Dorothy on the Rocks by Barbara Suter

Author:Barbara Suter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Published: 2008-09-19T04:00:00+00:00

14

I’m up at the crack of dawn. I look at the clock. It’s 6:20 a.m. I get up and put water on for coffee. Then I sit in the chair by the back window. The courtyard is brimming with summer flowers. I don’t know if someone plants them every year, or maybe they’re perennials. The sun is coming up. I do my morning sits and stares. Bixby leaps into my lap, all twenty pounds of him.

“You’re my big cat-boy, aren’t you, Bix?” I snuggle my face next to his. “I love you . . . and I love Jack.” Bixby puts his paw on my shoulder and purrs.

“Where is he, Bixby? Where’s my handsome prince?” I say and then recite in oval tone:

O fortune, fortune! all men call thee fickle:

If thou art fickle, what dost thou with him

That is renowned for faith? Be fickle, fortune;

For then, I hope, thou wilt not keep him long,

But send him back.

It’s Romeo and Juliet, act three scene five. I pride myself on still remembering all the lines, and Shakespeare, like Hallmark, has a stanza for every occasion.

When I was seventeen and played Juliet, I was sure that love should be hard won, and that the most romantic thing in the world was strife. I don’t believe that anymore. Or do I? If I hadn’t told Jack to leave, he would be here right now.

My whistling teapot whistles. I put a filter in the coffee cone, add two scoops of grounds, and carefully pour the hot water through the top. Then I put a scoop of cat food in Bixby’s dish. This is not a happy ending. In fact it’s a lousy ending.

“A walk in the park is what I need to clear my head,” I say to Bix while looking through the cupboards for the insulated coffee mug my sister-in-law gave me last Christmas.

“I’ll go over to Riverside Park and walk down to the boat basin. Maybe even get a paper on the way and sit by the river,” I tell Bix, who is now fully concentrating on his breakfast and not listening to a word I’m saying.

I haven’t been back to Central Park since I was attacked; it’s too soon. But I need to see some open space, and the boat basin is lovely early in the morning. And it’s safe.

As I come out my door, Sandy and Mr. Ed are coming out theirs.

“Good morning, you’re up early,” Sandy says. Mr. Ed just nods.

“Yeah, I couldn’t sleep. Thought I’d go over to Riverside Park for a walk. Are you two going for a run?”

“Rollerblading actually,” Sandy says, indicating the bootlike shoes she is carrying in her hand.

“Oh, of course, you’re going to have to hustle to keep up, Ed.” I lean down and ruffle his fur. Ed stares at me. I look up at Sandy.

“I think Mr. Ed is still upset with me. He’s been very hot and cold. Has he said anything?”

Sandy smiles at me. “You know Mr. Ed. He’s very private in affairs of the heart.

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