Two green marbles floating in the blackness. Mr. Stripey’s eyes glowed huge and green under the bed. Lonnie swung his fist back and forth. He could just catch Mr. Stripey’s fur with his knuckles. Mr. Stripey backed out of reach.
“Come out, Mr. Stripey,” Lonnie said, taking one last swing.
“Give him more time,” said Lonnie’s mother as she took the plates and saucers from their newspaper wrappings and stacked them in the kitchen cabinet. “Cats take a while to adjust to a new home.”
“It’s been five days already,” Lonnie said. He stood and sat on his mother’s bed. “I bet he just misses his sister. I know I do.”
Lonnie rubbed his thigh then gathered and pinched a plug of skin and blue jean, twisting it as hard as he could. He pinched so hard that his eyes misted with tears. “I miss her so much, sometimes.”
“Oh, honey. It wasn’t your fault,” Lonnie’s mother said. “It was just an accident.” She hesitated for a second. “I still think Mr. Stripey would be happier at the old house with your father.”
“You never liked Mr. Stripey,” Lonnie said wiping his eyes. “You said he was Daddy’s cat. You said he was just an old nasty tom cat.”
“If the shoe fits…,” Lonnie’s mother said, wadding up a piece of newspaper and dropping it into a box on the floor. “What would you like for dinner?”
“I don’t know.” Lonnie traced his fingers over the circles and triangles of the afghan his mother had made. Then he tried to rip one of the knots off without his mother noticing. “I miss our house. I miss playing with Daddy in the tree house.”
“Well, I’m sorry, honey,” Lonnie’s mother said as she shook her hair back. She wiped at her forehead with the back of her wrist. “But you’ll be able to see your daddy every other weekend now.” She smiled. “How about Spaghetti-O’s for dinner?”
Lonnie shrugged then stood and walked into the kitchen. He looked into the boxes on the table then went to the full-length kitchen window and looked out through the mini-blinds.
In the apartment across the way, the man with the red bumps all over his face stood in the window smoking a cigarette. He had his shirt off again. In the apartment under the man, the fat lady lay on her couch watching television.
“Why did you stop loving Daddy?” Lonnie said as he looked at the man.
“Don’t start, Lonnie.”
Lonnie turned around, clenching his hands into fists. “Nobody asked me,” he said to her back. “I didn’t ask for a divorce. I didn’t want to leave our house. I never wanted to leave.”
“Lonnie,” Lonnie’s mother sighed, shaking her head.
“Why can’t it be like it was…?”
“Stop this, Lonnie,” Lonnie’s mother said over her shoulder. She looked down again. “You’re not a baby anymore. Ten is old enough to understand…it is never going to be like it used to be, honey.”
She turned around then and looked at him. “I’m sorry, but it just can’t be, sweetheart. It just can’t.”
She stepped towards him with her arms out. Lonnie stiffened and backed away. She sighed, folded her arms, and looked at him for several seconds. “What do you say to those Spaghetti-O’s?”
“Spaghetti-O’s are for babies,” Lonnie said looking down. “I want to go outside.”
“It’s getting dark,” Lonnie’s mother said. “But I’ll let you sit out on the landing if you come and give mommy a hug first.”
Lonnie glanced at her then looked at the floor. He took a step towards her, then stood there. She went to him and pulled him to her. Lonnie let his arms dangle at his sides and turned his face away towards the refrigerator as she hugged him and stroked him and kissed the top of his head.
“Do you know how much your mommy loves you?” she whispered as she squeezed him.
Her warm breath tickled his ear. He stared unblinking at his reflection in the stainless steel refrigerator door. “Oh, yes, mommy. I really think I do.”
She stood and held him by the shoulders and smiled down at him. She touched his face. “Don’t leave the top step, okay?”
“Okay,” Lonnie said. He trotted to the front door and opened it. Mr. Stripey streaked by him out the door down the stairs and across the sidewalk. He disappeared into some thick Oleander bushes.
“Mr. Stripey!” Lonnie screamed.
“That goddamned cat,” Lonnie’s mother said as she went to the door and stood behind Lonnie.
“Mr. Stripey!” Lonnie yelled as he started down the stairs.
“Lonnie,” his mother said. “Get back here.”
Lonnie stopped and looked up at her. “He’s going to get away!” He started down the stairs again.
“Lonnie, stop. Get back here, right now.”
Lonnie turned back to his mother. “But, mom, he’ll get run over or…”
“Don’t argue with me…,” she said looking towards the man standing in the window. She was quiet for a moment as she stared at the man. “He’ll come back. They always come sniffing around when they’re hungry.”
“Please, mommy...” Lonnie said.
“That’s enough, Lonnie. I want you to come inside now.”
“Mommy—“
“Inside, Lonnie. Now. Right now.”
Lonnie slowly stomped his way back up the stairs then past his mother into the small living room. His mother came in, closed the door, and locked the deadbolt. Lonnie plopped down in a chair at the kitchen table.
Lonnie’s mother went into the kitchen, unwrapped a plate, and put it in the cabinet. “I’ll put some food out for Mr. Stripey, later, okay? He’ll be fine. He’s an outside cat.”
Lonnie glanced up at his mother. Behind her, the man in the apartment across from them still stood in the window.
“Oh, good. Here’s the can opener,” Lonnie’s mother said.
The man scratched between his legs.
Lonnie’s mother looked at Lonnie, then turned and looked out the window. The man smiled at her. She dropped the can opener and it clattered across the floor.
“What the hell?” Lonnie’s mother said. She walked over to the window. The man stopped scratching then waved and smiled. She reached up and twisted the mini-blinds closed.
“I saw him there when we moved in,” Lonnie said. “And when daddy picked me up last weekend. I see him there all the time.”
“What?” She turned around and looked at Lonnie. She went to her purse on the kitchen counter, opened it, looked inside, and snapped it closed. She bent and picked up the can opener.
“Last call for Spaghetti-Os,” she said. Her voice was higher. Her smile looked funny.
“I’m not hungry,” Lonnie said. “Can I just go to my room?”
“You feel okay?” she said.
“Yeah,” Lonnie said. “I’m just not hungry.”
“Okay,” Lonnie’s mother said. “I’ll make you a grilled cheese later, alright?”
Lonnie nodded and went to his bedroom and closed the door, then opened it just a crack. His mother went to her purse, opened it, and pulled out the gun. She looked at it, and then put it back in the purse. She went to the kitchen window and peeked out through the mini-blinds.
Lonnie lay on his bed and looked up at the ceiling for animal heads and faces in the patterns in the paint. When he closed his eyes, the patterns seemed to glow inside his eyelids.
When he woke later, it was dark. He got up and opened his bedroom door. His mother’s door was closed. He went to it and listened to her snore.
There was a grilled cheese sandwich on a plate wrapped with plastic on the kitchen table. Lonnie put his hand on it. It was cold. He unwrapped the sandwich and went to the front door. He slowly unlocked the dead bolt then opened the door.
He went out on the landing then pulled the door closed behind him. Moths and bugs buzzed around the light over his door. He sat on the top step and took a bite of the sandwich. He heard a meow and Mr. Stripey come out of the bushes and up to the bottom of the stairs.
Lonnie broke of a piece of his sandwich and dropped it down in front of the cat. The cat came up the steps and sniffed at it then began eating it. Lonnie slid down a step, broke off another piece of sandwich, and dropped it on the step below him. The cat hopped up and began eating it.
“Hi, Mr. Stripey,” Lonnie whispered. “Are you hungry now?”
Lonnie gave the cat another piece. He slid down on the step next to the cat. He ate more of the sandwich and fed the cat several more bites. He dropped the last piece to the cat then wiped his hands on his jeans and watched the cat purring and eating. He ran his hand down the cat’s back and watched its fur ruffle up behind his hand.
Then Lonnie gently slipped both hands around Mr. Stripey’s neck. He began to squeeze as hard as he could. The cat went crazy, hissed, clawed, and ripped at Lonnie’s hands. Lonnie squeezed harder and tried to hold on. But the cat slipped out of his hands, raced down the stairs, and disappeared in the oleander bushes.
Lonnie sat there watching the spot where Mr. Stripey had disappeared. His hands burned and stung where the cat had torn them, but he felt warm and good inside. He looked up. The man in the apartment across the way stood in the window looking down at him.
Lonnie stood and let the blood drip from his fingertips onto the concrete steps. A little breeze touched Lonnie’s face and he closed his eyes for a moment and breathed it in. He looked at the man again. Then he backed up the steps, one by one, holding the man’s gaze with his own. He backed up to his door, and then opened it wide and left it open and stood there.
Lonnie stepped to the side, and gestured to the man. The man leaned in towards the glass. The bumps on the man’s face looked bigger in the shadows. He put his hands on the glass and stared at Lonnie with his mouth open. His breath fogged the glass.
Lonnie gestured for the man to come. The man was instantly gone from the window. In a few seconds, Lonnie heard footsteps on the sidewalk. Then a moment later, the man appeared at the bottom of the stairs wearing a white t-shirt, cutoffs and flip-flops.
The man looked up and down the sidewalk then up at Lonnie and smiled. Lonnie put his finger to his lips. The blood felt thick and warm on Lonnie’s lips when he took his finger away. The man came up the stairs and stood in front of Lonnie.
Lonnie opened the door, and took the man’s hand and led him to his mother’s door. Lonnie opened it. His mother was still snoring. The man looked into the bedroom, and then looked at Lonnie, then into the bedroom again. Lonnie watched the man’s throat work as he swallowed. Lonnie nodded. The man went into his mother’s bedroom, then turned and looked at Lonnie over his shoulder. Lonnie closed the door.
Lonnie went into the kitchen. He opened a cabinet and found a glass. He poured himself a glass of milk and drank it as he listened to the muffled screams and thumps from his mother’s bedroom.
He finished the milk, then rinsed the glass and put it in the dishwasher. He wiped the kitchen counter with a paper towel where he’d spilled a little milk then put it in the box on the floor.
He went to his mother’s door and opened it. A lamp was on in the room, but it was lying on the floor next to his mother’s bed. Her purse was there. His mother looked at Lonnie, moaned, and jerked her head back and forth. She had something stuck in her mouth. It took Lonnie a second to realize it was her panties. The man was lying on top of her with his t-shirt and one flip-flop on. Lonnie almost giggled when he noticed the man’s butt had big red bumps on it, too. The man was moving and sweating on top of Lonnie’s mother.
Lonnie walked over to his mother’s purse. He bent down, opened the purse, and reached inside. The man turned and looked at Lonnie.
“Hey, kid,” the man wheezed.
“Hey,” Lonnie said as he held the gun up with both hands and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the man in the face. He fell off the other side of the bed. Lonnie stood there for a moment, looking at the red and black pattern all over the wall.
Lonnie’s mother jerked and heaved in the bed and made sick sounds. Lonnie dropped the gun on the floor. He went to the kitchen and opened all the drawers until he found the big knife. Then he went back to his mother’s bedroom.
When he was finished, Lonnie heard sirens when he went out on the stairs with the cordless phone. The fat lady’s light was on across the way. Lonnie pushed the numbers on the phone.
“I did it, Daddy,” Lonnie said. “Yes. The man across the way came.” He listened for several seconds. “They’re coming now. I hear them.” He listened again. “Can we play some new games in the tree house, Daddy? Something different? I think I’m tired of dogs and cats now.” He listened and nodded as he held the phone. “Okay. Okay, Daddy.”
Lonnie hung up and listened to the sirens getting closer. He noticed something shining in the oleander bushes. Two green marbles floating in the blackness.
