by Willow Rose
Finally, she dozes off, the bracelet on the table next to her. When she wakes up, it is still night out.
Crystal screams.
“What?” Rob yells and sits up, all confused and drowsy. “What’s going on, what’s happening?”
“Someone tried to open the door, oh, Rob. Someone pulled the handle and shook it. There is the figure, look.”
Crystal jumps out of bed and runs to the window, where she pulls the curtains to the side. “There it is, running past the window, did you see it?”
Then Crystal gasps loudly. “Oh, my God, Rob. It’s your mother!”
Rob jumps out of bed and rushes up next to her. “Mom?”
“She just ran past the window, Rob. I am certain it was her. She was small and bent over like your mother is.”
“Momma?” Rob whimpers, then springs for the door. He opens it and runs outside. “Momma? MOMMA?”
Crystal is right behind him. “She was over there, walking past the window.”
“Oh, my god, she must be sleepwalking,” he says. “Maybe she can’t find her way back. Oh, dear God, we have to help her. She could get lost. Where is she? Where did she go? I can’t see her!”
“She must have walked around the corner,” Crystal says.
They both rush around the corner of the house, but no one is there.
“Where is she?” Rob asks, frustrated. “Could she have run into the neighbor’s yard?”
“I swear, I saw her run past the window; she could have run around the corner and maybe gone back inside. Let’s try the door.”
They rush to the back door of the house. It’s unlocked. They walk inside and see that the door to the guest room is closed. Rob slams it open and rushes inside.
“Momma?”
There she is. Lying in her bed, covers pulled up to her shoulders, her head to the side, eyes closed. Rob breathes a deep sigh of relief.
“Thank God. She’s still sleeping. It must have been something else you saw. Or someone else.”
Crystal shakes her head. “Nope. It was her. I am a hundred percent sure. This person walked the same way she does.”
“But how do you suggest that is even possible?” Rob asks. “That she would be in her bed already? She isn’t that fast. She can barely walk.”
“Well, maybe she’s faster than we think. Do you think she is even sleeping?” Crystal asks.
“Of course, I do.”
“Why isn’t she waking up? You slammed that door pretty hard.”
Rob sighs. “She sleeps without her hearing aid. We could throw a bomb and she wouldn’t wake up.”
“Who sleeps with all the lights on, then?” Crystal asks while Rob walks out of the room. She follows him closely. He closes the door.
“Momma likes to keep a light on in case she needs to get up and pee. Now, let’s get back to bed. I am getting tired of running around at night.”
10
The next morning, Rob’s mother comes into the kitchen while they’re drinking their coffee. Rob kisses her on the cheek, then speaks with her in Romanian.
“Mom slept like a baby,” he says to Crystal. “Best sleep of her life, she just told me. Didn’t even hear us come in.”
Crystal looks at her, then sips her coffee. She doesn’t want to say anything. She’s too tired, even though they got to sleep in a little because it is Saturday. She just wants to go back to bed, but Rob has this idea that they’re going to take his mother sightseeing and to visit Kennedy Space Center.
Rob’s mother is wearing the diamond earrings as she kisses Rob on the lips. Crystal wants to throw up. Rob’s mother looks at Crystal’s arm, then says something to her son.
“You’re not wearing your bracelet?” he asks.
Crystal looks at her arm too. “I don’t want to risk losing it,” she says, finishes her coffee, and gets up.
Rob’s mother grabs a pear from the fruit bowl and starts to cut it up with a small knife, eating from the blade over the sink. She is slurping loudly because of the juices and Crystal cringes.
“I should get dressed,” she says and rushes out of the kitchen and into the bedroom, where she sits on the floor, her back up against the wall, hiding her face in her hands. The door soon opens and Rob comes in.
“Hey. What’s going on here?”
“Nothing. I’m just tired, Rob, is all.”
“No. Something else is going on here. You don’t want to wear the bracelet, you rush out of the kitchen as soon as my mother enters?”
Crystal closes her eyes. “I just…It’s just…”
He places his hands on his hips. “You still think it was her, don’t you? You still think it was my mother you saw last night and the night before that.”
“Well…is it that odd? I mean, the figure wasn’t much bigger than a big child and was bent forward like she is.”
“But why? Why do you insist on it being my mother? You know there are sometimes homeless people sleeping on the beach. It could be one of them. There is no way my mother could have gotten back to bed so fast. She just had surgery on her knee, for cryin’ out loud.”
“I’m sorry, honey, but I simply just don’t believe she is that innocent,” Crystal says, as she gets up and walks to the drawer. She pulls out the skirt and hands it to Rob. “I found this when I was doing her wash.”
“What is this?” Rob holds the skirt up.
“It’s your mother’s.”
“This is my mother’s skirt? Why? Why do you have my mother’s skirt?” Rob asks, sounding appalled.
“Just look at it, will you?”
“Look at what?”
“The blood, dang it. It’s stained with blood.”
Rob looks at the skirt, then at Crystal. He rubs his forehead. “Okay, so let me get this straight. You hid my mother’s skirt? Who does that?”
“That’s not the point, Rob. Look at the blood.”
“That’s not blood.”
“Yes, it is. Look at it.”
He shakes his head. “It could be so many things, Crystal. Besides, what is it exactly you think about my mother?”
“What do you mean?”
“You think she’s trying to kill us or something? That she is some serial killer on the loose? My seventy-nine-year-old mother, who can barely walk without her cane? My own MOTHER?”
Crystal shrugs. “Well…” She considers not adding more, but does it anyway: “She did try and come into our bedroom at night…twice.”
Rob rolls his eyes. He walks to the door, skirt in his hand. “You’re unbelievable. Now, I am going to wash this, then give it back to my dear old mother, and then we’re all going to have a nice day sightseeing, you hear me?”
Crystal bites her lip, then nods.
11
The next three days pass completely eventless. Crystal keeps to herself for the most part, trying to not get caught up in anything, just counting the days and hours till Rob’s mother will depart. They don’t talk about that night anymore, not even when alone. She wants to. She is still upset that he doesn’t believe her, but he gives her a harsh look every time she brings it up. It’s obvious to her that he doesn’t want to hear any more about it. He has decided it wasn’t his mother who was outside that window trying to get in, and there is nothing she can say to convince him otherwise.
That following Tuesday, Rob comes home early to work from his office when there is a knock on the door. Crystal rushes to open it.
“Coopers?” Again?
They look sad, both of them.
“What’s going on?”
Rob comes out of his office, empty coffee cup in his hand. “Steve, Marcia? To what do we owe the pleasure?”
“Fifi is missing,” Steve says.
Marcia concurs with a whimper, then shows us a flier with the small gray poodle’s picture on it. Crystal is more of a cat person and has two cats herself that she brought with her when moving in. She looks at the picture and remembers how sweet little Fifi chased Lucky and Strike till they ran acro
ss A1A in the middle of busy traffic just after she moved in. Lucky had been the—well, not so lucky one. Strike was still with them and stayed far away from Fifi.
“What do you mean, she’s missing?” Rob asks and takes the flier.
They look at each other, then back at Rob and Crystal. “She’s been gone since Thursday night,” Steve says.
“We went out of town. To visit Steve’s son in Orlando, stayed there the night. You know how he’s allergic to dogs, so naturally, we left Fifi home alone all night, and when we came back the next morning…she wasn’t there. She wasn’t anywhere,” Marcia says, tearing up.
“She’s not used to being alone,” Rob says. “Maybe she just ran out and tried to find you?”
“That’s what we thought too,” Steve says.
“Steve forgot to close the back door, the one leading to the yard and the beach,” Marcia says, visibly blaming her husband.
“I closed it,” Steve says, grumbling.
“Well, it was open when we got home, wasn’t it?” Marcia says. “Wide open. And don’t tell me it could have been the wind again ‘cause I am not buying that.”
“Anyway,” Steve says. “We thought she might come back home on her own, but now that several days have passed, we fear something might have happened to her. That’s why we’re walking from door to door to ask if anyone has seen her. Maybe she’s running around down on the beach somewhere?”
Rob nods. “That sounds possible.”
“We don’t want to think…”Marcia stops herself. “You know with the busy road and all.”
“It’s a dangerous road,” Crystal says. “Pets could easily get killed if they tried to cross, being chased or not.”
“Crystal!” Rob says.
Marcia and Steve look at her, appalled, Marcia completely pale. Crystal shrugs. “I’m just sayin’.”
“We will keep an eye out,” Rob says and takes the flier. “Don’t you worry. I am sure Fifi will come home soon.”
“Thank you, Rob,” Marcia says and shakes his hand, not giving Crystal as much as a glance. “You’re such a wonderful neighbor.”
“Say hello to your sweet mother from us,” Steve says as they turn around to leave.
Rob waves. “Will do. Will do.”
12
“I can’t believe Fifi is gone,” Rob says at night when they’re lying in their bed. “That dog never leaves the house.”
Crystal looks up from her book. Strike is lying at the foot of the bed, purring. Crystal pulls him closer and pets him. “I know,” she says.
“I think we should keep Strike inside for a few days,” Rob says.
“You think something bad happened to Fifi?” Crystal asks.
He sighs. “Well. It can’t hurt to be careful, can it? I mean, till we know more. There has been an occasional bobcat or two spotted around here on the beach. Someone even claims to have seen a black panther once, but I don’t know if that’s true. It doesn’t really matter. If there is an animal out there eating pets, then maybe we should keep Strike inside. Just in case, you know?”
Crystal nods and pulls her cat closer. “Of course. I can’t stand the thought that something is out there at night,” she says and nods towards the window. Their curtains are very thin and you can see through them in the darkness. She has been complaining about that ever since she moved in and Rob has promised to fix it, but so far nothing has happened.
“You think maybe that homeless person is out there?” she asks. “You think that maybe he took Fifi?”
Rob sighs. “I don’t want to think about it. But yes. The thought has crossed my mind.”
“Mine too.”
Their eyes meet. Rob shakes his head. “You think my mother hurt Fifi, don’t you?” he asks, sounding appalled.
“No!”
“Yes, you do. You think that was the blood on her skirt.”
“I would never…”
“Don’t start, Crystal. You’re unbelievable, do you know that?”
“You have told me so before, yes,” she mumbles and returns to her book, hoping he will let it go now.
But, of course, he won’t.
“I can’t believe you,” he says.
She sighs. “So you say.”
“How can you think that about that sweet old lady? My mother? My own mother? How?” he asks, gesturing wildly and spitting while he talks.
“Okay. Okay. You’re right,” she says. “I saw her the other night. I am certain it was her and if it was her that night, then it was probably her the other night too, and also her who tried to get into Steve and Marcia’s house. And you saw the blood. I’m no Sherlock Holmes but I do believe it’s elementary, dear Rob.”
He growls and stares at her in anger. “Argh. I can’t look at you right now. I simply can’t.”
He gets out of bed and walks back and forth. “She’s my mother, Crystal. She gave birth to me.”
“I know that, Rob, and I understand it must be hard for you to realize this about her, but you have to…She’s old, senile maybe. Could it be that she doesn’t know what she’s doing?”
“Is it the language?
“What?”
“Is it because you don’t understand her language?”
“What? No!”
He snaps his fingers. “You’re a racist. You don’t like immigrants. You’re a Trump supporter, aren’t you? Did you vote for Trump? Did you? ‘Cause, for your information, I am an immigrant too. That’s me. I have only been an American citizen for the past ten years. HashtagImmigrant, HashtagNoBanNoWall.”
“What the…what on earth does that have to do with…?”
But Rob is not listening anymore. If this had been a cartoon, there would have been steam coming out of his ears by now. At one point, Crystal is certain there actually is.
“I knew it. I just knew it,” he yells, then rushes to the door, his pillow tugged under his arm.
“Where are you going?” she asks.
He stops, his cheeks red with furor. “The guest room. I am sleeping with my mother tonight.”
13
The next morning, Rob isn’t speaking to her. Not one single word. She makes him his coffee and they sit in quiet while he eats his yogurt and reads the news on his iPad. She doesn’t know what to say to him. She feels awful.
“Listen, Rob,” she finally says. “I am sorry if I in any way have implied that I thought your mother would hurt Fifi or anyone else. I didn’t mean to. I just thought she was sleepwalking, that’s all. Maybe she got hurt and that was how she got that blood on her skirt. Or maybe you’re right and it isn’t even blood. It could be paint.”
Rob puts down his iPad and looks at her. He nods and lets out a deep exhale. “Apology accepted.”
She smiles while looking at her fingers. She has never seen Rob get so angry before, like he did the night before and it scares her.
Strike jumps into her lap and she pets him. He purrs. “So, are you going to be late today?”
He nods and finishes his coffee. “I have a late meeting. Should be home by seven, though.”
She exhales. She is nervous about spending all day with his mother. How much has he told her about their fight?
He leans over and kisses her cheek, briefcase in his hand. “You two try and have a good time together, won’t you? Please, just try? For my sake. I really want you to get along. If you got to know one another, I know you would love each other. I just know you would.”
Crystal nods. “I’ll try. I just can’t seem to let go of…she cut my picture out, Rob. It’s hard to believe she wants me in your life.”
He sniffles. “I know. I still don’t know why she would do such a thing. It’s not very like her, but then again, she is getting old and old people do strange things sometimes. She has grown a lot older than I expected over the past couple of years since I was last home to visit. She keeps asking me the same questions over and over again. I guess it’s just hard to realize that your mother is old, you know? She was always so smart
and knew everything and now…well, now it’s like she is different, yet it’s still her. Every now and then, I see her and hear the old her, but she has definitely changed. Anyway, as I said, I told her to behave and she promised to do so. I just need you to give her the benefit of the doubt and not suspect her of doing crazy things like stealing the neighbor’s dog. All right?”
Crystal nods, smiling. “Sure thing.”
He kisses her again. “All right, see you tonight for dinner.”
“You wanna order in from Cocoa Beach Thai and Sushi or are you in the mood for Indian?”
He stops, then looks at her. “You’re not cooking?”
“No. Should I be cooking?”
“Well, I kind of think my mom expects you to. She’s old fashioned that way, you know?”
“But I’m so bad at cooking, Rob. I hate it.”
He tilts his head and looks at her with begging eyes. “Please? For me? She’ll be really proud of you. Especially if you make something with potatoes. She loves potatoes. Maybe potato soup?”
“That sounds so gross, Rob. I don’t like potatoes and neither do you.”
“Well, maybe I do like them. Lisa made a lot of potatoes.”
Crystal stares at him, eyes wide.
Lisa? You used to hate talking about her and hate her cooking even more. You said so constantly when we first met. Now, she’s all of a sudden the woman I am measured up against?
Crystal doesn’t want to argue anymore. Instead, she sighs and says: “All right. I’ll make a potato soup, but you better take me out to eat as soon as your mother leaves, you hear me? Somewhere expensive.”
He smiles, leans over and kisses her again, then heads out of the kitchen. She yells, “I love you,” after him and gets a, “Same,” in return.
14
She’s the devil. She’s the devil herself, in person.