Deception Creek by Terry Persun

to work in a few hours and thought better of the idea. He closed the door slowly and turned to see Alice standing in the hall.
    â€œCan’t sleep?”
    â€œHad a dream and woke up,” Billy told her.
    â€œOh, what was it?”
    He thought to skirt her question, but then reconsidered. “Something about me, Dad, and Jack.” He cocked his head. “What did happen, Mom? I don’t know if you ever really told me, or I made everything up myself. I’ve always assumed he died in a car accident.”
    â€œHoney, it’s something I’ve never wanted to relive, that’s all. You can respect that, can’t you?”
    Alice appeared calm, but Billy heard a wavering in her voice. He couldn’t see her very well. The only light came from a night-light kept in the hall socket.
    â€œI understand, Mom. I don’t know if it’s all that important anyhow. He’s not here and never has been. What more is there?”
    Alice coughed and put her hand over her eyes. Then she turned and said, “Thank you,” very quietly and went back into her room.
    Billy put his dirty glass in the sink. He went back to bed as well. The few hours left before morning he spent alternately wide-eyed and dozing. When morning finally came, he dragged himself out of bed and got ready for work.
    *     *     *
    Young Alice believed in fairy tales and happily-ever-after. Her prince would come to save her. One kiss and she would awake to a new world.
    So far there had been only promises, not said necessarily, but implied. He was quiet, the shyness of a true prince. She knew they could face the world together. She recognized the brush of fairy wings over her neck and shoulders whenever they were together. “Their love was magical,” she had written in the old spiral notebook she used as a diary.
    The butternut tree shaded her eyes from much of the sun’s glare, so she could watch the rise leading to the road. Her heart raced and her face became hot.
    She began to hum a song she had been hearing a lot lately. What were the words? It was a love song. The last time she heard it was that morning, but her excitement had wiped the words clean, only the slow melody remained, the essence of the song. She tried to make words up, but nothing fit. She became frustrated and quit. She stuck with humming. She swayed with the tune, moving her hips and head. She even closed her eyes for a moment, the sound of water behind her.
    â€œWaiting, waiting, waiting,” she said aloud, as though that would shorten the time she had to wait. She hummed louder and danced a little, hoping he would come upon her and secretly watch her dance.
    Alice rolled up her shirt to let her midriff cool. She imagined him standing still behind a tree, getting excited about being with her, noticing her smooth skin and fluid movements. She exaggerated her dance. She rolled her hips seductively, and pulled her arms together to push her breasts up and out.
    She danced in ways that would be impossible for her to do if he had asked her to. She couldn’t do it if she knew he watched. Yet she suspected he watched now. Then the truth was she couldn’t dance so seductively if he knew that she knew he watched. A complexity of personality, she thought, was the downfall of most humans. Why,after all, should he or she care who watched and who knew, as long as they both enjoyed it?
    She had dressed that morning for him, primped, even wore her best bra and panties, knowing his eyes would hardly get to glance at them. He would look into her eyes the whole time they made love, penetrating her soul and her body simultaneously. She could feel it.

Chapter 5
    F or the rest of his first week on the job and part of the next week, Billy didn’t talk with Jack. As if in exchange for the lack of contact, his dream about Jack grew to larger proportions. Other incidents plagued him as well. Why did Alice insist that Harry