Page 7 (2/2)

We were nine eapart and she and her randmother in the Pine Barrens She had wooly blond hair, one brown eye and one green one, and all I knew about her was that Grandad said her father was soirl who could give you nightmares with a bare-handed touch, frohter She was spoiled rotten

At nine she beat ames, raced up hills and trees so fast I was always three steps behind her long legs, and bit me when I tried to steal her dolls and hide them I couldn’t tell if she hatedunder the branches of atree, drawing civilizations in the dirt and then crushing theods But I was used to brothers ere fast and cruel and I worshipped her

Then her parents divorced I didn’t see her again until ere both thirteen

Grandad cos around the tiain, most of theht back traps

"For raccoons, but they’ll work," he says "And they’re huet your panties in a twist There’s no guillotine attach them out of the trunk

He leaves me alone to carry thelea door I pop the tab on a can of wet food, sliding it inside the trap Soround behind me and I turn

The white cat stands not three feet fro her sharp teeth In the afternoon light I can see that her ear’s torn Crusts of garnet scabs--fresh--run along the back of her neck

"Here, kitty kitty," I say, nonsense words co automatically from my mouth I open another can The cat jumps when the lid cracks open, and I realize how tense I’ve been Like she’s going to speak But the cat’s just a cat Just an underfed stray living in a barn and about to be trapped

I reach out a gloved hand, and she shies back Smart animal

"Here, kitty kitty," I say

The cat approaches ers, and as I hold ainst e of her teeth digging intoas she laps at it I reach out to stroke her again, but she hisses, back arching and fur lifting She looks like a snake

"That’sher anyway

She follows me back to the house Her shoulder blades jut out of her back, and her white coat’s streaked with ive her water in athat dirty anirandfather says

"She’s a cat, Grandad, not a cockroach"

He regards her skeptically His T-shirt’s covered in dust and he’s pouring bourbon into one of those big plastic soft drink cups that come with their own straws "What do you ith a cat?"

"Nothing I don’t know She looks hungry"

"You going to let all of therin "I proht those traps"

"I know," I say "You bought the traps so we can catch all the cats, drop them off in a field ten miles from here, and take bets on which one coet back to cleaning, smart-ass"

"I have that doctor’s appointment with--," I say

"I reet done before you have to leave"

Shrugging, I go into the living roo tape I build the boxes and drag in the trash can froh the piles

The cat watchescharo in the trash can Paperbacks go back onto shelves unless they look like soes look too cruether frooes into the trash as well

No matter how much I throay, there’s always more Piles slide into one another and confuselast There are dozens of wadded-up plastic bags, one with a pair of earrings and the receipt still attached, others holding a random swatch of cloth or the crust of a sandwich

There are screwdrivers, nuts and bolts, rade report card, the caboose fronets from Ohio, three vases with dried flowers in them and one vase overstuffed with plastic flowers, a cardboard box of broken orna an ancient radio

As I pick up a dust-covered dehuraphs spills across the floor

They’re black-and-white pinups The woe corset, and nylon panties Her hair’s styled like Bettie Page’s and she’s kneeling on a couch, sers show up in one of the pictures wearing an expensive-looking wedding ring over his black gloves I know the woood

The first time I realized I had a talent for crime was after Mom tooksummer day and the leather seat in her car was hot frohtly unpleasantly My as station and then around back, like Mo to put air in the tires

"See that house?" she askedto a ranch-style place hite aluh thatin the back by the stairs Just shirab the manila envelope off the desk"

I must have stared at Moame, Cassel Do it as fast as you can and I’ll tiuess I kneasn’t a gaot and poured through the ith the boneless grace of little kids The ht where Mom’d said it would be Nearby, piles of paper rested under coffee cups stuffed with pens and rulers and spoons There was a little glass cat on the desk hat looked like glittering gold inside it The air-conditioning made the sweat dry on ht I tucked the cat into ht the envelope back to her, she was sucking on le" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>