no?â
âAnd you didnât tip him enough.â
âI gave him exactly fifteen percent.â
âYou didnât. I calculated it. You gave him about thirteen percent.â
âYou must be figuring thirteen percent of the total bill plus tax. I gave him fifteen percent before tax.â
âOh, maybe youâre right.â
âNot maybe; I am. And what do I have to do, consult you about everything at a restaurant?â
âDonât get snappy again.â
âWhy not? Youâre more worried about the damn waiter, nice as he is, and the restaurantâs overhead and cleaning costs, than about me or us.â
âNot true, and donât raise your voice to me.â
âAh, forget it,â and I get up, get my coat off my chair and say to her âIf youâre ready, Iâll walk you home or wherever you want to go.â
âYou donât have to walk me anywhere. Iâd rather be alone.â
âGood, then,â and I turn to go, turn to her, âGoodnight,â she looks away from me, and I leave.
I go home. Phoneâs ringing when I get there. âWhat is it now?â I say.
âWhat is what?â Murray says.
âI thought it was Vera. How are you?â
âBy the tone of your voice, Iâm glad Iâm not Vera. Whatâre you doing tonight?â
âNothing.â
âWant to see Challenges ?â
âSure.â
âI thought Saturday night youâd be out, but then thought maybe this Saturday, miracle of miracles, youâre not. In front of the Laron at nine?â
âRight.â
I hang up. âRight.â I grab a plant Vera gave me and yell âRight, yes, sure I want to go to a movie tonight,â and throw it against the wall. It breaks, earth and planter parts going several different ways, big stain on the wall, mess on the floor. âSure I do, goddamn you,â and slam my fist through a closet door.
I wash it, iodine and bandage it, dial Murray with my other hand but he doesnât answer. I go to the Laron and see him out front.
âWhat happened?â he says.
âI called before but you werenât in.â
âBut what the hell happened? Your hand. Itâs bleeding through the bandage.â
âI suppose you already left. I called to say I couldnât go to the movie after all.â
âYou shouldnât have come. I wouldâve known something was wrong or you got a better date. But it must have just happened. You get into a fight? Catch it on a knife at home?â
âI just came here to tell you, didnât want to stand you up. Iâm not feeling well. Iâm going home.â
âOkay, I appreciate that. But how badâs the hand? You canât answer a little question?â
I shake my head and start home.
âWhatâs with you? Look, I wonât go to the movie. Iâll take you to the hospital if you want.â
I keep going.
He says âOkay, Iâll drop it. Hell with your hand. Forget I asked.â
I walk back. âI canât answer because of how Iâm feeling, donât you see? I got crazy with myself over Vera and punched it through a door and mashed it, and it was so stupid to do, Iâm ashamed.â
Thatâs better. Buzz me if you need me,â and he goes into the theater.
I go home. Vera is sitting on my buildingâs stoop.
There you are,â she says. âI was going to wait five more minutes and then send it by mail.â
âYou mean you finally have an answer for me? Hallelu.â
âAnswer? To that question in the restaurant? I forgot about that. No. Your set of keys. There was no room to slip them under your door and I didnât want to just leave them there. Here.â
She holds my keys out. I take my bandaged hand out of my coat pocket and hold it out to her palm up. She says âWhatâs this, a joke? No, I donât want to know. I know itâs bad.
James Kakalios
Tara Fox Hall
K. Sterling
Jonathan Maberry
Mary Balogh
Elizabeth Moynihan
Jane Hunt
Rebecca Hamilton, Conner Kressley
Jacquie Rogers
Shiloh Walker