by Peter Fang
When Maria and Joey returned to the garage, no one was there. She opened the garage and searched the entire space with her flashlight to make sure there were no insects crawling on the ground, and no Tripper. She then stepped warily forward to the antique and lowered herself to see the trap box.
At the base of the box, there was a dark spot. She looked closer and saw it appeared to be a dead insect. Good, now let’s hope it’s not the spider we saw. She reached out with a stick, gently poked at the trap box, and tried to see if the insect was moving. No movement, thank God.
This time, she was not going to take her chances to open it up while Ansen was not around, so she texted Ansen: Dead bug found in the trap box. Moments later, a reply came back: Great! I should be back by 7 p.m. Don’t touch it. I will take care of it when I’m home.
Maria was just about to leave when she heard the garage’s entrance door awaken. Several large men came in. It was Riker Jones and several unfamiliar faces. The building management had been in court with him trying to get him evicted due to violation of the apartment building’s by-law of owning aggressive pit bulls. Riker had been filing for counter-suit of discrimination, but recently he had gotten in trouble with the law and there was enough evidence for the management to finally evict him. Since the eviction notice, Riker had a personal grudge against the management and everyone that he thought gave him a bad time. Several neighbors had claimed things had been stolen from their garage, and they suspected that Riker and his friends were responsible for theft.
Riker and his marauding men were laughing and talking when he turned and saw Maria in the garage. He stopped in his tracks and smiled at her, then signaled his friends to wait up while he walked over to Maria with a big grin on his face.
“Hey, hey, look who’s here. How are you today?” Riker spread a wide smile, showing his yellow set of teeth.
“Hello, Riker. Have you seen Ansen?” Maria tried to divert his attention.
“Ansen? Oh, that fancy-pants loser?”
“He’s not a loser. Losers are the likes of you.” Maria was surprised it came out of her mouth; she tried to stop herself, but it was too late.
Riker’s eyes widened, also surprised by Maria’s retort. Then he realized the words had a familiar ring to it. Elise––-it was Elise who had said that exact thing to him.
“You know, you remind me of another girl I know. You two should meet up sometime.” Riker bowed his head and made an exaggerated apology. He looked up to sample Maria’s reaction and was not pleased to see her stoic expression.
“Am I scaring you?” He walked up closer to Maria, putting his face inches away from hers.
Joey growled at Riker.
“Hey, Joey!” Riker stopped. “Oh, forgot that you have your poodle with you. He’s in a bad mood today, huh? He always wagged his tail at me. What’s happening? Finally grew a pair of balls?”
Maria could not hide her disdain for Riker. Her stomach knotted as their eyes met.
“Hey, don’t be afraid.” Riker smiled and leaned in closer to her; his lips nearly touching hers. “I’m just here to say hi and goodbye.” He winked at her and then saw the antique. “What do you have hiding in there? I saw you and Ansen moving some stuff in last time. Did you kill someone and hide the body inside?” Riker laughed.
“Riker, if you don’t mind, I have to meet Ansen upstairs. Have a nice day.”
Riker looked at her with disgust. “Getting rid of me already? You high-class bitch… think you are too good for the working-class? I am a genuine a-hole, but you know, what you see is what you get. If I were you, I would be careful of who you sleep with.”
“What do you mean? Are you talking about Ansen?”
Riker just shook his head and smiled. “I hope you never find out, but if you do, it will be too late.”
Joey growled at Riker.
Riker whistled at him. “Good boy, what’s wrong today?” He reached his hands out to Joey to pet him. Joey jumped up and bit down on his hand. Riker winced at the pain and tried to pull back his hands, but Joey was not letting go.
“Joey, stop!” Maria tried to pull Joey back, but Joey had Riker’s hand gripped tight in his jaws.
“Motherfucker!” Riker reached his left hand over to his right pocket and fumbled to pull out his pocket-knife while fighting to keep his fingers away from the dog’s jaws. Joey started to shake his head, and there was a crack followed by a scream from Riker. Finally, he managed to pull out his pocket-knife from his left hand, but he could not flip open the blade.
One of Joey's friends ran over to help Riker and tried to kick Joey in his rib cage, but he missed. The guy tried to stab Joey with a blade, but Joey bit the guy’s wrist and wouldn’t let go. The blade dropped from the man’s hand and slid across the floor towards Maria.
She picked it up and pointed it at Riker.
Riker grabbed his bleeding hand and laughed. “Ha—you want to play for real?”
Maria didn’t know why, but she was feeling calm. She wasn’t sure what she was doing with the knife in her hand, but she felt a surge of confidence while holding the knife. It was a surreal experience.
The entrance door to the garage suddenly opened, and a man was at the door. Maria recognized the face––-the building’s security manager, Alex.
Alex shot his flashlight at their direction. “That you, Riker? I got the cops coming any minute––-you better get the hell out of here, now!”
Riker stood up and laughed. “I’m the victim here. Go get the cops; I think I need to press charges on an unprovoked dog attack.”
“You sure you want the cops to come by and chat?” Alex lowered his voice, “What do you think they’re gonna find in your van back there?”
Riker stopped laughing and stared back at Alex; he turned around and smiled at Maria, then nodded at Joey. “I was just saying goodbye to my long-time crush.” He winked at Maria, then whispered to her, “I am going to miss the sound of your shower from downstairs. Every time I hear that, I can’t help but imagine your beautiful curves in my head.” He looked at Joey and pointed his knife at him. “See, Joey, you just ruined a good friendship. My dogs will miss meeting you in the hallway. Perhaps we will meet again on the street…and I won’t be as kind.” He signaled his friends to get into the van. Moments later, the van sped off and left the garage.
Alex ran over to Maria and checked her out for any injuries. “How are you? I heard the commotion on the surveillance camera and saw what happened. Looks like Joey really earned his medals today.” He leaned over and pet Joey on the head, then felt something wet on this hand. “Whose blood is this? Have you been cut?”
“Let me check.” Maria looked over Joey’s and found the knife wound on his left side—a four-inch knife cut. “Shit, Joey’s been cut, but not too bad. Nevertheless, I need to take him to the vet to get stitched.”
Alex saw the wound and winced. “Sure, let me get Bob to take you there. Did you get hurt?”
“Not a scratch.” Maria checked her hands and arms to confirm.
Alex nodded and said, “Okay, let me call Ansen and let him know what happened.”
Maria shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. I will let him know after I get Joey to the vet.”
“Sure thing.” Alex picked up his walkie-talkie and got a hold of his assistant. “Bob, bring the van around the front, we need to take Joey and Maria to the vet, pronto.”
“Roger that,” Bob replied without questioning.
Maria got to the local animal hospital and got Joey checked out by the vet. Luckily it was only a skin cut, but it was still ten stitches, plus a preventive antibiotic shot. The order of the day was no more excitements for Joey and a good night’s sleep. Maria thought she could use a good dose of that as well.
Ansen, however, never returned her text messages, and he didn’t get home until 10 p.m.
Maria went to bed early and left a note for Ansen. “Ran into Riker in the garage; he’s finally moving out! Joey got hurt, but he’s okay
now. I’m fine, but we need to talk.”
16
Gretchen
Maria slept in late. When she walked into the kitchen, it was already eleven. Ansen was holding Joey’s head in his lap and looking through the photos from Manfred. When he saw Maria, he got up and hugged her slightly.
“Honey, I’m so, so sorry. After I got out of shower, my client called, so I had to take the call. Later, my phone battery died, so I didn’t know this happened.” He looked at Maria with genuine concern in his eyes.
Maria shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought Joey did a pretty good job protecting me. Luckily, Joey was not harmed too badly.”
“That Riker guy, what did he say to you? Did he harm you?”
“No, he just got a good beating from Joey, believe it or not.”
“Yeah, Alex told me about it this morning. I can’t believe Joey fought off two guys and didn’t flinch. I didn’t know he had it in him.”
Maria unconsciously walked away from Ansen. “I don’t know what happened. Something is different. I can feel it. During the attack, I wasn’t scared at all. I didn’t flinch. Even when they pulled the knife on me, I didn’t flinch. I saw everything like in slow motion. I saw every little detail and was entirely in control. But—”
“But what?” Ansen felt confused.
“It felt good. I didn’t feel threatened at all, and I felt I could take on anyone; I truly believed I could have taken on those guys if I wanted to.” She paused and then remembered the trap box. “You know that trap door for the bugs? You can just leave it alone.”
Ansen laughed. “Now, don’t get too cocky here. Next time you see a bug, don’t ask me to kill it. But for your information, I got rid of the bug last night after I got home.”
Maria’s eyes widened. “What kind of bug was it?”
“It was Just a dead cricket.” Ansen nodded. “I didn’t hear any noise when I was down there. I think that trap did the trick.”
“Did you plug up the keyhole?” Maria asked with a lingering concern.
“What’s the point? We are getting rid of that thing regardless. I already put the ads up last night, and I got some inquiries already. In fact, Gretchen down the hall is interested. She replied to my post on Craigslist.”
Maria already forgot that they had agreed to put the antique up for sale, and there was a strange sadness plaguing her.
“Okay, something is wrong. What is it? Please talk to me.” Ansen was starting to feel concerned about the look on her face.
“No, I’m fine. I was so tired yesterday, so I didn’t even clean off the mess all over me.”
“Okay. I’ll join you later.” Ansen winked at her.
Maria recalled how Riker winked at her. Riker’s grotesque smile disgusted her, but she managed to eke out a smile and winked back at Ansen. “Follow me, if you dare.”
In the shower, Ansen kissed Maria down the neck.
Maria reacted by leaning back against Ansen.
He moved his hands down on Maria’s back as he caressed her neck with his lips, but he stopped his hands halfway down her body. His fingers ran into something bumpy, and as Ansen's finger searched around the contours of the bump, it came across something very sharp, like a thorn. Ansen took a few steps back and was shocked to see a dime-sized swelling on Maria’s back, right in the center of her spine. The swelling looked like a pimple with red circular rings around the center.
“Maria! Did you know you have a bite mark on your back?” Ansen wasn’t sure what to call it other than a wound.
Maria turned around and looked at him in shock. “No! Show me.”
They got out of shower and looked at it in the mirror. Ansen took a picture of it for Maria. Upon closer inspection, it looked like a large mosquito bite that got infected. But there was something else in the middle of the bite––something black, like a piece of hair, except it was hard as a thorn.
“That looks like a splinter to me.” Ansen squinted his eyes, then tried to feel it with his finger.
“Don’t touch it!” Maria suddenly screamed, shocking Ansen. “Don’t make it worse than it is. It could be infected.”
“Wait, let me pull it out. It looks like a splinter. I think you got it down in the garage somehow during the scuffle with that moron. I can help pull it out for you,” Ansen insisted.
“I saw it already. It is very deep; I will go see a doctor to pull it out. Don’t touch it, please.” Maria pulled away from Ansen and left the shower room.
“Wait, where are you going? I’ll pop it for you.” There was a hint of humor in Ansen's voice.
“No,” Maria replied sternly.
“Wait a minute.” Ansen stood up and checked himself in the mirror. “Check my back, will you, please? Wonder if I got bitten by the same thing.”
Maria turned him around and looked over his entire body and found nothing.
There was a sigh of relief from Ansen. He then turned his attention back to Maria. “We should get that wound treated; it doesn’t look very good and could be infected.”
“This is all my fault, isn’t it? Perhaps I brought this disease into the house and now you are afraid I might infect you with Maria’s malaria.” She faked a dirty look at Ansen over her shoulder and retreated into the closet.
Ansen wasn’t sure if she was kidding or if she was serious. When he carefully considered the odds, he had to be honest that he was a little concerned that he might get infected as well.
The next day, Ansen had an event in Seattle and wouldn’t be back for dinner; Maria had a conference call with some investment clients in China, so she stayed home.
Before the conference call, she decided to use her free time to go online to research their Chinatown trip. After an hour of fruitless pursuit, a small article caught her eye. A local news investigator wrote about a strange spike in the number of violent crimes last month. Many of the victims died of unknown diseases; several had been killed around Manfred’s shop. While she was working on the computer, she heard the bell ring. It was the neighbor down the hall––Gretchen Quo, a sixty-eight-year-old widow with a son overseas. Although she was pushing seventy, she was energetic and still traveled. Her round face was covered with makeup to cover her age; she had a set of white hair that was always neatly in a bun. She shared similar interests with Maria for antiques. The difference was that Gretchen was a borderline hoarder, and she had the money to support her interests. Her apartment was also a mini-disaster zone; she had unique collections of antiques covering almost every inch of her small apartment room. Although Gretchen was eccentric and superstitious, they were on good terms. She even invited Ansen and Maria to a Thanksgiving party one year when they decided not to go anywhere.
Maria opened the door and saw the familiar face peering back at her. “Good afternoon, Mrs. Quo. Haven’t seen you for a while. Did you just come back from a trip?”
“Yes, I just got back from Hong Kong. I was glad to see my grandkids.” Even though Gretchen was smiling and carrying on a conversation, she remained outside the door standing stoically against a large colorful umbrella.
“That’s a nice-looking umbrella, Mrs. Quo. I guess that you also bought it from Hong Kong?” Maria knew Mrs. Quo had her own view of the world and things she carried always had special meanings, but Maria knew it was not something she would ever understand.
“No, silly, this is from England,” Gretchen replied curtly. “Well, may I come in?”
“Oh, sorry—yes, of course! But if you are here to see the antique, it’s not here. We have to go downstairs in the garage.”
“Downstairs in the garage? No––that’s not a good place to put things. There is too much Yin Chi. It will bring bad luck.” Gretchen slowly crossed over the front door but immediately withdrew. “Hmm, something in here is not very inviting.” She looked around from the perimeter, and then she held her glasses with one hand and scanned the living room. She saw Joey lying sideways on the floor determined to ignore Gretchen.
Maria noticed Joey
's strange reaction to Gretchen. “What’s wrong, Joey? It’s Mrs. Quo. Don’t you remember her?” Usually Joey would come running to the front door when their friends visited.
“Joey looks different. What happened to him?”
“Oh, he and I got into a little bit of a scuffle with Riker in the garage. He had to get some stitches.” Maria looked at Joey with a smile. Joey looked back at her and wagged his tail but didn’t get up.
“Injury? Joey got into a fight?” Gretchen smiled at Joey and came into the house.
Joey growled.
“Joey!” Maria scolded him.
Their eyes met; a few seconds later, Joey stood up and walked over to greet Gretchen.
“That’s my Joey! You really forgot about me? I have been gone only for a month and you already forgot about me?” Gretchen reached into her pocket and took out a dog biscuit.
Joey got excited at the sight of a treat and started to leap around Gretchen.
“I got this one just for you, and it’s gluten free.” Gretchen put it out in her palm, and Joey slurped it up within a second.