a place where
imagination could run amok. But, as the new, manicured version
began to take root, I couldn’t disagree with the notion that I
liked it as well. Seeing the rolling lawn beyond the
Birds-of-Paradise and the long-stemmed, Naked Ladies was amazing.
It was a perfect place for Eli to play. It was screened from the
street below by the hulking Lantana bush and, though it was canted
with a slight incline, it was entirely safe. I could see many a
good time for him out there in the front yard.
I was
happy.
I remember it
was a Sunday when those assessments of our new home were skipping
across my consciousness. I was at my desk, pondering what I’d do
next. I’d been half-thinking of my surroundings and half-recalling
I’d been rolling around on my bed with Myra less than an hour
prior. I was distracted, clearly.
She’d come over
after breakfast, full with smiles and kindness for my family. We
had dallied about for a time before my mom suggested I show her all
of the improvements we’d done to the place since we moved in. It
wasn’t like Myra hadn’t been here before. She’d come over more than
a few times once we’d began dating. I think my mother was being
polite.
So, I showed her
about the grounds.
She made it seem
like she was impressed, but kept alluding to seeing the
“improvements” in my bedroom. That’s always been the thing with
Myra. Even when she was trying to be subtle, she did so with the
delicacy of a nuclear bomb.
I got the hint
and took her upstairs.
It wasn’t long
before we found ourselves entangled upon the bed, making out
furiously like teenagers typically do. There were no lingering
touches or fluttering kisses, only lips smashed against smashed
lips, our mutual ardor near searing, our young loins burning with a
desire we both feared, but wanted to quench. I think we both knew
there would be a time when the need to brush against those flames
would outweigh any misgivings we might’ve had in our minds. We were
already flirting with it.
With thoughts of
her pert breasts filling my hand and my mouth, I heard the thump of
someone’s foot upon the top step of the stairs leading from the
attic. At first, I didn’t think much of it, but by the third, then
the fourth, then the fifth step, a thought struck me…
Who’d gone up
into the attic?
I hadn’t heard
anyone walked past the threshold of my room. Anyone wishing to
attain the third level of the house would have to pass by my room
to do so. And, why would someone go up there in the first place?
With the house being as large as it was, only those items we’d use
maybe once a year were stored up there – Halloween and Christmas
decorations, old papers and pictures, our baby clothes and such
items my mom was intent on keeping for all of time. There was
nothing of immediate importance up there. Who could it
be?
I heard the
ninth, the tenth, the eleventh…
There was really
no reason for someone to go up there… unless, Eli had…
He better not
have! I thought. The attic
wasn’t a good place for someone his age to play. It wasn’t safe for
little kids. Eli could get hurt
up there! He could fall down in the dark, scrape himself silly on a
rusted nail… The list went on
and on in my head.
… The twelfth,
the thirteenth, the fourteenth… sounded.
I was sure going
to let him have a piece of my mind when he walked past the door of
my room on his way toward his. The attic stairs ended just outside
the portal of my domain. I knew there were only nineteen stairs,
having made the trip up there, over and over, when we’d moved in,
so I got up from my desk and turned to face the door.
… The
seventeenth, the eighteenth, the nineteenth…
I made ready to
speak. Elijah wouldn’t be playing up there any time soon, if I had
something to day about it.
I
waited.
… The twentieth,
the twenty-first, the twenty-second…
What the
fuck? was the thought. I rushed
toward the hallway, thinking my little brother was messing around
on the
imagination could run amok. But, as the new, manicured version
began to take root, I couldn’t disagree with the notion that I
liked it as well. Seeing the rolling lawn beyond the
Birds-of-Paradise and the long-stemmed, Naked Ladies was amazing.
It was a perfect place for Eli to play. It was screened from the
street below by the hulking Lantana bush and, though it was canted
with a slight incline, it was entirely safe. I could see many a
good time for him out there in the front yard.
I was
happy.
I remember it
was a Sunday when those assessments of our new home were skipping
across my consciousness. I was at my desk, pondering what I’d do
next. I’d been half-thinking of my surroundings and half-recalling
I’d been rolling around on my bed with Myra less than an hour
prior. I was distracted, clearly.
She’d come over
after breakfast, full with smiles and kindness for my family. We
had dallied about for a time before my mom suggested I show her all
of the improvements we’d done to the place since we moved in. It
wasn’t like Myra hadn’t been here before. She’d come over more than
a few times once we’d began dating. I think my mother was being
polite.
So, I showed her
about the grounds.
She made it seem
like she was impressed, but kept alluding to seeing the
“improvements” in my bedroom. That’s always been the thing with
Myra. Even when she was trying to be subtle, she did so with the
delicacy of a nuclear bomb.
I got the hint
and took her upstairs.
It wasn’t long
before we found ourselves entangled upon the bed, making out
furiously like teenagers typically do. There were no lingering
touches or fluttering kisses, only lips smashed against smashed
lips, our mutual ardor near searing, our young loins burning with a
desire we both feared, but wanted to quench. I think we both knew
there would be a time when the need to brush against those flames
would outweigh any misgivings we might’ve had in our minds. We were
already flirting with it.
With thoughts of
her pert breasts filling my hand and my mouth, I heard the thump of
someone’s foot upon the top step of the stairs leading from the
attic. At first, I didn’t think much of it, but by the third, then
the fourth, then the fifth step, a thought struck me…
Who’d gone up
into the attic?
I hadn’t heard
anyone walked past the threshold of my room. Anyone wishing to
attain the third level of the house would have to pass by my room
to do so. And, why would someone go up there in the first place?
With the house being as large as it was, only those items we’d use
maybe once a year were stored up there – Halloween and Christmas
decorations, old papers and pictures, our baby clothes and such
items my mom was intent on keeping for all of time. There was
nothing of immediate importance up there. Who could it
be?
I heard the
ninth, the tenth, the eleventh…
There was really
no reason for someone to go up there… unless, Eli had…
He better not
have! I thought. The attic
wasn’t a good place for someone his age to play. It wasn’t safe for
little kids. Eli could get hurt
up there! He could fall down in the dark, scrape himself silly on a
rusted nail… The list went on
and on in my head.
… The twelfth,
the thirteenth, the fourteenth… sounded.
I was sure going
to let him have a piece of my mind when he walked past the door of
my room on his way toward his. The attic stairs ended just outside
the portal of my domain. I knew there were only nineteen stairs,
having made the trip up there, over and over, when we’d moved in,
so I got up from my desk and turned to face the door.
… The
seventeenth, the eighteenth, the nineteenth…
I made ready to
speak. Elijah wouldn’t be playing up there any time soon, if I had
something to day about it.
I
waited.
… The twentieth,
the twenty-first, the twenty-second…
What the
fuck? was the thought. I rushed
toward the hallway, thinking my little brother was messing around
on the
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