Page 12 of Wall

“You can call Shady Acres and speak to your grandmother. She asked me to get the ring since you forgot it the last time you came to visit.” I feel stupid, like a prissy schoolmarm.

“The fuck you say.” He sniffs, and his gaze darts over my shoulder to the street. Checking to see if I brought anyone with me. I didn’t.

And Five Constantine Court is at the end of the road. Last night’s snow brought the temperature down, and there’s no one outside.

He shuffles forward, crowding me. I step back, and somehow, I end up pressed against the porch railing.

He slowly licks his lips. “You want Mee Maw’s ring? What’s it worth to you?”

His breath reeks of tortilla chips and nicotine.

“I’m not paying you for the ring. It belongs to your grandmother. It means a lot to her. If you don’t have it anymore, just say so.”

“Oh, I got the ring. It’s upstairs. How ‘bout you come in? I’ll show it to you?” He’s leering, and he takes another step closer until we’re almost chest to chest.

“Please back up.” I say it firmly, so I don’t know why the words come out of my mouth all squeaky and weak.

“I tell you what, Mama. Come on upstairs, and I’ll let you work for it. I don’t usually go for fatties with that desperate stink, but, hey, since you deliver…I’ll throw you a pity fuck.”

Then he smirks, his stained, yellow teeth inches from my mouth, and I shove him, smack in the middle of his skinny chest, and I run for my car.

Of course, instead of heading through the fresh snow in the front yard, I instinctively take the walk, which has melted and refrozen, so I’m slipping and sliding, and he’s laughing. Another man joins him on the porch, a bigger, rougher-looking guy, and there’s a woman, too. They’re all laughing.

And then I hit a slick patch, and my feet sail out from under me. Thud. I land flat on my tailbone, and I bite my tongue, drawing blood. My eyes burn, and then of course, I burst out in hot tears.

“Look at that dumb bitch. Awww, she fell.” The woman cackles.

“Hey, don’t leave. We was just starting to have some fun,” Tommy calls. “Is it ‘cause I called you fat? I take it back. You ain’t fat, you jiggly.”

My face is hot and wet, and my lungs burn from sprinting in the cold. I slam my car door, and I fumble at the seat belt. I can’t see through the tears. I can hear their muffled laughter, and then a snowball hits my passenger-side window.

My hands are shaking so badly that I can’t get the key in the ignition. Tommy and the other man lope across the front lawn—oh shit, oh shit—and then one of them kicks the side of my car. There’s gonna be a dent.

I scramble for the locks, but they engaged automatically. I almost accidentallyunlockthe doors. There’s so much shouting, and my pounding blood is deafening in my ears.

“That’s right! Get gone! And remember I know where you work! Maybe I’ll payyoua visit! Dumb bitch!”

Finally, the key slides home, and I peel off, fishtailing in the ice as I burst into full-blown hysterics.

That littleasshole.

I should turn around and run his scrawny ass over with my car.

Or should I call the cops? I don’t want to call the cops. How would that conversation go?

Yes, officer, I was just chased off someone’s property by a kid who called me a fatty, threw snowballs, and kicked my car. What was I doing there? Trying to get a diamond ring from a druggie.

I check the rearview mirror. My face is bright, mottled red, and I’m not sure what’s winning: the terror, the humiliation, or the fury.

If I were a big man, thatneverwould have happened.

I’m flying down route 29, pounding on the steering wheel, head throbbing with swelling fury and the aftermath of fear, and I realize two things. I need to slow down. I’m going eighty and black ice is a definite possibility. And I’m heading toward Petty’s Mill.

John lives in Petty’s Mill. That’s where I send my rent checks. To the Steel Bones Clubhouse. I have a vague memory of where it is. I’m probably fifteen minutes away.

I haven’t seen or spoken to John in four years.

I hate him. He’s the boogeyman of my life. I put him—all of that—behind me. He cheated on me at the lowest point in my life, and then he swanned away.

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