by Landis Lain
“You insisted,” said Sasha, nose in the air as she sauntered past him and climbed onto the steps of the bus. He followed. “You’re stuck with them now, boy.”
“Just for that,” said Suleiman, flashing his ID at the bus driver, “dinner is on you.”
SPOOKED
October 31
When I was little I hated to be frightened. I don’t like scary movies. I don’t like ghouls or vampires or ghosts. I don’t even like clowns at the circus. Santa, NO. Even the Easter Bunny was a trial. Something about folks in big elaborate costumes and masks creeps me all the way out. Mama never let me trick or treat because I was such a fraidy-cat. We always went to praise night at the church. I’d get to dress up as a princess or an angel. We would play games and bob for apples. That’s much better than scaring the heck out of myself with slasher movies and maniacs. There are enough scary people in my life.
Halloween afternoon was sunny and brisk. Suleiman took Sasha and the baby to Uncle John’s Cider Mill. For Ricky’s first Halloween Sasha was dressed up as Queen Hatshepsut and Ricky was her tiny curly haired Prince Thutmose III. One of the ladies who worked at the daycare had loaned Sasha the ensemble; long white dress, ornate collar and belt. Sasha had initially let her hair down. She felt too exposed, so she put her hair back in the bun and plopped the black wig on her head and wrapped a gold headband with a plastic cobra on it around the wig to hold it in place. Ricky’s face was painted, too and he clutched his headband in one hand and a plastic flail festooned with gold and blue feathers in another.
“You should have been a warrior or Pharaoh,” said Sasha. “I could have war painted your face, so we could match.”
Suleiman rolled his eyes.
“Unfortunately,” he drawled. “My favorite loin cloth is in the cleaners. Plus, I do not wear makeup. You look cute, though.”
“Thanks,” said Sasha. “Who are you supposed to be?”
Suleiman did not look cute. He looked dark and dangerous in a black t-shirt, black jeans and a black leather jacket. He was wearing black mirrored sunglasses.
“Shaft, John Shaft,” he said, lifting one corner of his sunglasses to wink at her. He took Ricky from her. “How are you doing, Richie Rich. Remember me?”
Sasha laughed.
Once they arrived at the Cider Mill they found it packed with costumed children and adults. They went to the cider press and sampled cider and pumpkin flavored donuts. Suleiman paid for Ricky to bounce in the bounce house and then had to go in and get him when Ricky refused to come out. Following a brief tantrum, they rode behind the tractor out to the pumpkin patch.
“You gonna take all day to pick a pumpkin?” asked Suleiman. He was wheeling Ricky around in an orange wheelbarrow designed to hold the big pumpkins covering the field. Ricky laughed and babbled.
“They are all picked over,” complained Sasha. “All the good ones are gone.”
“It is Halloween,” said Suleiman. “That’s why they are half price.” They decided to skip the pumpkin and go into the corn maze.
Suleiman was enthusiastic about the corn maze. Sasha eyed the seven and a half foot tall golden stalks dubiously.
“That looks like a scary movie in the making,” she said. “Black Children in the Corn. I don’t like scary stuff.”
Suleiman laughed.
“I’ll protect you,” he said, with a pleading look on his face. “It’ll be fun, I promise.” He hauled Ricky up on his shoulders and they headed into the maze. It was crowded and coming up on dusk soon. After a few minutes, Sasha relaxed as there were many people running through the maze. Talking adults and children shrieking with laughter filled the air. Sasha and Suleiman got separated. She wandered for a while and got completely turned around. She could hear voices around her but wasn’t sure which way to go. The light was steadily fading, the voices got louder, and Sasha got more and more uneasy.
“Sasha.” A hand dropped on her shoulder. She turned in relief.
“If it isn’t the sweet thang.”
She froze. The grim reaper pulled off his mask. Dread glued her feet to the dirt under the moccasins. Standing in front of her dressed in a long black robe, stood Craig “Dragon Dog” Frazier. Craig crowded close and ran his hand over her hair.
“I thought you were supposed to be locked up?” Sasha could feel the menace wafting from Craig along with the weed.
“I’m out on bail,” he said, stepping forward. “Trial’s coming up.”
“Oh.”
“I’ve been watching you all day,” he growled.
Sasha took a step back at the menace in his voice.
“I called you. You never pick up. We got some things to talk about. Who is that dude you’re with? Why you got him around my baby?” He touched her face and slid his hand down the side of her breast.
“Don’t touch me,” she whispered, batting his hand away. He scowled. Sasha whirled and took off in panic, running toward the voices. She didn’t stay on the maze trails, just crashed through the stalks blindly. She could hear Craig cursing and crashing behind her. Sasha veered off to her left, narrowly missing a group of children who screamed when she crashed past them. Spotlights flashed on, suddenly illuminating the darkening corn maze.
Temporarily blinded, she stumbled into a man in a hockey mask and coveralls. She screamed. He screamed too and then burst out laughing. She tripped and fell forward.
“Whoa, sorry,” he said, steadying her with his hands. “What’s the matter? You running from a killer?”
“I want to get out!” Sasha panted. She yanked away and looked around blindly.
The man held out his hands in front of him. “It’s okay, miss. I work here. Just follow me.” Sasha glanced behind her.
“I want to get out!”
“Okay.” The man’s voice was soothing. He removed his hockey mask to reveal lank dark hair and pale skin. “It’s all right.”
Apparently, he was accustomed to nearly hysterical women because he led her to the entrance of the maze not more than two minutes later. Sasha burst out of the corn maze, looking around wildly for Suleiman.
“Hey, what took you so long?”
She whirled around and then sighed in abject relief. Suleiman stood leaning on the ticket booth wall, with Ricky in his arms. He pushed away from the ticket booth and strolled toward her. He smiled until he got close enough to see her expression in the dim light and eyed her carefully.
“Are you all right?”
“I am never doing that again,” she huffed, wheezing heavily. She was out of breath, shaking and on the verge of hyperventilating. “He was in there.”
“Who? What happened?” Suleiman glanced over to the corn maze where the man was adjusting his hockey mask.
She shook her head and hugged herself. “I just want to go home. It’s not safe.”
“You really are afraid,” said Suleiman, stunned. He slung an arm around her shoulders. “I shouldn’t have left you. I’m sorry. I didn’t know it would freak you out like this.”
Sasha glanced around but saw only milling children and adults jabbering about the corn maze and how spooky it was at night.
“Can we go home now?”
“Sure.”
They headed to the car, Sasha’s breathing quieted as she calmed down.
Sasha was silent on the ride back to the apartment. Every now and then, Suleiman glanced her way. Ricky dozed off in his car seat, clutching a sticky caramel apple.
“You want to tell me what happened?” asked Suleiman, when they pulled into the parking lot of her apartment. He shut the car off and reached over to touch her hair. Sasha jumped.
“Babe, you are about to leap out of your skin. Calm down.”
“I just don’t like scary stuff,” said Sasha.
“Noted,” he said, eyeing her closely. “No more scary stuff.”
AFRAID
November 2,
The devil always steps out of the shadows just when I think it might be safe. Why can’t he just leave me alone?<
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“Why were you afraid of Craig?” asked Dr. Michelle. Sasha was standing at the window of the doctor’s office, looking out at the barren garden in the courtyard. She had just got finished explaining the trip to the cider mill.
“He is a scary dude,” said Sasha. “He gets arrested, not convicted, you know? Witnesses don’t show up for trial.”
“You used to date him, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” said Sasha. “I did. And it was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.”
Sasha blew warm breath on the window and drew a quick skull and cross bones with her finger in the condensation.
“Why?”
“Craig’s mean and evil; he treats people like dirty toilet paper,” said Sasha.
“What does that mean?”
“He craps on them and then flushes them down the toilet,” said Sasha.
“Literally or figuratively?” asked Dr. Michelle.
“Both,” said Sasha. “He told me that he and his crew picked this dude up and stuck his head in a toilet bowl for being disrespectful. He laughed. He got mad because I told him that it wasn’t funny.”
“That’s nasty.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Did Craig do something like that to you?”
Sasha wiped the skull and cross bones image away with her hand, leaving streaky residue on the glass and turned to face Dr. Michelle.
“Yes,” she whispered. “He did.”
THREATENED
November 9,
Sometimes, life is a horror movie. Monsters come out of the woods and I run on a frozen tundra with nobody around to help me get to safety. I feel the cold slowly seeping into my boots and up to my chest where it stays. The monster circles and circles, coming ever closer. I think, “This is the end.” But I don’t die; just stay there, frozen in never-ending terror. Suleiman senses my fear. I catch him looking at me when he thinks I’m not paying attention. I don’t share. Dudes are quick to believe in the weakness of girls. Guys aren’t forced to look out for monsters before they go outside. Then, they don’t have to check themselves.
Saturday dawned frigidly cold but clear.
Suleiman was at work, probably plowing snow that had been steadily falling for the past week. Because of the weather, Sasha’s daily schedule stayed on the treadmill of class, work and back to her apartment with no deviation. In between studying, they watched a movie here and there, squabbling because Sasha wanted to watch chick flicks and Suleiman was all about adventure or monster movies. Football playoffs were coming up but for this weekend, Sasha was on her own. Dr. Michelle was out of town and Sasha’s cupboards were just about bare. Sasha decided to go her mother’s house for a visit and ask for a ride to the store.
Sasha caught the bus. Ricky, bless him for being a happy baby, thought that the bus ride was great fun; he babbled and cooed at all the surrounding passengers. Her phone buzzed. Except for Suleiman and a daily check-in call from her mother, almost no one called her. Surprised, Sasha glanced at the phone. Out of the blue, Gabby had texted her.
Hey girl! I love you! I miss you! Call me!
It caused an ache in her chest, but Sasha ignored the text. What would she say to her best friend to excuse the fact that she had blown her off for more than a year. It was safer for everyone if Gabby stayed away. Gabby did not need to be in Sasha’s mess.
The two-block walk from the bus stop to her mother’s house was freezing and Sasha, teeth chattering, regretted that she hadn’t simply asked Suleiman or called her mother for a ride after all. Ricky got heavy toward the end and Sasha was puffing from exertion when she finally reached her childhood home. Her mother was surprised but delighted to see them. She kissed Sasha on the cheek and started making funny faces at the baby. Ricky laughed. Sasha asked her mother if she would take them to the grocery store.
“Why don’t you leave Ricky here and take the car?” asked her mother. “I don’t know why you didn’t call me. I would have come and gotten you, even though I would hate to go out in this crazy cold weather. I can’t believe you’ve got this baby out in it.” She took him from Sasha and unbundled him from his snow suit and hat.
“Are you certain, Mama?”
“Sure,” said Mama, nuzzling the baby. “I don’t see my baby nearly enough. You haven’t come home since I dropped ya’ll off in August. I came by a couple times, but you weren’t there.
Anyway, I don’t need to go anyplace. The car is yours. But why didn’t you just go in East Lansing?”
“Logistics,” said Sasha. “I tried it. I had to wrestle Ricky into the stroller, walk to the store and then I could only get about three bags of groceries because I had to carry it back, while pushing the baby carriage. Ricky got antsy and wanted to get out. It was a small nightmare.”
Mama laughed.
“And that was before snow,” said Sasha. “I usually shop during the week while he is at daycare but even then, I can only get a few bags. It’s cold and threatening to snow again. So here we are.”
Mama nodded. “I remember back in the day. Your dad and I were so poor we only had one car between us. We did everything tag team style. One or the other of us was on the iron pimp if the schedule got too tight.”
“The iron pimp?”
“That’s what your Daddy used to call the bus,” said Mama.
“Why?”
“Because it cost money and never showed up when you wanted it to.” Mama chuckled.
“Oh.” The humor escaped Sasha. “A friend helps out with a ride sometimes, but I don’t want to depend on him, you know?”
“Who is this friend?” Her mother sounded suspicious.
“His name is Suleiman Richardson,” said Sasha. “He goes to MSU, too. He has been a good friend. Remember, I told you that he took Ricky to the hospital that night he got so sick.”
“That was nice of him,” said Mama, in a very neutral voice. She hesitated. “You are not starting something with this boy, are you?”
“Starting something like what, Mama?” asked Sasha. “I just said we are friends. I don’t want to keep imposing on him.”
“You know your track record with boys is abysmal,” said Mama. “And boys and girls cannot be friends when they grow to adulthood. He wants something. You know what it is. Men don’t do anything without expecting something in return. You have enough problems and you need to be at that school studying.”
“Yes, Mama,” said Sasha, resigned to a lecture.
“I see you don’t want to hear anything I have to say, as usual.”
“I didn’t say anything!” protested Sasha.
“Your eyes speak most eloquently,” said her mother, dryly.
Sasha dropped her eyes. The baby squealed and Mama put him down on the floor. They both watched Ricky crawl from one kitchen cabinet to another.
“How is the counseling going?”
“It’s good.”
Uncharacteristically, Mama decided to abandon the inquisition before it got started.
“You can bring Ricky by sometimes, you know?” she said, rubbing her nose with a finger. “Or just call and I’ll come and pick him up. Him’s so handsome, yes him is!” Ricky looked back at his grandmother and chuckled. She blew the baby a kiss.
“I thought you weren’t taking care of my baby?” asked Sasha, quietly. She marveled at the change in her stern mother. Babies must have magic.
“No,” said her mom. “I’m not. But I will babysit when you need me to, like today. I love you, child and I love my grand baby. You needed to take care of him without my interference, but I will still help. I thought we got that settled.”
Sasha twisted her lips but said nothing for a minute. She hadn’t asked her mother to watch Ricky for the last five months unless she had a therapy session and her mother had not offered. No matter, Sasha was not about to jump into the trenches of a war with her mother; it would be way too hard to climb back out. The last battle with her mother had netted Sasha bruises and two months of homelessness. Besides, Mama had ju
st offered to babysit.
Evangeline got up out of the kitchen chair and picked the baby up. Sasha watched as her mother hugged him and talked baby nonsense to him.
“Thank you, Mama,” said Sasha. She gave her mother an awkward hug, bussed Ricky on the cheek, and grabbed the keys from the hook by the door. “I’ll be back soon. I won’t dawdle.”
Her mother tracked a long perusal down Sasha’s face. “You look tired, Child. Take your time. I don’t need the car and I’m not going out today. Make sure you stock up on everything you need. Get extras. You never know what the weather is going to be like. Take your groceries back to the apartment. Go to a movie or shop or something. Then, come back and grab him later.”
Sasha did not need to be told twice. She nearly ran from the house, relieved to be by herself for the first time in weeks. Her mother had stocked her up with groceries when she moved her in to her apartment, but Sasha had been reluctant to call on her mother for anything extra.
Once she was behind the wheel of the car, Sasha cranked up the radio and sang along at the top of her lungs. For the first time in months, she felt free. She drove slowly due to the weather and stopped in Meijer’s parking lot. She meandered through the grocery store, slowly picking up items that she needed. She grabbed Suleiman’s favorite coca cola and chips.
Maybe they would watch a football game later. She decided to take her mother at her word and stock up. She finally finished grocery shopping and packed the bags into the trunk of her mother’s car. She debated and then decided to take her groceries home and then drive to the movies since her mother had told her to. She might even crash the mall, though that might be pushing it.
Later, Sasha had finished watching the latest super hero movie and gorging herself on popcorn. She got up out of her seat and meandered down the aisle, feeling at ease for the first time in many months.
“Hey, sweet skanky thang.”
The voice sent dread crawling down her spine. She sped up.
