No Ordinary Day Read Free

directions most of the time.
    Whatever had happened had put an end to most of that.
    Now each day he would sleep late, though not well, unlike the days when he had been working, would rise numbly and wander off without any explanation of where he was going or what he was doing. Occasionally he would give her money if she asked for it to buy something to eat from the small store more than two miles down the road, but he wasn’t willing to ride her there on his motorcycle as he had always been before.
    And now he always came home after dark, leaving her alone in the horrible cabin among the scary night sounds and the threatening hum of mosquitoes and mayflies.
    Sam had come to the end of her patience. She was past ready to go home.
    Except she didn’t really have anywhere to go home to.
    In her own way, Sam loved Jeremy. Before whatever happened had taken place he had told her routinely that she was beautiful, had left her raunchy notes under the peanut butter jar or in her pocket when he left for work about what they would do when he came home, and usually followed through, even when he was tired.
    He had been pretty excited with this place when they first got here, and was especially fascinated with the massive tree on the hill in the middle of town. Back when the weather didn’t suck, they had spent some time picnicking underneath it, watching the sun go down, like much of the rest of the town. It had been early spring, still barely past winter when they arrived, so their time outside was limited even then.
    When the warmer weather came around, he had shared his excitement of fishing off the public pier in the melting ice of the lake with her, something she found disgusting, but hadn’t said so, because she was glad to see him happy, especially since scuba diving equipment rental had turned out to be far beyond their limited means.
    As promised, the outdoor sex had been great until they had accidentally rolled onto a nest of stinging ants and spent three days itching ferociously in places that hurt a lot, especially for Jeremy.
    After that, it had been awkward and quiet.
    But not like it became after whatever had happened a few days before this one.
    In addition to being alone all day, for a week or more Sam had been trapped inside the cabin by the constant rain drumming on the roof, leaking a little near the pit toilet and bottle of hand sanitizer in a closet that served as the bathroom, again, nothing like the flyer had advertised. The books she had bought at the grocery store and brought along and had read a dozen times were no longer working to help her escape her reality.
    Every night when he finally came home, Jeremy was a little more agitated. He would pace the floor of the cabin, running his hands nervously through his sweaty hair, as if he was trying to solve a puzzle that his brain wasn’t up to. Often he would go outside and stare up at the sky through the trees, but never seemed to find whatever he was looking for.
    Now, as she was musing about her problems, she heard the roar of a motorcycle shifting down outside the cabin.
    She stretched out on the lumpy mattress and waited.
    After a longer time than she expected, the door of the cabin creaked open and Jeremy came inside, soaked from the rain. He took his motorcycle helmet off and shook his hair, which was drenched, spattering her with droplets of it.
    “Eeeggaagggghhkkk,” Sam muttered, recoiling. “Thanks, Germ.”
    He set his helmet down and ran his fingers through his wet hair, not looking at her.
    “Got a hole in your helmet? Your hair’s all wet.”
    She got no response.
    “Where ya been?” she asked, sitting up and hanging her legs over the side of the bed.
    “Ridin’ .” The word was more mumble than speech.
    “No kidding. I thought you hated riding in the rain.”
    Jeremy turned in her direction as he unzipped his jacket, but didn’t meet her eyes.
    “I do, but in upstate New York, you ride in the rain or you don’t ride. That’s