chapter 13

word count: 1045

the boys had arrived at adam’s house just in time to hear his mother mumble,, “thank god you’re home..” as she slipped in behind the wheel of her dusty range rover.. 

“but mom,, this is, elliot,” adam rang out,, as she let the door swing closed behind her.. he had the distinct feeling that something had gone very wrong since he had snuck out the back door and left his mother and father up to their own devices behind the locked door of their bedroom earlier this morning. 

‘she looks ok,’ thought adam to himself,, as he watched his mom back out the driveway and head off without another word.. he hadn’t seen any bumps or bruises,, but then she hadn’t really afforded him much opportunity to check her over.. 

“where were you guys?”

a familiar voice called out from somewhere behind them.. 

adam swung around  to see, it was elise,, the teenage girl who lived next door,, calling out to them from the front porch. 

“your mom had to go to the doctor and called me to come and help her look for you before she left.."

the sound of her voice, quickly brought adam out of the conundrum over his mother’s wellbeing and back to news at hand.. 

“hey elise.” adam said approaching the porch,, “this is elliot.. he goes to my school.” 

“hi elliot. where do you..”elise started,, but, her cell phone rang, and her voice trailed off.. 

“hey girl!!” was the last thing they heard her say, as she turned her back on them and went in the house, leaving the two boys standing awkwardly alone in the middle of the front yard..   

“so you wanna play Xbox?” adam said finally breaking the weighted silence.. “ i got super monkey ball, lego star wars, shrek 2, simpsons road rage…” he continued to rattle off the names of the games,, as he led elliot thru,, what elliot couldn’t help but notice to be a spotless living room.. 

while adam washed his hands at the sink in the little half bath just off the sparkling  kitchen,, elliot took in his surroundings.. there were no dirty dishes in the sink.. no coffee cups,, ashtrays filled to overflowing,, or newspapers splayed out atop the kitchen table.. the freshly mopped floor shone in the noon day sun.. it smelled lemony and nice in here.. 

nowhere to be found was the over flowing trash can, filled with smelly old cigarette butts and empty beer cans.. in fact,, elliot made a mental note as he stepped up to take his turn at the sink,, there was not a booze bottle to be found on the whole of the kitchen counter.. 

elliot thoughts turned quickly to adam’s mother as he rinsed the soapy water off his freshly cleaned hands.. he couldn’t help but wonder how much different it would be to have a mom like adam’s.. a real mom.. the kind who actually kept the house clean and called someone to come look after you before leaving the house..  he exhaled a heavy, somewhat defeated sigh,, as he followed adam up the stairs that evidently led to his beloved Xbox..  

'chances are,,' elliot consigned to himself silently as he stepped onto the neatly vacuumed second floor landing, 'i will never know..'

*****

trudy paced the asphalt parking lot just outside the restaurants kitchen door.. she took a long drag on her cigarette and smacked it’s cherry on the painted brick surface of the building, smashing it’s too long ash into submission.. 

she had been unable to get that woman off her mind all afternoon.. that tiny, little, defeated looking woman that was unmistakably mrs. buzz miller.. why did she have to come in here today of all days?? why did she have to drop that oncologists card? and why had trudy, herself, stopped to pick it up??

if only she had left it alone,, left it lying on the worn tile floor just there beneath the coffee bar.. if only she had just minded her own business, and ran the credit card mindlessly like she usually did,, she would have been none the wiser..  

instead of worrying about the how presence of that disheveled woman sitting at her coffee bar would change things between her and buzz,, right this moment her thoughts would have been about how buzz was going to take everything he had coming to him this afternoon.. about how he was going to ride her hard,, and put her away wet,, just like he always did when they stole out a few moments to be together outside of the watchful eye of either of their spouses.. 

up until now,, that defeated little woman had been just that .. an invisible spouse.. not a real flesh and blood human being.. and certainly not the frail helpless human being she portrayed herself to be,, as she sat there at the coffee bar this very afternoon,, looking oh so much worse for the ware.. 

‘maybe that was just her angle,’ trudy thought to herself..  ‘maybe she knows about me and buzz,, and just came in here today to throw me off his scent by making herself look pitiful..’

‘that has to be it.’ trudy concluded as she slipped into the break room to sneak a little snort out of the quaint paisley flask she had left locked in her locker earlier this morning.. the possibility of all of this just being a coincidence was far too great.. it had to have been planned.. 

that stupid little bitch actually thought she could throw her off buzz’ trail by playing helpless,, by appealing to her sense of decency..

‘yeah, right,’ trudy laughed menacingly to herself as she took a long pull off the flask,, and savored the ever familiar burn of liquid courage as it washed down the back of her throat.. she allowed it to come to rest in her hips,, and wiggled knowingly, and with anticipation, as she took just one more long swallow.. 

“that bitch has no idea who she's messing with.”  trudy said aloud,, as she stroked the stick of blood red stain across her lips,, and popped a stick of cinnamon dentene into her mouth to cover up the smell her well liquored, cigarette breath..

“no fucking idea…”