Flipper,” Hayes said.
“Nightmares,” I said.
“Hey,” Hayes said, putting his hands in his pockets and rocking back and forth from heel to toe. “Just let me in there for a sec to use the bathroom and then I’ll take off.”
“Nope. The order is, and I quote, ‘Hayes is not allowed in the house when I’m not here.’ The bathroom’s in the house. So, no bathroom. Anyway, you drank the last of the cough syrup. If you really got to go, just tinkle out there behind the camellia bush.”
His face drooped when I mentioned the syrup and he said, “Come on, now.”
“I’m walking to the phone now. I’m picking up the phone. I’m dialing the nurse’s station at the hospital.”
“You go ahead and be that way, but don’t expect no favors from me anytime soon.”
When the thumps came an hour later, I thought it was Hayes back to pester me some more. I’d shut the door and locked it. There were just the two thumps, like somebody hitting the door really hard with the heel of his palm, and then nothing.
I crept to the window and peeked out. There wasn’t anybody I could see on the stoop, unless he’d pressed himself right up against the door.
I went ahead and opened it. Not a soul on the front walk or anywhere in sight. Then I saw a little bit of shiny wet on the doormat and crouched down to look closer. I touched it and rubbed it between my thumb and index finger. Red, I thought. Even then I didn’t get it. But when I turned to go inside, I saw what was there.Stuck to the door with green punch pins were two fuzzy, gray ears. I knew them for what they were right away. Terrier ears.
I thought about the man on the phone with the cigarette-burned voice. Two bluebottle flies buzzed in a circle and landed on the red, wet edge of the ears. First one, then the other. I thought to take the sad, little things down before those flies laid their maggot eggs inside, but I didn’t want to touch them.
That man, I remembered suddenly, knew Mom was a nurse at the hospital and that we lived near it. I had a sudden picture of my mom’s ears nailed to the door.
Angry Red Mouth Print
T he only other person in the hospital waiting room was a great fat woman with an infected spot on her leg. The spot was greenish yellow and as big as a walnut. I tried not to look at her, but it was hard, as she kept squeezing at the lump and wiping off the drippings with crumpled-up Dairy Queen napkins. She seemed to have a never-ending supply of them in her purse.
When my mom finally came out, I saw right away she was aggravated. I found out later a boy with a jammed finger had bitten her on the arm and left an angry red mouth print.
“What do you want?” my mom said. She bit off the end of each word with a hard chomp of her teeth. “I only have a couple of minutes.”
I told her about the man calling for Hayes, which I hadn’t mentioned before because it hadn’t really seemed like all that big a deal at the time. More Hayes’s problem than ours. The husky woman on the other side of the room stopped milking her infected lump for a moment, so she could listen in. She nodded at me and clucked her tongue like I was talking to her.
“I hope to God you didn’t tell him nothing.”
“I told him he had the wrong number.”
“When was this?” Mom asked. She squeezed her lower lip with her fingers.
“Oh, a day or so ago, but that ain’t why I came over and bothered you.”
“Don’t say
ain’t
,” Mom said, although she said it all the time. “It sounds trashy.”
I lowered my voice. I told her about Hayes coming over today and then finding the ears.
“Jesus,” Mom said, her face going pale. She squeezed her lower lip until it turned yellow.
“Sorry for pestering you, but—” Watching her get worried made me feel even more scared.
“I think you should stay at Dani’s tonight.”
“What’s going on, Mom?”
“It sounds like a world of trouble to me,” the woman with the infection said.
My mom didn’t
“Nightmares,” I said.
“Hey,” Hayes said, putting his hands in his pockets and rocking back and forth from heel to toe. “Just let me in there for a sec to use the bathroom and then I’ll take off.”
“Nope. The order is, and I quote, ‘Hayes is not allowed in the house when I’m not here.’ The bathroom’s in the house. So, no bathroom. Anyway, you drank the last of the cough syrup. If you really got to go, just tinkle out there behind the camellia bush.”
His face drooped when I mentioned the syrup and he said, “Come on, now.”
“I’m walking to the phone now. I’m picking up the phone. I’m dialing the nurse’s station at the hospital.”
“You go ahead and be that way, but don’t expect no favors from me anytime soon.”
When the thumps came an hour later, I thought it was Hayes back to pester me some more. I’d shut the door and locked it. There were just the two thumps, like somebody hitting the door really hard with the heel of his palm, and then nothing.
I crept to the window and peeked out. There wasn’t anybody I could see on the stoop, unless he’d pressed himself right up against the door.
I went ahead and opened it. Not a soul on the front walk or anywhere in sight. Then I saw a little bit of shiny wet on the doormat and crouched down to look closer. I touched it and rubbed it between my thumb and index finger. Red, I thought. Even then I didn’t get it. But when I turned to go inside, I saw what was there.Stuck to the door with green punch pins were two fuzzy, gray ears. I knew them for what they were right away. Terrier ears.
I thought about the man on the phone with the cigarette-burned voice. Two bluebottle flies buzzed in a circle and landed on the red, wet edge of the ears. First one, then the other. I thought to take the sad, little things down before those flies laid their maggot eggs inside, but I didn’t want to touch them.
That man, I remembered suddenly, knew Mom was a nurse at the hospital and that we lived near it. I had a sudden picture of my mom’s ears nailed to the door.
Angry Red Mouth Print
T he only other person in the hospital waiting room was a great fat woman with an infected spot on her leg. The spot was greenish yellow and as big as a walnut. I tried not to look at her, but it was hard, as she kept squeezing at the lump and wiping off the drippings with crumpled-up Dairy Queen napkins. She seemed to have a never-ending supply of them in her purse.
When my mom finally came out, I saw right away she was aggravated. I found out later a boy with a jammed finger had bitten her on the arm and left an angry red mouth print.
“What do you want?” my mom said. She bit off the end of each word with a hard chomp of her teeth. “I only have a couple of minutes.”
I told her about the man calling for Hayes, which I hadn’t mentioned before because it hadn’t really seemed like all that big a deal at the time. More Hayes’s problem than ours. The husky woman on the other side of the room stopped milking her infected lump for a moment, so she could listen in. She nodded at me and clucked her tongue like I was talking to her.
“I hope to God you didn’t tell him nothing.”
“I told him he had the wrong number.”
“When was this?” Mom asked. She squeezed her lower lip with her fingers.
“Oh, a day or so ago, but that ain’t why I came over and bothered you.”
“Don’t say
ain’t
,” Mom said, although she said it all the time. “It sounds trashy.”
I lowered my voice. I told her about Hayes coming over today and then finding the ears.
“Jesus,” Mom said, her face going pale. She squeezed her lower lip until it turned yellow.
“Sorry for pestering you, but—” Watching her get worried made me feel even more scared.
“I think you should stay at Dani’s tonight.”
“What’s going on, Mom?”
“It sounds like a world of trouble to me,” the woman with the infection said.
My mom didn’t
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