High Crime Area: Tales of Darkness and Dread by Joyce Carol Oates

Author:Joyce Carol Oates [Oates, Joyce Carol]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery & Crime, Short Stories (Single Author)
ISBN: 9781784081607
Publisher: Head of Zeus
Published: 2014-11-09T11:00:00+00:00

6.

Voices inside. Unmistakable.

And when I turned the doorknob, the door was locked.

“Harvey? It’s—me...”

The voices continued, punctuated by laughter. A sharp staccato series of barks—Dargo?

“...it’s Lydia, will you let me inside?”

I knocked on the door. Knocked, banged my fist. Manic dog-barking ensued. I thought I have the right, he can’t keep me out. I live here too, now.

More soberly I thought If the door is opened, the pit bull will rush at me. No one will stop him.

Still I waited in the hall. I pressed my ear against the door. I thought I heard Harvey’s voice—muffled, indistinct. I was sure that I heard Leander’s voice, and another male voice.

Possibly, a female voice. Maralena?

I was holding bags of groceries in both my arms, which I’d purchased not at Pinneo’s Market but several miles north in a Trenton suburb, at a ShopRite. In this store there was “fresh” produce, better quality food overall, and, unexpectedly, the price of my purchases was slightly less than it would have been at the corner market on Camden Avenue.

I knocked another time. The dog’s barking was hysterical now. They must have known who was at the door, who was desperate to be admitted, but no one opened the door, no one spoke to me.

I retreated to my car. Locked the groceries in the trunk and walked over to the little library to wait there, abashed and humbled, until closing time.

He has betrayed me, my brother. It is strangers he loves.

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