-18

“But the attic is clean.”
“Well, okay, we’ve got tidy rats!”
“No rats.”
“Karl, I heard them last night,” Shirley said patiently, controlling.
“Maybe plumbing,” Karl probed; “maybe boards.”
“Maybe rats! Will you buy the damn traps and quit arguing?”
“Yes, madam!” Bustling away. “I go now!”
“No not now, Karl! The stores are all closed!”
“They are closed!” chided Willie.
“I will see.”
He was gone.
Shirley and Willie traded glances, and then Willie shook her head, turning back to the bacon. Shirley sipped at her coffee. Strange. Strange man. Like Willie, hard working; very loyal; discreet. And yet something about him made her vaguely uneasy. What was it? His subtle air of arrogance? Defiance? No. something else. Something hard to pin down. The couple had been with her for almost six years, and yet Karl was a mask, a talking, breathing, untranslated hieroglyph running errands on stilted legs. Behind the mask, though, something moved; she could hear his mechanism ticking like a conscience. She stubbed out her cigarette; heard the front door creaking open, then shut.
“They are closed,” muttered Willie.
Shirley nibbled at bacon, then returned to her room, where she dressed in her costume sweater and skirt. She glanced in a mirror and solemnly stared at her short red hair, which looked perpetually tousled; at the burst of freckles on the small, scrubbed face; then crossed her eyes and grinned idiotically. Hi, little wonderful girl next door! Can I speak to your husband?