Take Me There by Tristan Taormino

Author:Tristan Taormino
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cleis Press
Published: 2011-10-24T04:00:00+00:00

SOMEBODY’S WATCHING ME

Alicia E. Goranson

Amanda is out watching the sun set between the two ramshackle houses across the street, waiting for Naoto to come over. Then her cell phone chimes. It’s Derrick, her exboyfriend from three states ago. The one she left at midnight after he had fallen asleep. He had been a real prize: a straight boy, proud he didn’t have a fag bone in his body. Amanda opens it because that’s what you’re supposed to do when you get a call.

Derrick shouldn’t have her number. He asks her how she is doing. “Fine,” she says. He tells her he has someone watching her right now. That her brown roots are showing through her strawberry pink hair. That her favorite floral dress is getting splotches and she is resting her left elbow against the mailbox. Amanda focuses on the setting sun, while the corners of her eyes search for movement.

It’s an old Georgia suburb with porches covered in sand pails, beer bottles and boxes slumping from the humidity. There’s wind in the street and televisions flickering behind every window. Of course there’s movement everywhere.

Amanda breathes slow and doesn’t move. She waits for Derrick to get bored. He says she should behave herself or he’s coming over. He has friends in town. They’re recording her right now. He’ll put it up on Viddler or blip.tv if she makes him.

Amanda lives on display, especially when she leaves the house. She tries not to think about anything that isn’t ten feet around her. It’s easy for her to numb herself and dress in bright colors when she’s already a target. Derrick isn’t doing anything special.

Eventually he relents. “You be good or I’ll know,” he says and hangs up.

Amanda grabs the mail and wanders into the house she rents with a half-dozen other queers. It would be nice if the house could fly, as long as the garage comes with it. That’s where she keeps her bike.

Later in the evening, Naoto parks his uncle’s hand-me-down VW Rabbit nearby. He calls it “The Zombie” after the ring of rust that has eaten the underside of the car’s chassis. He has a bike too, but it’s not safe to bike at night from this house in this neighborhood.

The odds were against him ever meeting Amanda. His uncle runs a pawnshop in the next town, where Naoto lives since his mom kicked him out. One evening, a kid came over with a half-dozen laptops to sell. Naoto’s uncle had him keep the kid still while phoning the cops. Amanda came over the next day to reclaim the laptops. The kid had been one of her roommates. Naoto complimented her on the raccoon-girls and badger-girls she had drawn over her own laptop. Amanda said they could always use another player for game night.

Of course, he needed a warm place to stay after game night ended, since he’d biked over that first time. Her pointed elbows bruised him and she left bites deep enough to last into the next month.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.