The Girl in White Pajamas Read Free Page B

six bullets into the cylinder chamber of a .38 revolver. She pulled back the hammer and muttered, “I saw you go over there, you cheating snake!” Without her cane but fortified by the sedatives and a half a bottle of scotch consumed over the course of the day, she headed for the kitchen and out the back door. When she entered the tiny back yard, she walked over to the adjoining brownstone and fired six shots through the kitchen window yelling, “You, lying, cheating bastard! I did everything in this world for you! And how do you repay me? You take up with yet another whore! And this Russian whore, Olga. She’s your son’s wife and has your baby!?”
    A shot blasted over Elizabeth’s head as Jeannie McGruder, herself drunk, yelled through the broken window, “You fuck’n crazy bitch! Go home and sleep it off. That dickwad’s dead and so is his whore!”

3 BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS
    Two small figures sat on a couch in a house eleven miles outside of Boston. The tiny Cambodian woman wiped a tear off her cheek with a shaky hand. The little girl with a mass of red curls took the woman’s other hand. “Don’t be scared, Kim! I’ll protect you. You’ll feel better tomorrow. Remember when Fluffy was hanging from the tree?” The child lifted her right arm in the air and dropped her tongue out of the side of her mouth to illustrate her point.
    Kim nodded.
    Isabella continued, “You told me I’d feel better tomorrow, and I did. I was still sad but not so scared.”
    They sat in silence staring at a TV screen. The small woman grabbed the little redhead’s hand again as The Bride used her sword to slice off the arm of O-Ren’s assistant. Blood gushed from the gaping hole, and The Bride moved on to slay and maim the Crazy Eighty-Eight Army . “This is Lucy Liu,” Kim said softly.
    The child nodded as they watched their favorite part:
    The Bride confronts O-Ren
    and O-Ren says ‘Silly rabbit.’
    The Bride answers, ‘Trix are for—”
    O-Ren finishes, ‘kids’.
    Isabella giggled and Kim smiled. Then they watched the screen mesmerized as the warriors had a fight to the death.
    No one paid attention to a vehicle that stopped in front of their house on this isolated road. As the car slowly drove away, the woman and little girl sat transfixed on the couch surrounded by moving crates and boxes with a large bag of potato chips, a tub of French onion dip and two juice boxes sitting between them–the breakfast of champions.

4 THE BLUEBIRD OF SADNESS
Florida
    The black Dodge Ram truck moved up the roadway surrounded by lush grass and palm trees. Carlos squinted from the bright sun as he tried to follow the correct path to the departures area of the Palm Beach International Terminal. When Carlos stopped, Bogie got out on the front passenger side and opened the back door for Amanda. The large, modern terminal was bustling with scantily clad travelers who were departing the Sunshine State ready to show off their sunburned skin to the folks back home. Everyone seemed to be smiling except Amanda. She got out of the truck with her shoulders drooping. Carlos opened the driver’s door, jumped out and grabbed Amanda’s suitcase from the back. As he dragged it to curbside check-in, he studied Amanda’s pale face and wondered what she packed that weighed so much. Bogie thanked Carlos and bumped fists with him. “Take care of my truck!”
    As Carlos drove away, Bogie looked from Amanda to the two suitcases in front of him. “Where’s the garment bag?” he asked.
    Her mouthed dropped open as she remembered placing the bag on the couch before they left. “I must have forgotten,” she said softly looking at the ground.
    Bogie put his arm around her shoulders. “We’ve lived through worse.”
    After riding on an escalator down to the security area, Bogie and Amanda moved through easily. They walked to their gate past shops selling overpriced souvenirs, books, magazines, drinks and snacks. Bogie turned to Amanda. “Do you want