Cartilage and Skin by Michael James Rizza

Author:Michael James Rizza
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Cartilage and Skin
ISBN: 9781938103063
Publisher: Dzanc Books
Published: 2013-10-15T04:00:00+00:00

XV

There was a girl this time, standing beside a tree behind Kyle’s small detached garage and watching Ray as he walked up to the back of the house and then lifted himself up to peer into the bay window. He glanced at the girl. Before the back door, there was a slab of concrete, where a gas grill sat beneath a black tarp. He waved the girl over, and she left the cover of the tree and came across the lawn. She was slender, the openings of her short shirtsleeves flared a bit at her shoulders, and her sandy brown hair was pulled back from her face with a purple barrette. Ray looked at her as she inspected the house.

“There’s no car in the driveway,” Ray said. “That fat real estate lady hasn’t even been here in almost a month. They’ll never sell this place, especially that woman. She’s a cow.”

“Stop it, Ray,” the girl said.

“It’s true,” he said. “Wait here. I’ll let you in.”

He walked alongside the house, and just on the other side of the air conditioner unit, he sat down on the grass and lightly tapped the bottom edge of a casement window with his heel. The hinges squealed, and they were so rusty that once the window was open, it didn’t swing itself shut. Ray turned onto his stomach and slipped himself feet first through the narrow opening. Shortly after he disappeared, the window closed, from the inside.

The girl waited on the concrete slab. She stooped down and lifted up a ceramic flowerpot that was on the ground beside the door. When Ray opened the door and stuck his head out, he saw her standing there with the pot in both of her hands.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Looking for a key.”

“I’m already inside.” He smiled at her. “You’re a goofy girl.”

Putting the pot down, she said, “You’re a goofy girl.”

He held the door open, and she stepped past him. He followed her from the foyer, into the kitchen, where she took a seat at the table. He glanced out the bay window for a second, as a precaution perhaps, and then sat across from her. He kept his eyes upon her face as she looked about the kitchen as though it were a museum. When she met his eyes, she let her gaze linger a moment, before standing up and walking out of the kitchen. He followed her.

“You figure someone would sell the furniture,” she said. “Have a house sale or something.”

In the living room, she sat down on the couch. He stood for a moment, looking down at her, and then seated himself beside her. He put his feet on the coffee table, and she pushed them off.

“Don’t be an ogre,” she said. “Somebody’s got to own this stuff.”

“He had no family. They all left him without a word. I heard his wife took off with her lover and the kids,” Ray responded. “As my dad said, ‘Lonely people are a tragedy waiting to happen.

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