Racing in the Rain Read Free

you.”
    I respected her for asking, but I knew that she would come between us, and I found her denial to be untruthful.
    I tried not to act off-putting because I knew how much Denny liked her. But I have to admit that I didn’t embrace her presence. And because of that, she was less than embracing of me. We were both satellites orbiting Denny’s sun, struggling for his affection. Of course, she had the advantage of her tongue and her thumbs, and when I watched her kiss and hold his hand sometimes she would glance at me and wink as if to gloat: Look at my thumbs! See what they can do!

Chapter Five
    M onkeys have thumbs.
    Practically the dumbest species on the planet, but monkeys have thumbs. Those monkey thumbs were meant for dogs. Give me my thumbs, you darned monkeys!
    I watch too much TV. When Denny goes away in the mornings, he turns it on for me, and it’s become a habit. He warned me not to watch all day, but I do. Fortunately, he knows I love cars, so he lets me watch a lot of Speed Channel. The classic races are the best, and I especially like Formula One.
    Sometimes if I’m watching the History Channel or the Discovery Channel I learn about other cultures and other ways of life. Then I start thinking about my own place in the world and what makes sense and what doesn’t.
    The scientists go on and on about how monkeys are the closest evolutionary relative of people. But that’s speculation. Based on what? Based on the fact that certain ancient skulls have been found to be similar to modern man’s? What does that prove? So what if man’s body evolved from the monkeys? Whether he came from monkeys or fish is unimportant. The important idea is that when the body became “human” enough, the first human soul slipped into it.
    I’ll give you a theory: Man’s closest relative is not the chimpanzee, as the TV people believe, but is, in fact, the dog.
    Case-in-Point: The Werewolf
    The full moon rises. The fog clings to the lowest branches of the spruce trees. The man steps out of the darkest corner of the forest and finds himself transformed into . . .
    A monkey ?
    I think not.

Chapter Six
    H er name was Eve, and at first I resented how she changed our lives. I resented the attention Denny paid to her small hands and her slender body. The way he gazed into her soft green eyes, which peered out from under stylish strands of straight blond hair. Did I envy her engaging smile? Perhaps I did. For she was a person, unlike me. She was well groomed. Unlike me. She was everything I wasn’t. I went for extended periods without a haircut or a bath, for instance; she bathed every day and had a special person do nothing else but color her hair. My nails grew too long and scratched the wood floor; she frequently attended to her nails with sticks and clippers and polishes to make sure they were the proper shape and size.
    Her attention to every detail of her appearance was reflected in her personality as well. She was an incredible organizer, constantly making lists and jotting down notes of things to be done. Our weekends were filled with trips to the Home Depot or waiting in line at the Disposal and Recycling Station in Georgetown. I didn’t like painting rooms and fixing doorknobs and washing screens. But Denny liked it, apparently, because the more she gave him to do, the more quickly he completed his tasks. Then he collected his reward, which usually included a lot of nuzzling and kissing.
    Soon after she moved into our apartment, they were married in a small wedding ceremony. I attended along with a group of their closest friends and Eve’s immediate family. Denny didn’t have any brothers or sisters to invite, and he explained his parents’ absence simply by saying that they didn’t travel well.
    The wedding took place at a charming little beach cottage on Whidbey Island. Eve’s parents made it clear to all involved that the house was owned by