Arrhythmia by Alice Zorn

Author:Alice Zorn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: NeWest Press
Published: 2011-03-23T00:00:00+00:00

“You want me to tell him to get lost?” Carlene asks.

“No!” Ketia shakes her head.

Ketia, Carlene, and Marie-Ange sit at the table in the lounge, eating supper from plastic containers. Ketia only picks at her kalalou and pork. She’s hungry but doesn’t want to eat —as if starving herself will stop what’s happening.

“But he’s bothering you,” Marie-Ange says. “Did you see?” she asks Carlene. A stupid question. Everyone saw.

Carlene squishes elbow noodles onto her fork. “How about asking Pascale to work days on the next schedule? Stop doing evenings.”

Ketia has thought of that, but the next schedule doesn’t start for a week. How can she dodge Marc for a week? And what if he asks to work days as well?

“Comme ça,” Marie-Ange agrees. “Don’t work when he does. He only sees you here, right? He’s not calling you at home, is he?”

“No.” A punch of denial, small but definite. Not even a lie because she hung up on him.

Carlene and Marie-Ange look disappointed. They would have liked an all-out battle with Marc.

Marie-Ange points with her fork at Ketia’s food. “You’re not eating.”

“I’m not hungry.” She covers the food that’s left with the lid. She’ll throw it away so as not to tempt herself.

“I remember this one guy I knew,” Marie-Ange starts.

“I’ll bet.” Carlene winks at Ketia, who knows they’re trying to cheer her up with other bad luck stories. They have no idea how bad hers is.

“Well, this guy —”

The door to the lounge opens. Ketia doesn’t face the doorway, but she sees how Carlene glares. The hostile pucker of her mouth.

“Does anyone have the key to the tub room?”

Marc’s voice touches Ketia’s ears and neck. The key to the tub room used to be their code for a quick rendezvous in the back stairwell.

Marie-Ange and Carlene pat their pockets.

“We don’t,” Marie-Ange says. “You can go.”

“Ketia?” Marc’s voice wavers.

“She doesn’t have it, okay?”

A moment passes before the door finally closes.

“Man, he’s got it bad,” Carlene says.

Marie-Ange clucks disapproval. “You keep away from him,” she warns Ketia. She and Carlene watch her with concern. They all heard the urgency in Marc’s voice.

“Yeah,” Carlene says. “Maybe you shouldn’t wait ’til the next schedule. See if you can get someone to switch shifts with you now.”

“A whole week of shifts?” Marie-Ange makes a face.

“I’m just saying.”

They discuss her options — as if she has any. She knows she doesn’t. Everyone will condemn her once they know. Especially him, who did this to her. She grew up hearing the stories Ma told about married men. They always stayed with their wives. Tales of warning. Bad tales. A man was a devil in pursuit until he planted his seed and made a devil child. A bastard. To Ketia those seemed like back-in-the-Islands stories. Things that happened to second and third cousins who lived in the hills, didn’t go to school, and didn’t know better. But the devil was here, too. He had a narrow nose and green eyes, kept his hair neat, his hands clean, his manners at work and with others polite.

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