Page 42 of A Very No Strings Halloween
“Oh-kaaayyy.”
Donna disappears into her thoughts for a few minutes, and I let her.
I move the table and chairs back to the corner and use the broom and dustpan she had brought up to clean up the salt.
“I can’t believe I forgot about the letters,” Donna finally says.
“What letters?”
“Before Lars died, he gave me a box full of letters he’d written to his wife. He said he wanted me to have them. He told me never to destroy them. But I didn’t read them because I could tell they were personal. So I put them in my closet because it made me sad. I guess I should bring them to the house.”
“Wait, so thereareletters? You’re saying this as you? As Donna?”
“What? Yeah. It’s me. Lars gave me a box of letters he’d written to his wife.”
“Okay…” It doesn’t feel like we’re gonna fuck anymore…
She sighs. “Well. Thanks for doing this with me. This was interesting.”
“’Course,” I say. “It was definitely interesting.”
She smiles. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“I wouldn’t have let you do it without me.” I lean against the broom, and we just stare at each other smiling for a few magical seconds.
Finally she breaks the spell. “I think I need some fresh air. Come outside with me for a bit?”
“’Course.” She could have asked me if I’d go to Mongolia with her for a bit and I would have said of course.
I help her put on hercoat before we leave the room. It’s so cold in this house. The lights don’t flicker as we walk down the stairs. It was probably just weather related. It’s fine outside now. We stand on the front porch, both of us with our hands shoved into our coat pockets, looking up at the full moon. The sky’s clear all around it, and it’s so bright. There’s a light breeze rustling the trees, but other than that it’s incredibly quiet.
Donna laughs quietly. “I didn’t want to be here after dark, and I come here with a Ouija board on the night of a full moon.” She shakes her head. “I really do appreciate you doing this with me.”
“It’s really no problem. You know how to keep things interesting.”
That really makes her laugh, and her laugh echoes around the property. “Well, I guess we better get on with the date training, huh? Get out and do something normal next? What’s an activity you enjoy that you’d want to share with a girl you’re dating?”
I stroke my chin, pretending to think about this, as if I haven’t been thinking about it for days. “Well, I mean. I enjoy an awful lot of activities, Red. I am a very well-rounded fellow.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Oh yeah. But thereissomething…”
ELEVEN
Billy
OCTO-BALL-FEST
“Dee’s havin’ an MVP-type season. Of course, he’s the heart of the team,” my dad is explaining over an ancient hibachi grill, holding a Sam Adams in one hand and pushing sausages around with a spatula in the other.
“But so is Dash. And the team plays mean. Like he does,” my friend Murphy is explaining to my father. A beer in one hand for him and a sausage dog in the other.
“A defensive end like Dash isn’t gonna win MVP. Even if he has thirty sacks. And a running back hasn’t won it in years. So you’re both wrong,” my other friend, Titus, says.
“Mark, whadda you think?” my dad asks my brother.
My brother takes a considered sip of his idiotic cupof sparkling apple cider. “I’m just happy to be out of the house. My wife is the real MVP.”
