Cut Corners Volume 2 by Garton Ray & McKenzie Shane & J. O'Rourke Monica

Author:Garton, Ray & McKenzie, Shane & J. O'Rourke, Monica [Garton, Ray]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sinister Grin Press
Published: 2015-10-28T04:00:00+00:00

Bleeding Rainbows

Shane McKenzie

It had been a week since I last fed the dogs.

Not because I didn’t love them. Not because I got off on being cruel to animals or anything. I like animals okay. I guess you could say I loved my dogs, though I’m not sure I feel love the way a normal person does. I don’t know for sure because I’ve only ever experienced my own feelings. But I can tell from the way most people cry over their dead loved ones that they feel love more deeply than I do.

And I’ve seen a lot of dead loved ones. Seen a lot of hysterical mothers and husbands and everyone else.

But I don’t feel bad about it. It’s my job. And when I say job, I mean my purpose. I didn’t apply for this job. Didn’t get interviewed or go to orientation or anything. One day I just knew what I was supposed to do and have been doing it ever since. No angel visited and told me. God didn’t speak to me. I just knew one day. The same way you know to breathe without anyone ever having to tell you.

That’s why I hadn’t fed the dogs. Because they had a job to do, too. And they’re much better at it when they’re hungry. A little pissed off. You have to be kind of mean to them. Have to keep them locked up most of the time. Small spaces. Prod them with a stick a few times a day. Nothing that hurts them. Not really. A dog can take a good deal of pain.

The dogs were in the back of the van. Making all sorts of racket. Because they knew what a van ride meant. They knew, after a long week, that it was almost time to eat again.

I saw the headline in the newspaper. Travis and Ethel Montgomery. Celebrating their sixtieth wedding anniversary at the Tarpley Community Center. All are welcome. There was a picture of the darling old couple, holding hands and grinning at each other like two love-sick adolescents.

I parked the van and knocked on the side as I passed, just to rile the dogs up. They got to barking and rattling their cages and I knew those poor things must’ve been starving out of their minds.

A wide banner with the old couple’s smiling faces printed on it was stretched over the entrance. Multi-colored balloons were tied to the door handles and bouncing around as the wind gave them a tickle. Confetti lined the walkway like flattened, fruit-flavored gravel.

I arrived late. There was nobody outside, though the small parking lot was full, a few cars even having to park along the curb. I stepped up to the doors and listened. Pretty quiet. A faint murmuring sound, then a quick explosion of laughter.

I opened the double doors and walked inside.

The couple sat on stage, holding hands, their backs to the crowd. Their faded, gray eyes were locked onto the slideshow projected up onto the wall above the stage.

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