Smog - Baggage of Enternal Night Read Free Page B

and
something bluish-grey poked through the matted fur. “You think that’s the
liver?”
    “I don’t think you should touch
it,” I said.
    He looked at me with surprise.
“I thought you liked dead bodies.”
    “No, I don’t, and why would you
think that?”
    “You found Mary Ann Wilson,
didn’t you?”
    “No, my brother did.”
    I didn’t like the way Matt’s
eyes were glistening—he reminded me of a rabid dog. “But you saw her, didn’t
you?”
    “Well…yeah…but there’s a big
difference between seeing something and liking it.”
    Matt shrugged. “If you say so.
Hey, want some ice cream?”
    The idea of eating anything
near that rotting little carcass made me nauseous. Something was really wrong
with Matt, and I was starting to think leaving sounded like a great idea.
    Debbie wasn’t going to let him
off the hook so easily, though. “What’s your dad going to say when he comes
home and finds this mess all over the kitchen table?”
    Matt stuck a finger in the
squirrel again. “Maybe Dad’s not coming home.”
    I started for the front door.
“C’mon, Debbie…”
    She followed me but couldn’t
resist a final jab. “Yeah, let’s leave Doctor Frankenstein here to creating his
perfect bride.” But Matt wasn’t listening; he was too busy poking through the
squirrel’s innards with that grimy finger.
    When we got outside, I stood on
the sidewalk, trying to figure out what bothered me. It took me a second, but I
finally got it: Matt’s dad’s car was parked in the driveway.
    I knew then we’d never see Mr.
Visser again. At least not alive.

 
     
     
     
    Chapter 6
     
     
     
    They arrested Matt three days later.
That was when a man named Bruce Morrison, who worked with Matt’s dad, stopped
by the house to see if everything was okay and noticed the smell. At first he
thought it was just the dead animal in the kitchen, but then he realized it was
too strong, and he followed it into the back bedroom, where he found Mr.
Visser’s corpse, pulverized by a blast from a shotgun. We all knew that
gun—Matt had bragged about how his dad had once taken him duck hunting and let
him fire the gun a few times. When the police questioned Matt, he confessed
immediately. Later on they said he showed no remorse.
    I believed it.
    Two dead bodies in a week would
have been weird enough in our quiet little suburb, but there was other stuff
going on, too.
    CJ had been bringing Vicki home
every afternoon, but the same day that Matt Visser was arrested, CJ brought
Vicki and his best friend Larry home. Vicki didn’t look too happy when
they all went into CJ’s room together and closed the door; when she came out 15
minutes later, she was still half-undressed and crying.
    “Are you okay?” I asked her. I
wasn’t in the habit of chatting with my brother’s girlfriend, but she looked
like she could use a friend today.
    When she finally pushed her
hair aside and turned to look at me, I saw a bruise on her cheek. She was still
buttoning up her blouse, pausing to brush tears away.
    “Your brother’s a real jerk,”
she said, before running out of our house.
    I heard CJ and Larry laughing
in my brother’s room.
    It was the first time in my
life I’d ever been afraid of my brother.
    It wouldn’t be the last.

 
     
     
     
    Chapter 7
     
     
     
    The next day, Debbie was bored and
asked me if I wanted to walk down to the five-and-dime. Her older sister had
gotten a job there, and Debbie said we could get free candy. Besides, I was
hoping they might have some new comic books in.
    Debbie’s sister, Sandy, was 19,
but she wasn’t smart enough for college, so she’d gotten this job as a clerk at
the dime store. We all knew that she was really just killing time, though,
until she could snag some hapless guy for a husband and start popping out
brats. She was no beauty queen, but she knew how to flirt, so we all kind of
figured it wouldn’t take long.
    Unfortunately the trip was a
bust; she couldn’t get us free