Brief Interludes (4 page)

Stuck!

My trip back east had me exhausted and the two-hour plane delay didn't help. All I wanted was a little relaxation in a warm tub.

Shock took hold as I entered my house. I glanced around. Everything was different—nothing looked familiar. Where did this furniture come from? I placed my bags down and staggered back, leaning out the door to recheck the number hanging under the porch lamp.

“
Yep, number 55.
”

It was the right house—our house, but not our stuff. A sofa, red with overstuffed cushions, sat next to a black leather recliner—one like you might see in a shrink's office. I wondered if it felt as comfortable as it looked, but I didn't bother to sit. I stood in the middle of the room next to a square glass table and turned a complete circle. I’m sure my eyes were as wide
as those
of a kid lost at a circus, everything new and exciting, but at the same time strange and foreboding. The jumbo screen in the corner played some war flick I didn't recognize as it assaulted my ears with multiple sounds of gunshots, helicopters whirling, and people shouting.

I walked through the door on the other side hoping for some familiarity when my eyes fell upon a huge etched marble globe of the world sitting in the middle of an otherwise empty room. Glistening water sprayed from the top and slithered down the sides into a sparkling pool surrounding the bottom. Steam rose, filling the air with the smell of salt. 

“
What the hell? Jack? What's going on?
”

I stepped back to the living room, wondering where Jack was. This couldn’t be my house. I'd only been gone a week. It's impossible to manufacture a pool in that short amount of time, even a small one like this. Wasn't it? I needed to check out the rest of the place.

This was crazy. Before I could move, my heart pounded in my chest, my lungs begged for air and I rummaged in my purse for my inhaler. I pulled it out and shook it as fast as I could, put it to my lips, and pumped. I breathed in and the cool medicine entered my esophagus and flowed into my lungs.

I sat on the corner of that new black leather chair positioned just outside the dining room—a dining room that no longer housed my mother’s antique dining table—and looked around. What happened to all our stuff?
My dog?
My dog should be here. She always greets me when I come home.

“
Reecie, come here, girl.
Reece?
Reece!
”

Within seconds, in loped my eighty-pound golden lab. I crouched to welcome her into my arms, hugging and scratching her in all her favorite spots.

“
Oh, thank God.
Reecie, girl.
What's going on here? Where's Daddy?
”

“
Daddy is right here. Hi, honey. Welcome home.
”
Jack poked his head out from the other side of the gigantic ball that sat in the center of the pool.

“
Jack, what is this? How did we get a pool?
”

He stood and sloshed his way over to me.
“
It's not exactly a pool, Angela, it's a spa.
”

“
A spa with a huge globe in the center.
”
I pointed toward the monstrosity.

“
It's a cool waterfall to give it an extra feeling of luxury.
”

“
Luxury?
Since when do we have money for luxury? I just busted my ass all week at some damn technology convention, a convention you should have been at,
”
I said, poking my finger at his bare chest.
“
We need to make connections and grow our business—where were you, by the way? We don't have enough money to make it through the month and you do this?
”

I took another pump on my inhaler and waited for some explanation from my husband, who I assumed
must have been conked
over the head with a stupidity enhancer, if there was such a thing. At this point, I was sure there must be.

“
Angela, relax, will you? You're
getting
yourself all worked up.
Come on
,
take off your clothes
. Let's soak a while.
”
I stood, gaping at him as he slid his shorts down and stepped out of them, pushing them aside with his foot. He stood naked in front of me, his clever fingers unbuttoning my blouse while he nibbled my neck under my ear lobe. Oh, he knew exactly how to get to me. It had been a long lonely week and my sexual energy screamed for release.
So
, I let him undress me.

Reece ambled toward the corner and slumped down, knowing it would be a while before she got any attention.

“
Are you going to tell me how you managed all this?
”
I asked between pants and breathless kisses.

Jack smiled that cocky grin only he could pull off and touched my lips with his finger while brushing a stray hair away.
“
You look beautiful tonight, Angela, I missed you.
”

He was stalling and I tapped my bare foot on the new cold Italian marble floor—that wasn’t there when I left home last Sunday—next to the new pool … spa … whatever the fuck it was. I wanted answers not compliments.

“
Jack, how did all this stuff get here?
”

“
Okay.
”
He sighed and leaned back with arms outstretched over the sides of the small pool.
“
Sit with me,
”
he said, doing a come-hither motion with his finger. I shrugged and plopped down on the marble edge of the lagoon that now graced my dining room, trying not to get the rest of my clothes wet
—those
that Jack never finished removing
, that is
.

“
You're not going to believe me.
”

“
Try me.
”

“
Tuesday, I think it was ... yeah. Tuesday I took a walk along the river; you know the place where that old phone booth is?
”

I nodded.

“
Well, the light was on, so I opened the door to see if there was a switch to turn it off.
”

“
You are forever conserving energy.
”

“
Yeah … that’d be me, Mr. Energy Saver. But anyway, there was a lottery ticket on the floor.
”

“
You won the lottery?
”
Now my heart raced again and I started to get up to jump, do a happy dance, something.

“
No,
”
Jack said, tugging me back down beside him.

“
Well then, what?
”

“
Angela, let me finish.
”

“
Okay.
”
My patience
was tapped
out and I really wanted a drink.

“
I picked up the lottery ticket,
”
Jack continued,
“
and bumped my head on the old phone hanging on the wall as I stood up. I must have passed out. When I came to, I was in a small-enclosed room, decorated with red velvet. I mean everything was red velvet,
”
he said, drawing out the
“
everything
”
like
it was a four-syllable word,
“
the couch, the drapes, and the carpet.
”

That's my husband, always noticing the décor. I swear he should have been an interior decorator. I smiled, thinking he was joking.
“
Jack you're such a pansy.
”

“
Stop.
”

Something in his voice made the hairs on the back of my neck rise and I stiffened as I noticed a tear escape from the corner or his left eye.

“
Okay, Jack, what's really going on?
”

“
I'm getting to that. Please, Angela, let me finish without you judging me.
”

“
Okay. I’m sorry. Go ahead.
”

“
As I was saying, I was in this weird velvet room. A little man appeared, dressed in strange clothes, also red velvet, and told me he needed my help.
”

“
Come on, you're making this up.
”
I started to laugh but Jack wasn’t laughing.

“
No. I thought I was dreaming, but he assured me I wasn't. He said if I would say these three little words; ‘you are free,’ he would give me anything I wanted.
”

“
Yeah, right.
Jack, can’t you ever be serious?
”

“
I am serious and … well, of course, I didn't believe him, but I said, ‘Okay, I'll play. Let's see. I'd like new furniture for my wife, she'd like that; and for me, hmmm . . . how about the world's ocean at my feet?’ Then I looked at him and said, ‘
“
You are free.
”
’

Jack paused and cleared his throat.
“
All of a sudden, I was here. I've been here ever since. I can’t leave.
”

Sweet Innocence

“
POLICE IDENTIFY BODY FOUND IN 1954
.”
Jenna stared at the headline
plastered across the newspaper
.
It might not have been so interesting had it been January of 1955. However, today’s date
was
August
7
, 20
12
.
The Jane Doe had gone unidentified since t
he body of the young woman
had been
found
on a Saturday night in an alley near a 24-hour diner. She
’d been
clothed
but
had no identification
and the cause of death?
Murder.

Jenna placed the
paper down on the kitchen table.
D
espondent
,
h
er weary eyes burned from a continuous stream of tears since yesterday.
After all these years.
God Beth, I'm so sorry.

Jenna closed her eyes as the vision played in her mind. The two of them walking across campus, their hands intertwined
, never caring what anyone thought
. The gentle br
eeze catching
Beth's long black curls, swirling them around her face
,
Beth's beautiful smi
le as she tried to control them,
Jenna laughing at the impossible task. Beth had the thickest
,
most unruly hair.
I miss you, sweetie.

I can't believe I doubted you. I should have felt something. I never wanted to belie
ve you left so abruptly, walking
out of our lives the way Russ had claimed.

The sound of heavy footsteps thumping down the stairs jarred Jenna from her thoughts.

“
How's my girl?
”

Jenna hid her face, wiping away the remaining tear on her cheek. She jumped up to grab the coffee, bringing the glass pot to the cup in front of her husband as he sat down at the old Formica table. She filled his cup with the strong brew and turned to place the pot back on the counter. A chill swept through her bones
and she tugged her blue flannel
robe closed.

“
What's up?
”

“
Nothing.
”

He grabbed her arm.
“
Jenna, I know you. What is it?
”

“
I told you, Russ, nothing.
”
She silently swore as her deceiving eyes fell upon the headline, betraying the secret she'd kept suppressed for so many years. Russ's eyes followed hers and she realized she should have thrown the paper away.

He picked it up and read the headline. When he finished reading, he wadded the paper in a ball and threw it in the trash.
“
Oh, that. Really, Jenna, you mustn't get yourself worked up this way. There was nothing you could have done to prevent her death.
”

“
I should have been with her that night.
”

“
Why, so you would be dead too?
”

“
If I had been with her, she wouldn't have been alone and as vulnerable.
”