Mason by Thomas Pendleton

of the kids from school.
    It didn’t really matter, though. Her night was already ruined. She didn’t even bother using her cell to call Cassie. She’d rather just go home.
    Did Lara really think that Rene was afraid to growup? Or was she just pissed off that Rene wasn’t as eager to do it?
    It was the drugs , Rene told herself as she wandered back into the lights of the carnival. She felt so bad that she kept her head down. The laughter from the people seemed muffled as if coming from under water. The bells and music of the booths, even the alarms that sounded when somebody won a cheap stuffed animal, rang flat and dull. Occasionally she looked up, hoping to see Cassie or some other friendly face. But all of the people looked the same to her. Just smears of features hovering above shambling bodies, like extras in a zombie movie.
    After walking nearly the length of the carnival, Rene looked up and found herself standing near the Fun Zone. It was the kiddie park. A flash of embarrassment ran through Rene, and she quickly looked around to see if Lara and her new loser friends were nearby.
    Inside the park, an ancient merry-go-round with cracked mirrors spun around. The miniature horses on which kids sat were blanketed in chipped and faded paint. Children cried both in glee and in fear. Some screamed.
    Go play on the merry-go-round, little girl. You can’t handle the real world.
    She didn’t see Lara or Hunter, but she moved quickly away from the merry-go-round. A couple pushed intoher shoulder, and Rene stumbled to the right, nearly knocking into a line of kids and their parents. She righted herself and was about to reenter the flow of people on the midway when she saw Mason.
    He stood near the front of the line. His head and shoulders were slumped. Seeing Mason this way further soured Rene’s mood. She felt the impulse to go talk to him, to find out what was wrong, but she’d exceeded her drama limit for the night. She decided to say hello, and then she was going home.
    Mason got to the ticket taker just as Rene reached him. He was about to enter the petting zoo, a small maze of pens set up on the hillside between the walk-way and Main Street above. It wasn’t much of a zoo, from what Rene could see. There was a pony tied to a tall pole hammered into the ground. A couple of goats. But mostly it was a row of rabbit cages with the lids open. Maybe ten of them.
    The ticket taker was a skinny woman with sunken eyes. She wore a candy-striped apron over black jeans and a dirty orange T-shirt. On her head, perhaps as an attempt to control her greasy black hair, was a simple red bandanna tied down like a scarf. The name sewn on the breast of her apron read Fanny.
    â€œI don’t have any tickets,” Mason told the woman.
    â€œWell, you need two tickets for the zoo,” Fanny replied, sounding annoyed.
    Rene watched the woman’s face. Why on earth had they decided she was the right person to welcome children to the petting zoo? She’d have been better positioned in front of the House of Dread.
    â€œI’ve only got this,” Mason said, holding out a ten-dollar bill. “Is this enough?”
    Fanny’s eyes lit up like a storybook witch finding a child on her doorstep. Her eyes flashed quickly from side to side to see if she was being watched by anyone with authority. She reached for the bill.
    â€œThat should be about right,” Fanny said.
    Before the woman’s bony fingers could touch Mason’s money, Rene stepped in. “Don’t even,” she said, startling both Mason and Fanny. Mason’s mouth dropped open as if he was about to say something, but he remained silent. Rene, on the other hand…“What kind of a bitch steals money from a kid?”
    â€œHey!” the ticket taker said.
    â€œRene?” Mason asked. “I want to see the zoo.”
    â€œLook, Mason,” Rene said. “Tickets are seventy-five cents apiece.