Subtraction by Mary Robison

Author:Mary Robison
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: Counterpoint
Published: 2018-06-26T16:00:00+00:00

Pru opened the door on a lopsided Raf. His elbow on the side wall was all that kept him standing.

He wore a new suit with a fish-scale sheen. The shirt underneath was peacock blue, and where buttons belonged it had a zipper, unzipped.

“Two beautiful girls without mercy,” he said. “ ‘. . . Her foot light, her eyes wild.’ ”

“That’s beautiful, Raf,” Pru said.

I said Keats had thought so.

Pru said, “Raf, you look like a low rider!”

“Low as you go. Another great thing about Houston is that the humidity glazes everything with STP.”

“We’re first worst for air, third worst for ozone damage,” Pru said. “Where’s Raymond?”

I said, “He probably refused to be seen with a guy in Raf’s clothes.”

“Thank you, Paige. I wanted something in a snakeskin pattern . . .”

“To match your soul.”

“Thank you again. But all they had left was this sardine fabric. Now, did you wanna ask me a question, Paige? The answer’s yes.”

“Yes, you had a little slip?”

“The way you two look I could eat both your little slips,” Raf said. “Raymond’ll be here in a second. He’s crawling along. Yes, we hurt ourselves with the malt that wounds.”

“Not Raymond! Not after three years!” I said.

“We’ll both pay tomorrow, but let’s nobody ruin tonight.”

Pru stepped past Raf and into the hall. “Bleeding Jesus, Raf wasn’t kidding!” she said.

I leaned to see. Raymond was on hands and knees, crawling along the hallway in a suit that was the twin of Raf’s.

“This is too much. What do you suppose is on TV?” I said.

“Come on, give the boys a chance,” Pru begged.

“Yeah, give us that,” said Raf.

I said, “No. I and a Portuguese voodoo woman are going to babysit Lilith and watch television together. We’re going to watch Divorce Court. These guys—one of them can’t stand, and the other can just barely! Besides that, they’re both dressed in oven wrap!”

“I can so stand. It’s that I lost somethin’ valuable and I’m searching for it,” Raymond yelled.

“And what did you lose, Raymond? Your wedding ring?” I asked.

“How’d you find that out? Raf, did you tell her?”

“Nope,” said Raf. “I guess you’re just not a very complicated cowpoke, Ray-mo.”

“You call me Ray-mo one more time and I swear I’ll beat you to death,” Raymond said.

“Ray-mo,” said Raf.

Even crawling and in the sparkling pimp suit, Raymond’s anger was impressive.

Raf said, “Ray-mo, let’s say we behave so the girls don’t lock us out.”

“Why would they lock us out, they got a union shop? I didn’t mean that, Pru! I hope you don’t take a slander from it. Raf? Help me find my wedding ring and I’ll kill you a little later.”

Raf ambled over and fell down. “Fair deal,” he said.

“Ain’t gonna be a lotta help on your back,” Raymond said.

I said, “Pru, do you see what tonight’ll be like? We might make it out of here by dawn, but they’ll have lost the car keys.”

“Holy mother, I did leave the keys in the car! Can you believe that?” Raymond said.

Raf was laughing and Raymond said, “Paige, you’re gonna be a widow.

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