Page 158 of Duty and Desire
“Mo—” Eddie started.
The door opened and the woman who opened it took one look at him, her head tipped back, then she stepped back, and her face got white.
“Hey,” he said.
“Uh, hey,” she replied, her eyes darting to Eddie and back to Mo.
“Honey, who is it?” a man’s voice came from in the house.
“Um, come here a sec, would you?” she called, not taking her eyes off Mo.
“You watchin’ the game?” Mo asked.
“Sorry?” she asked back, and her gaze went beyond him again just as Mo felt more bodies at his back.
“You watchin’ the game?” he repeated as a man appeared from behind her.
He got a load of what was at his front door, his eyes got big and it took him a second to decide whether to join his wife or yank her away and shut the door.
He joined his wife.
At least that said something about him.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
“Are you watching the game?” Mo repeated.
“Erm…what?”
Jesus Christ.
“Thegame,” Mo bit off. “Are you watching the game?”
“I have it on out back,” the man said.
“I know. I can hear it. But are you watching it?”
“Well, uh…”
“He’s listening to it. I don’t like sports on in the house,” the wife said.
Like he suspected. This was why it was so loud. So it could be heard in the house.
“He got a radio?” Mo asked.
“I…I guess not really but he likes to pop out and look in on it when he can,” she explained.
“While he’s blasting it, but not even there to watch it, it’s disturbing his neighbors,” Mo pointed out.
“It’s a weeknight. No one’s outside,” the man said.
“I was outside.”
“You…do you live here?” the man asked, openly unhappy about the idea of Mo being a neighbor.
“No, but my woman does, right there.” He tipped his head toward Lottie’s house. “And today, she had a really tough day. Bad as you can imagine. She has her folks around her, but they’ll leave and then she’ll need peace and quiet. Not have to listen to the game. So can you shut it off or turn it down?”
“I wanna hear it,” the man replied.
