Tails and Tales: Cinderella (1) practical joke.

El Soleis
March 2010 But most of all, nice in the Provenzano’s
was of Demi Lovato blaring from speakers to
drown out the kids’ frustrations of waking to a
Once upon a time, there lived two rich cold house and finding their parents already on
kids in a gi-normous mansion by the beach. As the plane to Milan on business.
far as I was concerned, both were still living
there and still as loaded as seven oil wells in the
sands of Saudi Arabia, which their parents
Just yesterday, one of the newer maids
owned.
ran screaming from the house to the oval
swimming pool, her hair on fire. You’d run like
that too, if you were suddenly cast as the
Their father, the illustrious Miguel Flaming Torch sans the cool jumpsuit and the
Provenzano and his beautiful wife called the immunity to fire. The harried old housekeeper,
mansion Illumina. It sat on a three-acre estate, Tiya Rosing rushed out of the house after,
surrounded by soft rolling hills and a private watching as the maid jumped into the pool with
beach on the west side. Illumina was done in a splash.
traditional Spanish style, of red terracotta roof
tiles and warm yellow walls so that it shone
under the hot El Soleian sun. At night, dozens of
With her nostrils filled with the smell of
lights flickered merrily from its many windows
burning hair, Tiya Rosing turned to see the
and from the lanterns strung on trees around the
Provenzano kids climbing down the back stairs;
property.
the boy clutching his belly with laughter and the
small girl smiling too, though with a hint of guilt
in her eyes.
People in the city would gaze at the
great Provenzano house, up there on the hill like
a god’s temple and wonder what it was like to
The housekeeper swiftly dialed the
live there. They imagined flutes filled with
family doctor’s number, which was on speed dial
champagne, strawberries dipped in dark
ever since these two kids were born, more so
chocolate, comfortable chaises and soft
now that they growing up to be Devil Incarnates.
laughter. They imagined the sound of ocean
The two rushed past her and went outside to
waves lulling the household to sleep, of
watch the maid coming out of the pool. Tiya
windows opening to cool breezes, of courtyards
Rosing was still talking to Dr. Conti when the
drenched in moonlight and fireflies flitting to and
maid went back inside the house in tears. The
fro mahogany trees.
poor girl was followed by the two kids who still
jeered her. With a shake of her graying head,
Tiya Rosing then placed a call to Mr.
Provenzano’s private number. She told him
It must be nice, living there, the people about the latest incident.
of the island of El Soleis would imagine
longingly.
A door slammed shut in the maid’s
quarters and the laughter moved off to the
family wing in the third floor. The kids had had
their fun and were climbing up to their rooms.
Yes, it was nice living there, if your
definition of nice leaned more to kids knocking
down glass vases and spray-painting mauve
Needless to say, the maid was given
wallpapers. Nice in the Provenzano’s was of
the best medical attention, a whole year’s
maids and nannies quitting after two minutes of
severance pay, a signed agreement not to press
stepping into the threshold. Of employees
charges and a wig of her own choice.
watching their backs for two devils with tasers.
Of guests getting the receiving end of a nasty

But the next night, there came a visitor.
And what a mysterious visitor he was.
From the shadows of the small lane that
led to the Illumina’s main gate emerged a man.
He was tall and thin and clad all in black. He
walked sinuously and slowly, like a cat.
On his way to the Provenzano’s gate, a
small black Honda passed. The woman behind
the wheel glanced at him once. Then she turned
to focus on the road, her taillights disappearing
as she rounded the corner.
The tall man watched her go; then he
continued his way to the wrought iron entrance.
As if nature knew what was going to happen
next, the crickets stopped their chirping and the
tangy breeze rushing from the Pacific waned.
There was a pregnant silence as the
man stopped by the night guard in his little
checkpoint.
The guard was alarmed when he saw
the tall man behind the glass window. His hand
automatically touched the gun in his holster.
What the hell, the guard thought. He’s
been busy with the copy of Playboy on his lap.
He pressed a button and said to the small mic,
“Who goes there?”
The tall man stepped forward, the lights
from the gateposts illuminating his thin frame.
He smiled at the guard but his slanted yellow
eyes were cold.
“I could’ve gone inside without stopping
here,” he said, grinning. “But my mother raised
me to be polite.”
Which isn’t the answer I was looking for,
the guard thought. Something’s off here. He’s
been in the Provenzano’s employ for ten years
now and he could spot the odd visitors at a
glance.
“Who’re you and what’re you doing
here?” the guard demanded.
The tall man smiled a bit more. “I’m
from the agency. I’m Lucian, the new nanny.”
The guard ogled him. The man looked
in his mid-twenties, wearing a black sweater,
black jeans and black Reeboks. His hair was
black and shiny, falling over his yellow eyes.
Two silver studs glinted in his right ear. On his
wrists were thick silver bands. Black leather
gloves covered his hands.
“I’m on the list,” the man pointed out.
Serial killer weirdo, yes, the guard
thought. A nanny, no. All he needed was the ski
mask and he could fit right in next to Ted Bundy
and Dexter Morgan.
God knows those kids don’t need
another babysitter, thought the guard.What they
need is an Amazon with a whip to put ‘em in a
cage and ship them toAfrica, that’s what them
kids need, the spoiled devils.
He could still remember the last nanny,
who woke up one night with roaches crawling all
over her. And just yesterday, the hot maid
(excuse the pun) quit after the head-on-fire
episode. Such a shame too, because the maid
had this smoking body; one perfect for a pole
dance in one of them strip clubs in the city.
Ho, well, the guard sighed. He glanced
at the man and caught the weirdo bastard still
grinning at him.
With a frown, he checked for tell-tale
bulges under the man’s clothes but there was
no sign of concealed firearms. “Babysitter,
huh?” the guard growled suspiciously. He
glanced at the clipboard just the same. “Yeah,
well there ain’t no babysitters here from the
agency so you better—“
“I guess she’s going to find another job.
Poor people do that a lot.”
Two gunshots.

*** “Find jobs you mean?”

“Did you see that maid’s face when she “Yeah. They work for money.”
realized her hair’s on fire?”

“It’s a good thing we’re not poor.”

“Yeah, it was hilarious!”

“Really good.”
“I thought her eyes’ gonna explode.”

A few moments of silence.

“I thought they already did. They were
THIS BIG!”
“I wonder what Mama and Daddy’s
doing right now,” Jonlyn suddenly thought aloud.
“Her eyes are normally THAT BIG. She’s They were in her brother’s room, and she was
an owl.” lying with one of the big down pillows strewn all
over the polished wood floor.

“We should’ve called her Hedwig.”

“What do you think, Rey?” she asked.
She looked up to the glow-in-the-dark stars
“Or Adam Young.” crowding the dark blue ceiling. She waited for
an answer. When Rey didn’t say anything, she
reached for a stuffed bunny and threw it at her
“Or Chester.” brother.

“Who’s Chester?” Rey dodged the silk-lined missile without

glancing from the laptop. “I dunno,” he said.
“Probably having dinner at Signore Baptista’s.
“Never mind.” They always visit him when they’re in Milan.”

“Anyway, I heard that maid’s gonna wear “You think they’re still in Milan?” Jonlyn
a stupid wig now.” asked.

“Wish I can see it. So I can laugh at her.”
“And maybe burn the wig next time too.
But she already quit.”
“Yeah, such a shame.”
“I dunno,” he answered. “Or maybe they
flew to Tokyo, eating sushi at Mr. Toriyama’s
party. I think they mentioned it before they left.”
Without telling us, he added silently. He
hit the Twitter bookmark. Then browsed through
the tweets in his homepage.
 “Yep, they’re in Tokyo all right,” he told
her.
Jonlyn crawled to his brother’s side. He
was sitting on the floor, with his back propped
on the bed. “Oh, you saw Mama’s tweet.
Lemme see,” she said. Her dark brown eyes
scanned the page. “And they’re flying
to L.A. tomorrow, then a short shopping trip
in New York. That’s nice.”
Rey huffed, thinking that it wasn’t nice at
all. It was never nice when the only way to know
your parents’ whereabouts would be at a social
network. Tiya Rosing would know but they didn’t
ask her because they didn’t want her to think
they cared. Or worse, they’d seem needy.
Rey might be twelve and Jonlyn ten, but
they were not kids anymore.
Whatever, Rey thought bitterly.
“I kind of miss them”, Jonlyn said. She
jumped on the bed and buried her face under
the pillows. Rey didn’t comment; he closed his
laptop and took his Nintendo DS on the side
table.
He was about to settle into a quiet game
of Pokemon when he thought he heard a cough
from the walk-in closet. He went still and
listened.
He shook Jonlyn’s shoulder. “You hear
something?”
“No,” she moaned from under the
pillows. Rey waited for another cough. When
none came he shrugged and went back to the
game.
There he was, just him and Palkia in the
game when there was a loud rap on the door.
Both didn’t bother answering.
The knock came again.
Jonlyn raised her head from the pillows
and stared at Rey. He stared back at her and
shrugged. When the knock on the door came a
third time, Rey finally called irritably, “What do
you want?”
The door burst open, its lock popping
loose with a rattle. It slammed against the wall.
Rey jumped at this loud invasion. His
eyes narrowing, he turned to the door just as a
tall, thin man wearing black clothes entered.
“You kept me waiting,” the man said,
smiling. “I have to kick open the door. You’re not
very polite kids, are you?”
Jonlyn sat up. “Who’re you?” She stared
at him with interest.
“I’m Lucian, your new nanny,” the man
answered with a small mocking bow. His yellow
eyes took in the whole bedroom; to the king-
sized bed with its blue velvet sheets, the pillows
and toys spread all over the floor to the posters
stuck on teal walls.
Rey snorted. “We don’t need a nanny,”
he said. And was rocked by a sudden suspicion.
He stood up and stared at the man nervously.
Something’s wrong, he thought. Alarm
bells shrieked inside his head as his gray eyes
met those yellow orbs that belonged to the
intruder.
“Who’re you really?” he asked loudly, an
attempt at bravado.
“I’m Lucian, your new nanny,” the man
promptly said. The air in the room was suddenly
heavy with tension.

“Tiya Rosing didn’t say anything about a
nanny,” Jonlyn frowned. She moved to perch on
the side of the bed, her feet dangling. Rey
remained standing.
“Tiya Rosing won’t be saying much
about anything now, I guess,” Lucian said
ominously. “She’s dead.” He grinned and
swaggered up to tousle Jonlyn’s long wavy hair.
She swatted his hand away before he could
touch her.
Rey’s eyes widened. Tiya Rosing’s
dead, he thought belatedly.
He stepped immediately to his sister’s
side. His knuckles were white as he clutched the
Nintendo.
Lucian just smiled a steely smile, his
eyes narrowing into slits.
“Shocked, huh?”
He killed her, Jonlyn thought numbly.
“Yeah, I sure killed her,” said Lucian
casually as if he read her mind. “They’re all
dead. This house’s security stinks.”
He started to turn away. In a blink of an
eye, Jonlyn’s hand reached under a pillow and
came up with a stun gun. Before she could zap
him, however, Lucian’s hand, quick as a snake,
caught her arm.
“I know you have one of these things,”
he laughed, his yellow eyes glowing. “My sister
told me you two have this habit of zapping the
gardeners.” He twisted her arm viciously behind
her. She jumped to her feet with a cry of pain.
The weapon dropped from her hand.
Rey took the chance. He raised the
Nintendo and smacked it hard against Lucian’s
face. It didn’t do any good; he turned to him with
a growl and with his free hand, sent him flying
backward.
He fell against the bedside table, his
head slamming against a sharp corner. Pain
shot through his head and he thought he saw
stars burst behind his eyes. He gasped.
His left cheek stung where Lucian’s
backhand slap caught it. He tasted his own
blood in his mouth. He had bitten his tongue.
But he wasn’t giving up yet. He snatched the
laptop from the floor and threw it at Lucian.
With his blurry vision, it only struck
Lucian’s shoulder. Rey then dived for the stun
gun. With a cry of triumph, he started to bring it
up.
And stopped.
Lucian had his sister by the hair and was
pointing a handgun to her temple. Rey’s eyes
fastened at this weapon, fearing the glinting
metal. Jonlyn’s eyes mirrored his own. She cried
silent tears, her face a mask of pain as Lucian
pulled at her hair.
“Drop it or she dies,” Lucian said. He
grinned.
Rey lowered it, his eyes never leaving
the gun.
Lucian pushed Jonlyn to the bed and
picked the stun gun. “Good decision,” he said.
And then he slammed the butt of his gun against
Rey’s injured cheek.
Jonlyn screamed.
***
 From inside Rey’s closet, Nico Sagrada
heard the little girl scream and almost screamed
himself.
Shit, shit, he thought, clamping a hand to
his mouth.
He’s been hiding there since early this
afternoon, waiting for the chance when he could
get out the house, jump into Pauline’s Honda
and they’d both fly toRio, seven hundred
thousand bucks richer.
Clutched in his hand as he squatted
among the boy’s Armanis and Calvin Kleins was
a small chamois bag, filled with the
Provenzano’s jewelry. He hoped Pauline still
cruised around the property in her little black
Honda, like she promised. He hoped she hadn’t
given up on him and went home.
He should’ve been out of this closet
hours before. He guessed it was true when his
father-- his mentor in all things related to
burgling-- told him “It’s easier to go in that it is to
go out.”
The Provenzano’s house was easy
pickings. Some small research in the Internet
and they found out that the mansion’s architect
almost always do the same old layout for his
clients’ houses. A bit of hacking and he and
Pauline came up with the blueprints of the
property.
For two weeks, they parked by the
mansion and did some surveillance and they felt
more like cops than jewel thieves. They
deduced that security sucked at the
Provenzano’s. So earlier that day, they made
the move.
Pauline waited in the get-away car while
Nico snuck in through an old fence that security
cameras didn’t cover. He bypassed the
poolside, hid behind one mahogany tree after
another and when the coast was clear climbed
the modified fire escape behind the house. The
fire escape looked more like interconnecting
balconies; they were made of wood and created
to blend in with the architecture. To Nico, it was
every burglar’s dream.
He rushed up the stairs until he entered
the family wing in the third floor. The hallway
was deserted. He took the master bedroom first.
The door was unlocked; he didn’t even need to
jimmy the dead bolt. He helped himself to the
wide collection of the Provenzano’s jewelry. He
didn’t bother with the safe he knew was hidden
behind the Van Gogh painting. Just as he was
leaving, he passed the boy’s room and thought
of all the expensive toys he could give to his
favorite nephew.
Risking it, he went inside, knowing that
the kids’ were out to school at this time. The
house itself has settled into a siesta.
But he was wrong. He was about to
pocket the PSP on the bed when the bedroom
knob twisted and the old housekeeper went
inside, ordering the new maid following her to
tidy up the room.
He had closed the walk-in closet door
just in time, went deeper in and hid behind the
boy’s winter clothes.
God, I swear I’ll give up thieving if I got
outta here safe, he prayed. God must’ve been
listening because the maid didn’t come in to
clean the wardrobe. For a while, he listened to
the vacuum humming outside and then he
sighed with relief when the bedroom door closed
with a snap.
He waited for a few minutes and was
about to go out when the kids’ returned from
school. He noiselessly rushed back to his hiding
place, cursing. Hours passed and he was still
there, crouched among the clothes. He listened
to the boy and the girl’s laughter from the
bedroom and felt annoyed when the two devils
recalled the episode with the maid with her head
on fire.
And then he coughed.
 And almost knocked his head against the
floor for his stupidity. He waited with bated
breath when the boy said, “You hear
something?”
His heart calmed when the boy didn’t
investigate the source of the sound.Good boy,
he thought. Then someone kicked in the
bedroom door, and he heard a man’s deep
voice. As he listened to the man’s casual
admission of murder, Nico’s heart went cold.
He moved without sound to peek out the
closet door, which he opened a crack. From this
angle, he watched the struggle unfold. The boy
flying across the room, the girl groaning as his
attacker twisted her arm. The boy threw the
laptop at the man named Lucian but the man
produced a handgun from the waistband of his
jeans and pointed it at the girl’s temple.
When he saw Lucian smash the butt of
the gun against the boy’s cheek, Nico realized
he’s had enough. He was about to come to the
children’s aid when his own mortality stopped
him.
Don’t get involved, he heard his father
admonish him inside his head. And he didn’t
have anything save the chamois bag and the set
of tools in his pockets, none of which could even
be at an advantage against a crazy man with a
gun.
Resigned, Nico Sagrada softly closed
the door, and just clamped a hand over his
mouth when the girl screamed. He bowed his
head.
He turned just as he heard a low
threatening growl behind him. He felt chilled as
a pair of blue canine eyes glowered at him from
the darkness.
Before he could react, the dog barked.
***
Tails! Rey and Jonlyn thought.
“What the fuck was that?” said Lucian.
He scowled at the two kids, who were now
sitting on the bed side by side. His gun was
pointed at them. “You got someone in there?”
The kids just stared at him grimly.
They’d gotten over the initial shock of being
roughed up by this crazy stranger, this man who
has killed his way into this bedroom without
telling them why. Now they were waiting for
something to happen; some opportunity that
would allow them to escape.
Survival.
Be calm, Rey thought. Wait for an
opening, and then strike.
Mama, Daddy, Jonlyn thought. We need
you now more than ever.
“I’m asking you, you got some other fuck
in there?” asked Lucian. He impatiently waved
the gun at the closet.
“You said the ‘F’ word,” said Jonlyn with
accusing eyes.
“Oh, I’m sorry if I offended your innocent
ears,” mocked Lucian.
A bark sounded inside the closet again.
“Why don’t you go and see?” said Rey,
gesturing to the closet door. And hoped that
Tails chomped this guy to death.
“You think I’m crazy? You’ll try to run for
it, I know you will. Why don’t yougo and see?”
 blue eyes.

Rey slowly rose from the bed and

crossed the room. “He comes and goes. We don’t know
where, but he always comes back.”

“You try anything funny and I’ll shoot you

in the back,” Lucian warned. They scratched him behind the ears and
went back to watching Lucian and his gun.

Rey opened the door. A white dog stood

just inside the closet, his tongue lolling, tail “What do you really want?” Rey finally
wagging. It stared at the boy with interested blue asked him.
eyes.

“Yeah,” Jonlyn chimed in. “What do you

It was very much alone. really want?”

How the dog got inside the closet and

stayed there all this time was beyond Rey. Tails “Whatever you wanna do, just do it.”
was an odd dog.

“You can take whatever you want. Then

“It’s just our dog Tails,” Rey said, holding leave us alone.”
up a hand. The canine immediately went to his
side.
“We’ll let you escape. We’ll even forget
we ever saw you.”
“No kidding,” laughed Lucian. “You’re
keeping a dog in a closet! What kinda crazy kids
are you?” He stopped in mid-laugh and said “We know you’re poor and wanna rob
darkly, “That dog try biting me and I’ll shoot him. us.”
Then I’ll shoot you two.”

“We have money. Take it and get out.”

Rey ignored the threat, though it kind of
scared him a bit. He went back to the bed to sit
with Jonlyn, the dog following him. It sat on the “We’ll even forget you hurt us.”
floor after licking both kids hands’. Rey and
Jonlyn couldn’t help but smile. They felt
somewhat safer with the dog in the room.
“We know the safe’s combination in our
parent’s room.”
Lucian stared hard at the dog.
“It’s 9-7-0-2-3-1—“
“This one looks familiar. Where’d you get
it?” he said.
“SHUT UP! YOU TWO!” Lucian shouted
angrily.
Jonlyn shrugged. “We found him at the
beach. We sort of adopted him.”
They shut up. The dog wagged its tail.

“Sort of adopted him?” Lucian asked

curiously. The dog looked up at him with icy-
 “I didn’t come here to rob you,” Lucian
said. “You see, I came here to kill you.”
Jonlyn felt faint. Rey froze.
The dog gave a soft whine.
“Why?” Jonlyn whispered. Her hand
found Rey’s and held it tight.
“Hmm, I wonder why…” Lucian said. He
grinned again, enjoying the fear radiating from
their faces. With the gun still pointed at them, he
took the nearest chair in the room, placing it in
front of the kids. He slid onto it.
“You see, kids,” he said genially. “I’ve
been hearing stories about you two. Naughty,
nasty stories. I’ve enjoyed hearing about those
stories, you see…”
He slid the chair closer.
“My sister told me all about it,” Lucian
continued. “Rich kids, they can do whatever
they want, to whomever they want. After all,
they got money. So, you guys, I don’t really give
a fuck if you taser the gardener, or put creepy-
crawlies down your nanny’s pants, or throw a
frog at your goodie Daddy’s friend when she
visits. No, I don’t even care if you burn the
house while everyone’s still in it.”
The kids watched him, riveted. Jonlyn
huddled closer to Rey. God, please, please…
“But what I do care about is you fucking
with my sister,” said Lucian. His voice had gone
cold, deadly cold. “Now you look surprised.
What am I talking about? Who’s his sister? You
don’t know who my sister is? You just fucked
with her, my little kiddy friends. You set her
head on fire. You laughed at her, humiliated her.
You don’t do that to my sister, no you just don’t!
And you think your shitty money and a fucking
wig’s gonna make it all right? YOU MUST BE
FUCKING KIDDING ME!”
He raised his gun and pointed it at the
window.
A deafening bang and glass exploded.
***
Pauline drove around the house for
what seemed like the thousandth time. And it
probably was.
She was a small woman in his mid-
twenties, with short spiky hair and a gold stud in
her nose. She used to be the guitarist of the
rock band, Snatch before their vocalist got
pregnant with the local pastor and gave up what
she suddenly called ‘devil music’ to go back to
Jesus.
It would’ve been okay to Pauline and her
other two band mates except Honey, their bitch
vocalist who thought she was the Virgin Mary
now, kept throwing religion at their faces.
Criticizing their lifestyle; the cigarettes, the
booze, the sex; as if she didn’t partake on those
activities too, the little slut, she was worse.
Pauline still seethed when she thought
about it. Her hand tightened at the steering
wheel as she pulled up, once again, near the
Provenzano’s gate. Her anger weakened
however, when she saw the gate. It was
replaced by fear.
Nico, where the hell are you? she
thought. He promised her he’d go in and out in a
jiffy and she trusted him to follow the plan.
What’s taking him so long?
She hoped he was okay. She knew he
hasn’t been caught because no police cars
roared down the lane to the house. It was also
possible that he already left the estate with the
loot, deserting her here. He must be on the
plane to Brazilnow, dreaming of pina coladas
and dusky-skinned women.

No honor among thieves, right?
But no, he won’t do that to me, Pauline
thought with conviction. He loves me. He won’t
leave without me. It’s going to be OUR life.
She parked the car under a large mango
tree, and killed the headlights. She got out of the
car and stretched her legs. The night air was
cool. She looked over at the Provenzano’s gate.
She took a deep breath, exhaled and
slowly walked over to the checkpoint. She
stopped when she was close enough. No one
was in sight. She moved closer, and saw
spidery cracks on the glass in the checkpoint’s
little window.
The lights from the gateposts flickered.
She moved even closer. Stood on tippy-toes
until she could see way over the window, with its
broken glass, two large holes and flecks of
blood.
Pauline has seen it all before, but the
sight made her nauseous.
The guard was dead, sprawled and
bathing in his own blood. There were two bullet
holes gaping from his forehead. The corpse’s
blank eyes stared back at her imploringly.
She doubled over and almost threw up.
She kneeled on the ground, gasping and waiting
for her gag reflex to settle.
And then she thought, Nico!
Immediately, she sprinted for the gate
and found it ajar. She pushed against it and
entered the property.
She ran and ran, expecting someone to
chase and shout after her. No one did. She
didn’t care. She was thinking of Nico.
She knew some of the layout of the
estate, though she was only the driver. Up
ahead, she saw the lights of Illumina, beckoning
to her. She passed the gravel driveway and
went around the house.
No one was in sight.
She almost fell when she tripped over
something soft near the cabana. She gave a
small cry when she saw it was another dead
body. A woman this time, in a maid’s uniform.
Shot to death. A bunch of towels lay beside her.
With trembling knees, she turned from
the body and pushed on, finally arriving at the
foot of the fire escape. She began climbing.
Nico would likely be at the third floor, at the
family wing.
She caught glimpses of tastefully-
furnished rooms beyond the windows. She
continued ascending; gasping for a bit, sweat
blurring her eyes.
This is what happens when you skip
P.E. in high school, she thought ruefully.
Halfway through the second floor fire
escape, a gunshot rang out. She ducked just as
a sharp rain of glass fell from the third floor
window. She closed her eyes for protection and
backed into the shelter of an awning.
She waited for a full minute, her heart
pounding. She didn’t hear another blast. She
stepped out from the awning, looking up. And
heard a deep booming laugh from the third floor
window where the shot happened.
The kid’s room, she thought. But
where’s Nico?
 Very carefully, she ascended the stairs
again, avoiding broken glass. A crunch with her
Pumas and she’d be dead. She reached the
landing. Slowly, she peeked inside the room.

Two kids sat on the bed, holding each

other. Across them, a man got up from his chair
and began pacing the room, waving a gun in his
hand. He was the same man she saw walking to
the gate earlier.

Lying on the foot of the bed was a white

dog, staring right at her with intelligent blue
eyes.

She stooped quickly below the window

and backtracked down the fire escape. Shit, she
thought. Don’t bark, please don’t bark.

The dog didn’t.

Pauline got back under the awning,

unsure what to do. Her thoughts raced.

Finally, she fished inside her pocket and

opened her cell phone. She dialed.

When a voice answered, she whispered

briskly, “I want to talk to Detective Russo.”

To be continued…

FICTION.

Jose Arispe Edma Jr.

030710, Sunday
06:55pm
leifhaunt.blogspot.com

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