the list he gave me. I’ll use that when I get questioned.”
“And your brother is helping him? Can I ask why?”
The girl took a sip of milk and bite of pie. “Oh. It is warm. Thank you.”
She chewed as Wiki sat down.
“Father likes to rough us up. Fists and boots. Always has, and it hasn’t gotten any better since Mom took off. He has stopped getting nasty with me since she left. I think Cain is scared not to help out.”
Wiki decided that she was not hungry. She set her fork on her plate and watched Abel take another bite. She wanted to ask about what the father and Cain were going to do. She decided to go with a softer subject.
“Do you like Jame?”
“As?”
Wiki took her fork up and filled it with pie that she knew she was not going to eat.
“As in girlfriend? Romance?”
Abel chewed on that and her pie. Wiki watched her. Abel aimed her glasses at the far windows. “It’s interesting,” she said, taking a drink of milk before adding, “Seeing this room from inside.”
Wiki turned to the windows. She could see part of their reflections in the glass.
“I’m too screwed up to be a girlfriend. But romance? Yeah. That would work. He didn’t force his way into your shower or try to trap you? When you were bare?”
“No.”
“Just like him—good. I like that.”
Wiki was at a loss. She studied the windows.
“I was gonna give Jame my list. I’m gonna keep it, instead. Guess I’ll need it. After I get arrested or whatever.”
The girl reached inside her coat. She pulled out a twice-folded piece of lined paper and showed it to Wiki.
“Are you sure? I mean, it might help you from getting in trouble with the police and all?”
“I’m sure. When is he getting back?”
Abel refolded the list and pushed it deep inside her pocket.
“I’m not sure. In an hour or so, he said.”
“I’m gonna go. Well, I’m gonna finish my pie and then go.”
“Stay here,” Wiki heard herself offer. “Where you gonna go in all of that snow and cold?”
“Well, it’s a cinch I’m not going home.”
“No. Right. I wouldn’t go there.”
“Home is on Cain’s list. I bet it’s gone by now.”
“Abel? What do you mean gone?”
“Father has him making it a pyre. Not clear on what that means, but I understand enough to know it’s probably gone.”
Abel took her final bite of pie. She drank the last of her milk and setting the cup on the table, turned her glasses straight at Wiki.
“I’ve gotta go. Don’t like being here uninvited. I thought I would.”
“Are you sure? I can tell Jame I invited you in.”
“Thanks, but no. It’s not the same as him asking.”
She stood from the table and walked into the room instead of turning for the door. She rounded the blue couch and passed the bed to her right. She walked to the big windows.
Her pale hands reached out slowly, hesitantly. The fingers widened before she placed her palms on the pane. The hands pressed and rested.
Neither of them said a word. A minute passed.
Abel turned and crossed the room slowly, not looking to Wiki, but to the door to the front of the cottage. She passed the kitchen without a word or a glance. A minute later, Wiki heard the front doors open and close.
Wiki stood up and followed. The front room was dark so she turned the lights on. She could finally see the details and the colors of the room. Everything was white or shades of cream save the color of the flames in the fireplace. She didn’t notice that the rifle beside the white bricks was gone.
Wiki woke up feeling confused. There was light in her eyes. She sat up on the couch. The big windows were full of gray daylight. She saw that she was covered with a blanket that she didn’t have before. She had borrowed towels to drape herself before going to sleep. She turned from the windows and there was Jame, asleep in his big blue bed. She noticed that he slept centered in the bed, not to one side like lovers do; like she and Sara do, or did. Wiki slowly laid back watching the light continue to warm her.
She nestled the blanket up around her naked body. Sprays of chrome light were shining off the ice on the lake and she heard, “Espresso?”
She smiled. It was a good word and idea. More so than if Jame had offered pie.
She heard the rustle of his blankets and movements. He crossed her vision briefly and she listened to him pee in the toilet beside the glass shower.
The clouds shifted and the shine on the frozen lake disappeared.
Jame lowered himself in front of the couch. With his face close to hers, he looked into her sleepy eyes and said, “Good morning.”
She returned a crooked grin.
He rose and walked away. She heard him in the kitchen. A minute later, she smelled espresso brewing.
“You like eggs?”
“Eww, no.”
“Me either.”
“The pie is good.”
“I agree. Looks like you got hungry again last night.”
Wiki remembered Abel, but she didn’t say anything. She listened to cabinet doors opening and the clink of two coffee cups being placed on the table.
“Sugar? Cream? Black?” he offered.
“Oh, black, please.”
Wiki sat up, drawing the blanket around her body. She raised her knees and placed her bare feet on the couch.
Jame came around the couch and handed her a cup of espresso. He went for his cup and Wiki blew across the espresso before taking a sip. She could taste the strength immediately.
“Pie now or later?” she heard.
“Later, please. I want a buzz first.”
There was a blue cushioned bench at the foot of his bed. Jame sat there and said to his cup, “I have to wait. Too hot for me.”
Wiki remembered his departure the night before. “How are your parents?”
“Fine. They were sleeping when I got there. My dad was all over me though about having no dial tone. I’ve got to take care of that this morning.”
“Really?” Wiki said. She could already feel the buzz in her mind. “Get yourself shot while fixing the telephones?”
“True, but we, my dad and I, well, we’re a telephone-company family. He was a lineman and he’d still be at it, but he had an accident and they retired him.”
Wiki saw he had changed his clothes. His blue jeans and large white shirt looked similar to what he had loaned her the night before. She leaned forward, feeling one of her breasts spill out. She had piled her clothing on the floor after finding the bath towels she used as blankets to sleep. Her clothes were gone.
“Jame, where are my clothes? I left them on the floor here.”
“In the washer. I’ll pull you out a clean pair.”
Wiki considered this before saying, “Okay.”
“Would you like them now?” He offered, maybe sensing her discomfort.
“Yes, please.” She covered her boob. She felt around within the blanket and found the bath towel, and handed it to Jame as he passed by the couch going to his shelves of clothing.
Wiki took another sip of espresso. There was another spray of light from the lake. She heard Jame say, “Sorry, it’s another day of blue and white.” Jame returned with a folded white shirt and blue jeans. “It’s mostly all I wear.”
Wiki secured the blanket up around her breasts and accepted the stack of clothing.
“Shower and change, if you like,” he suggested. “I’ll be in the front room.”
“Thank you. Think I will. Close the door all the way,” she added with a smile.
“Will do,” he replied, picking up his cup from the bench and leaving the room.
With the clothes in her arm, she took the last sip of espresso.
Jame called from behind the front room door, “Wiki?
Have you seen my rifle?”
She sat perfectly still, thinking. She felt sorry for Abel; protective in some ways; uncertain, she chose to say nothing.
When he didn’t ask again or say anything else, she uncovered herself and crossed to the shower.
✳ ✳ ✳
The water was warm and the view was wonderful even as the glass walls steamed. To her left, an area of decking descended from the big house next door. On the other side of the cottage, there was a row of frosted elms looking solid and lonely in their march across the snowfield to the lake.
She dried off, and pulled on Jame’s clothing and decided she was stalling, batting away her thoughts about Abel. She was not sure if keeping her visit a secret from Jame was best. She did not like secrets, but chose to keep mum, unless faced with having to tell a lie.
Wiki was drying her hair when she noticed what the cottage is missing. There were no mirrors anywhere. “Interesting,” she whispered, wanting to check how her hair framed and partially hid her own pale face and expression. She wanted to go to her coat and put on her black sunglasses—it was her best look—but considered their effect on the light from the windows and decided to go without.
Wiki left the room, heading out front. As she crossed the white and cream room, the lights went out. The room was well lit up with window light so the change was subtle. She found Jame in the sun porch. He was using a funnel to pour gasoline into a squat square tank that had a line to what she guessed was the generator. She watched him fill the tank and then carry the big gas can outside.
When Jame came back inside, he was smiling.
“We can run the full power now, if you like, but if it’s okay with you, I’d like to save it for nighttime.”
Wiki smiled, liking his concern for her. “I say we save it until we need it.”
“Okay. I’d like to head into town now, but I can’t find my rifle.”
The warmth of the morning light drained away. Wiki frowned at the front yard view.
Jame turned from the shelves. “Did I ask? Why are you in Dent?”
Wiki breathed out, “I got lost.”
“Last night you said you were going to Wildwood.”
“Yes. The family place.”
“Uh-huh and wow. You really missed.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s like thirty miles from here.”
“Is it? Damn. Highway signs weren’t helping, and it was snowing.”
He studied her face, her eyes. “Vacationing? I’m betting you’re not a hunter. Meeting someone? A boyfriend? Oops, that’s a bit nosy.”
“It’s fine,” she answered. The topic was not pleasant, but it was better than talking about the rifle and Abel…for now. Wiki decided that as nice as he was, Jame might deserve some honesty.
“I was going there to set the place up for my love and I. I’m scheduled for insemination in Ann Arbor in, I think, eight days.”
Jame’s jaw tightened under an expression of mild surprise, and hurt.
A long moment passed before he spoke. “I guess you two can’t make, have your own child?”
“That’s true. And now I’m not so sure we’re even going to do it.”
“How come?”
“I’m thinking she might be dumping me.”
“She? Your love is a—” Jame stopped, blinking.
Wiki frowned, not liking the confusion and hurt being honest had caused.
“I’m sorry,” he offered.
“So am I. It’s right out of the blue.”
“Know why?”
“Seems she’s having second thoughts.”
“She’s an idiot.”
Hearing that, hearing Sara referred to that way, Wiki looked out to the driveway. Their life. Their plans. Their path. Now this, like a bus blindsiding her. She felt a warmth, and it was from that rarest of fires of hers: anger.
“Yes,” she said through tight teeth. It sounded like the growl of a small animal.
Wiki shoved her feelings aside. She didn’t dampen the flame. Instead, her mind stepped forward into another rare emotion: revenge.
“Wiki?”
Her eyes tightened down, and she glared at the shelves in the sun porch, not seeing anything.
Jame extended his hand. Seeing her expression, he pulled it back.
“I want to break something,” she said slowly, tightly.
Jame following her eyes. “Here?” he said, sounding protective.
“No. Not here. More like…breaking a promise. A rule.”
“O-kay…”
“That girl, Abel. She took your rifle.”
“Huh? Abel was here?”
Wiki ignored the question.
“When?”
Wiki ignored the second question as well. The fire was growing. She felt her nails digging into her palm. The veil lifted, and she began to think of every misdeed, every slight Sara had brought into their life. Trouble was, there were few. Really nothing more than mistakes and misunderstandings. No matter, with the veil raised, she stayed in search.
Jame gave up on the Abel questions. He was watching a new Wiki: this one trembling with rage. His hand went out again, bravely, and he placed it lightly on her shoulder.
Her eyes turned quickly. She was glaring. She was looking at his hand on her.
Jame started to lift it. She shifted, and her small pale hand rose and rested on his. She took the whole of his hand in hers with an awkward angled grip.
The two of them stood still, looking into the room for a long moment. The furnace underfoot kicked on with a rumbling sound.
“I’m hungry,” Wiki said to the room.
“Sure.” Jame offered.
Her hand released his.
He saw that Wiki was still trembling. He watched her as she stepped through the porch door and entered the front room. When she disappeared through the connecting door, he followed.
Jame entered the lake-view room, expecting to see her at the table or the oven. He spotted her through the glass of the shower wall. She was turning the water on. When a warm mist began to rise, she stepped around and looked at him.
“Get cleaned up and let’s go to town.”
Guess breakfast isn’t on her mind now, he thought. It was confusing. He said, “Sure. Okay.”
Jame selected clean clothes from his shelves and set them on the toilet lid. When he turned around, Wiki was beside him. She watched his mouth while she unbuttoned her shirt. Jame’s eyes went wide. He didn’t say a word.
Her shirt fell to the floor, and she looked up to his eyes with her beautiful breasts in full view.
Jame was staring. There was nothing he could, or wanted to, do about it. He watched her unbutton and drop her blue corduroys. He watched her cross to the couch, completely naked save wool socks. Her body was both lovely and erotic, and her movements were languid, natural, but not suggestive. She lifted her dress from the couch arm and pulled it over her head. The dress fell like a curtain down over her amazing body.
Wiki shook her hair twice and ran her fingers up through it, causing a blonde wave to fall across the right side of her face. She turned, saw him watching and said, “I’ll be waiting out front,” and she left.
Jame undressed, looking at the place where she last stood. He had a struggle with his pants; seeing her had caused a healthy reaction. He stripped and stepped into the warm, spraying water, the reaction growing stronger. He placed his head in the spray and his hands rose and rubbed his face. He closed his eyes and felt the water, electric on his skin.
Jame reached back and found the familiar shape of his shampoo bottle. He avoided the bottle of shower gel. With his eyes closed, he poured a spoonful of shampoo into his right hand. He tilted his face back for the spray and used two hands to massage the shampoo into his hair. He also used the suds on his face. These actions were almost a distraction.
All he could hear was the fast running shower. He didn’t hear the soft click of the shower door, but felt the entrance of cooler air. He opened his e
yes within the spray and turned to the breeze and there was Wiki, stepping into the shower, her white and gold sundress darkening from the water. His eyes went to her breasts, which showed easily though the fabric, her nipples clear to see. He raised his eyes to hers, and she was looking toward the back window of the shower. Her pale thin hand lifted the bottle of shower gel. When she turned to him, her eyes were staring at his chest. She poured a handful of gel into her open palm. When her eyes rose to his, they held an expression that he could not read. He felt her slippery hand encircle his cock and squeeze. She was standing there in her soaked dress, watching him. Her hand was holding him tight. She said to him, “Can I help?”
The homes along the east side of the lake were the large ones. All five homes were separated by open land, not shoulder-to-shoulder like the cottages. The five homes had the best views: an expanse of light from noon to sunset. Two of the homes were vacant for the winter, the owners away to reasonable Florida. One was vacant and on the market. It was managed—warmed and lit—by electronics. The home at the southern turn was owned by a single young man who made no attempt to be part of Dent’s community. Some said he was an executive in Ann Arbor. Others knew he was some kind of techie with his random coming and going at odd hours. When he waved to people on the road, they got his hand but not his eyes.
Vivian, or “Viv” to all who knew her, lived with her husband, Beau, in the five-room, two-story home at the north end of the row. Viv and Beau owned the Quickee gas station and store in Dent. It was a money loser, a write-off, but it had always been in Beau’s family so they kept it up and running with their town friends in mind. Beau was gone a lot managing their other nine grocery stores in four different townships.
Viv was upstairs listening to the television while pulling blue tape away from the freshly painted walls of the spare room. She and Beau had decided to have a television room with a door to change the television-centric family room. They agreed that television was okay, but should be a choice instead of the center of attention in their most commonly shared space.
Viv had a gob of pulled blue tape in her hand and stood centered along the back wall. A streamer of the tape was ready to be pulled away in her other hand. The room had been emptied except for the television on the hardwood floor at her back. She wasn’t looking at the television, which was on. She was looking out the window, listening to the latest weather update. The incoming storm was big. She and Beau had kept abreast during the past two days before he headed off for an overnighter to stores number three, five, and seven. The newscaster was breathless, as usual, and had twice said, “Possibly the worst storm since records began.”
