Blood Red

“You’re a lifesaver, Kelli. Seriously. I forgot all about having a dinner date with one of Michelle’s clients, and there’s just no way we could cancel at this point.”

“Oh, you know I don’t mind. Teddy’s my little sweetie.”

“Well, thank you just the same. You’re the best, Kelli.”

She hung up after she heard the sound of the call disconnecting, her mind on everything she’d have to get done during the day, with an occasional excursion into taboo territory to imagine what it would be like to have Bill Lister as her lover.

Kelli saw motion across the street, over at the Miles house, just as she was settling back down on the porch. The house was hidden from most of the world, but not from where she was sitting. Albert Miles had packed a few bags and beaten a hasty retreat, which was also sort of depressing, because he was normally her number one distraction on long days. The old man played a killer game of chess.

Almost as if the new tenant had timed it, Kelli saw the front door of the house open and a man step out into the early morning sun, his hand blocking the glare from hitting his face.

The stranger had dark hair, pale skin, and a casual stride that still seemed to eat the distance between the front of his driveway and the front door. He didn’t walk in a straight line, but instead moved from tree to tree in the yard, as if he wanted to examine each of them closely. His hands touched each trunk, almost like he needed to feel the texture of the ancient oaks and rare specimens to make sure what he felt was solid and real. He walked like she thought a sleepwalker should.

He walked in shadows whenever possible.

Eventually, and really rather quickly, he made it to the front gate to pick up the newspaper. She almost moved her hand up to wave, then thought better of it.

He turned his head slightly and looked at her from across the street, his face impassive and attractive in a strange way. He was handsome, but alien, with features that were different from the ones she had been raised around.

He smiled. It was a close-mouthed twist of his lips, and his right eyebrow lifted slightly as if preparing to ask a question. The man gave a quick, casual wave of his hand and then, after he had reached for the newspaper at his feet, he bowed in an almost mockingly formal way before turning and heading back the way he had come, once again touching each tree and keeping to the early-morning shade whenever possible.

Kelli watched him go, attracted to the man for no reason she could easily place a finger on. He was handsome, yes, but not overwhelmingly so.

Still, for most of the day before it was time for her to go pick up Teddy from the Sacred Hearts private school, she kept thinking about his little smile and wishing she could remember the color of his eyes.

III

Avery Tripp leaned back in his chair, at ease with his place in the world. The school day was over halfway done and that was a good thing. He hated school work, but he loved the people around him. Avery tended, through no fault of his own, to like people. He also had a strong fondness for anything that could get him into trouble. That was what his mother said, anyway.

Mr. Stark, his Sociology teacher, would have agreed completely. William Stark didn’t seem to mind too much, however. He still gave Avery good marks for conduct, even after that embarrassing incident with the smoke bombs Avery had slipped under his car’s hood. Man, the smoke had been everywhere.

Just thinking about it made Avery smile.

Teddy Lister was sitting next to him, just as he did every day. He and Teddy were best buds, and Avery couldn’t imagine a cooler person in the whole world, except maybe for Teddy’s nanny. Kelli had won big bonus points in his eyes when she hadn’t narced them out about the magazine. That, and she was about the coolest grown-up he had ever met. And pretty. Very pretty. He’d have paid good money to see her in one of his father’s dirty magazines.

Avery frowned and shook his head. No. On second thought, he didn’t want to see her that way. She was too cool to be exposed and naked like that. Maybe in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue instead. He was only ten, but Avery could already appreciate the idea of letting his imagination paint in some of the finer details.

Teddy yawned next to him and shook his head in an effort to stay awake. Mr. Stark looked over in their direction, doubtless trying to see if Avery was up to no good. It was like a game between them: Avery would try to get away with something, anything, and Stark would try to catch him before he could do anything too drastic, like blow up the school.

Neither of them would have admitted it, but he bet Stark enjoyed the game just as much as he did. Good, clean fun; and it was free, too.

Teddy started to snore, very lightly, and Avery tapped him in the ribs with an elbow. Teddy’d been acting weird all day. He was pale and so tired he looked like he could just nod off. Of course he had just nodded off, thus, the snoring.