The Invaders by Karolina Waclawiak Page B

involved I really was in the protection of our homes, I was a club member’s wife for little more than a decade and I would always be the reason their friend was gone, no matter how unfounded that was. No matter how many husbands they slept with, I would always be worse. Jeffrey leaned back in his chair and smiled at them all, his white chest hair sprouting from the vee of his knit polo. I stared at him, acutely aware of his age. His hair was white like Nora’s; maybe they were a better match.
    They walked away and I said, “That man didn’t do anything.”
    â€œIf he peed on the street, that’s doing something,” said Jeffrey.
    â€œHe didn’t really chase us, he just kind of stood there,” I said.
    â€œYou’re splitting hairs.”
    â€œWho cares?” Teddy asked. He looked at us both and mumbled something about needing to go to the bathroom. He got up and his chair toppled behind him. He leaned down to pick it up, but people were already staring, and it was excruciating. I stared down at the white tablecloth and noticed spots lining the lip of my plate. I tried to scrub them away with my nail. They would not budge and I could feel Jeffrey watching me. I wished Teddy would come back quickly.
    â€œDon’t you think everyone’s just overreacting?” I asked.
    â€œYou’re missing the point,” he said.
    â€œIlluminate it for me,” I said.
    â€œPeople worked their whole lives to live here. It’s an investment of time and money that makes us owners. We own this,” he said, waving his arm.
    â€œYou don’t own the water, you don’t own the beach.”
    â€œYes, we do,” Jeffrey said. “It’s in our deeds.”
    â€œWho is ‘we’?” I asked, because I knew he didn’t mean me.
    Even after all that trying, I never got to feel a real sense of ownership. I wanted him to say it out loud, to say I don’t mean you , but he wouldn’t. I was begging him to say it, so someone would finally be direct with me. So I would have a reason to feel like I never even had a chance. Instead, we stared at each other in a standoff.
    I heard Teddy’s laughter coming up the steps and I knew I would be off the hook now. We would have to talk about his failings now. Or sit in uncomfortable silence. Either way, I was no longer the bad one. I glanced up quickly to see if Jeffrey had noticed that Teddy was on his way back and he was looking around the room absently, watching the other club members laughing and talking. Teddy sat down and said, “I’m starving,” and I saw that he had a new life to him, smiling. I saw the steaks coming our way, resting in the juice of their own blood. Teddy turned his head to see what I was looking at and saw the steak Jeffrey had ordered for him. Teddy looked at me, pained. I knew he didn’t want it.
    He cast his eyes down to the plate being set before him and watched the blood sluice from one side of the white plate to the other and he didn’t even pick up his fork.
    â€œI’m not complaining, but I didn’t want this,” Teddy said.
    â€œYou’ll eat it,” Jeffrey said. And Teddy did. He ate it all.

CHAPTER FOUR
TEDDY
    MY STOMACH WAS CHURNING from all the red meat my father made me ingest. Or maybe it was because my buzz was fading. I searched through my pocket for something to make my buzz feel better and found an oblong white pill, which I figured had to be some kind of downer, and took it pronto. I was sitting on the deck of the club, watching the boats float in the marina and listening to the bells jangle each time a wave came in. This was what I liked. The sound of the boats made me want a life like this for myself. I could have a boat with some witty bullshit written across the hull. Nothing obnoxious like “Blo Me” like that idiot from school, as if somehow taking off the w made it less sleazy. I wanted classy. I’d fucking