Playmate (2 page)

Smiling, he trots past
her into Danny's room. Wow! This is so weird! When they come out at
the end of the day Danny's hair is buzz cut too. Karin sweeps
through Danny's room like a tornado. There's no telling how the
children brought this off. No sign of clippers, not a loose blond
hair anywhere.

Weird, she thinks, and
is secretly glad that she doesn't have to drag screaming Danny to
the barber. Frankly, she doesn't like the way the barber looks at
them on these visits, as if she's a Nazi hunter with a fresh catch.
So what if he's been bitten twice, it's not like Danny is Hannibal
Lecter.

So the weekends go on
nicely enough in Cadogan Hills, although Karin is distinctly
disturbed on the day when she goes into Danny's room and finds both
children naked. Nothing dirty, she's sure of it. They're too young
and besides, she can tell by their expressions, but undressed like
that, they really are hard to tell apart and it's this that she
finds unnerving. The children dress quickly enough and Denny peels
off, trotting smartly for the front door with a lisped "fwnm,"
which she takes to mean "Thank you."

Cadogan Hills, Cadogan
Hills, for months this child has been coming to her house and Karin
still doesn't know which of the identical high end houses in their
cul de sac
he's actually coming from. A wild thought crosses
her mind. What if Denny gets dropped at the main gate by some
latterday Fagan intent on casing the house, or by hippies in a
neoSeventies psychedelic bus? He's small enough to snake through
the bars or wriggle underneath while the guard isn't looking and
come up in the ornamental shrubbery outside the clubhouse. What was
that guy's name, still in jail, has his own album, Charles Manson?
Karin's sure it's nothing like that but Denny's mother should have
the kids at her house for a change, and besides. Best, she thinks,
to follow the child to his house and confront her.

She waits until the
next Saturday play date. After Denny thanks her and goes, Karin
slips out the front door into the sweet, safe twilight of Cadogan
Hills and follows. In the half-darkness she can't know whether
Denny spotted her or is skibbling along unawares. If he saw her, is
he leading her away from his house or toward it? In the deepening
shadows he ducks under wrought iron gates and bounds over flower
borders as if he doesn't have a care. Then he shoots a wild, sly
grin over his round little shoulder and disappears into a crowd of
moving shadows.

Odd, being out here in
the dark. Disorienting. For a minute she imagines the bushes are
full of shifty little children but when she crunches through a
neighbor's hedge to get closer they evaporate and she backs out
quickly before the alarm goes off and the First Alert cars come
down on her.

"I don't know what to
think," she tells Dan that night, whispering so Danny won't hear.
At the moment he is having a tantrum in his crib, which they still
use because at least they know he's safe when the bars are up. It
isn't so bad his walking
in
, the problem is when he picks up
the nearest sharp instrument and starts hitting. Karin's mother
insists that Danny needs a touch of the hair brush, but Karin
doesn't believe in spanking and besides, her take on discipline is
another story.
He doesn't see that much of me, I don't want him
to have only bad memories
. So what if she's paying for it now?
It's not as if she can do it differently, or upgrade to a better
model.

"If he had something
to hide," Dan says into her hair, "Benny wouldn't keep coming
over."

"Denny. I think."

"Besides, he's only a
kid!"

"A sweet one," she
says mournfully. "I know you love Cadogan Hills, but if you want to
know the truth, it's a little weird out there. For a minute tonight
I thought..." But she is interrupted by Danny roaring for
attention. He hasn't barged in on them yet but she just found a
dead mouse under her pillow. Token of love, she wonders? As if from
a cat?
It's for you, Mom.
Why does this make her shudder?
"All right," she calls in her best false voice, "All right, I'm
coming!"

Odd to be scared of
your own child, especially in this bastion of safety, but Karin
used to pray for Denny to come every Saturday because it was
easier, and when he did, she prayed for Sundays. Now she wishes
he'd stay forever.
Lord
, she thinks,
what if I scared him
off
.
What will I do with Danny then?

But Sunday morning
he's there, OK. He and Danny play so nicely that after a while the
silence gets to her and she sticks her head in the door. Odd, what
she thinks she sees. Two round heads turn toward her, two pudgy
right hands hold strange little rubber masks with kids' features
and... No, she thinks, shutting the door quickly, she did not see
two little boys with flesh-colored blanks where they used to have
faces.

When they come out of
Danny's room, everything is as before. Everything is fine. Fine!
Karin has no trouble telling them apart because Danny gouges her in
the shins "accidentally" as he comes out and as he leaves, Denny
gives her one of those sweet smiles of his. She is thinking about
those flickering shadows. "Denny, it's really dark. Don't you want
me to walk you?"

"Nwm," he says,
shaking his head gravely.

As the door closes,
Danny astounds her. "I am sick of Denny."

"Oh no," she says.
"It's Sunday night after all, you guys had a great time today and
you're just tired. You know you love Denny. Now let's go have
supper."

The next day is Monday
and a work day. Karin goes off without kissing Danny goodbye. He
was, as Dan says at times like these, pissy to her. She gets home
so late that Blanca collides with her in her hurry to get out.
"Blanca!"
Oh dear. Better ask
. "How was he?"

"You know, Ms.
Fowler." Blanca sighs with her eyes rolled up for emphasis. "Thank
God the friend came."

"Denny?"

"Lenny, maybe.
Benny... Strange today, Ma'am, so strange!"

Karin groans. "OK,
Blanca, let's hear it."

"He not want to go
home! First time ever. I push him out. Have to push hard. Feel bad
about it," Blanca says.

"Oh well," Karin says.
"No harm done, even perfect children have a bad day sooner or
later. He'll be bright and sunny by the time he comes back."

"He won't be back,"
Blanca murmurs right before she slams the door and the alarm system
kicks in.

Odd, Karin thinks.
This is a little odd.

Then Danny comes out
of his room and for the first time ever, he looks absolutely,
completely and totally glad to see her. "Hi Mom, I missed you,
Mom."

With a minimal flicker
of guilt Karin says carefully, "Denny?"

And is oddly satisfied
when the child says clear as a bell and right as rain and right on
the button just exactly what she hoped he'd say, "Mommy, don't you
know me?" Smiling, seraphic. "It's me, Mom. Danny."

For a second. Just a
split second, she considers. Then she wraps her arms around her
child and picks him up. "I know you are," she says, hugging him
close. Closer. Forever. "I know my own sweet Danny when I see
him."

Kit Reed
calls
herself "transgenred," as she's never quite figured out where she
belongs in the market, probably because she writes for her readers–
and herself. Her novels include mainstream fiction, psychothrillers
and SF.
Enclave
is her most recent. P.S. Publishing released
What Wolves Know
this year, with stories that originally
appeared in
Postcripts
, the
Yale Review
,
F&SF
,
Asimov's SF
and the
Kenyon
Review
.

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