What You See Read Free Page B

lover. When we were kids, we had a dog once. Jack was allergic to
dander, so that was our first and last pet. We never considered owning a cat
because Mom thought they were scary animals. They have talons that lash out at
you if you make the mistake of getting too close.
    After spraying the house down with a can of room deodorizer,
Athena was ready to go outside and do whatever it was she missed doing earlier.
I let her out and by the time she was scratching at the door ready to come back
in, I had begun to seriously worry about Becky.
    Was she all right? Where was she? I got out my address book
and looked up the listings I had under her name for people who might know her
whereabouts. I called her mom in Hampton ,
but she said the last time she had heard from Becky was two weeks ago. My
mother would be banging down my door if she hadn’t heard from me in three days,
let alone two weeks. Next on the list was her dad. Her parents had been
divorced for several years, but tried to be civilized to each other for the
sake of Becky. Becky was an adult, but she was still their only child. That
meant they were always going to be polite to me because I was Becky’s roommate,
but they didn’t have to like me. Her father once told her that he thought I
needed to get laid more often! What a macho pig! I dialed his number. After
five rings, I hung up.
    Athena walked over to me and tried to lick my face. I patted
her on the head and rubbed behind her ears. For some reason, dogs seem to love
that little show of affection. She started to get excited. I had to push her
away; she must weigh eighty pounds. German Shepherds are big dogs, and when
they jump all over you, their paws can dig nasty places in your skin. She lay
down on the floor as I propped my feet up on the coffee table, trying to decide
what to do about this situation. I knew Becky was with Tim. I refuse to let him
take over my apartment again. I will not tolerate him eating my food, controlling
my stereo and my television, leaving his clothes everywhere, making long
distance calls on my phone and not paying for them, and most importantly, I
didn’t want him in my house. All they ever do is fight. I would put my foot
down this time! The minute she got home, we’d have a serious talk, but for now,
I wasn’t going to let this get me down. I wasn’t going to worry about them.
    I got up from the couch, grabbed my duffel bag and went to
the kitchen. I needed to do something to take my mind off what was obviously
going to turn into another ugly situation. I gathered my dirty clothes from the
trip and began loading them into the compact washing machine. I had purchased
the washer at a yard sale two weeks earlier for thirty dollars. This brought a
smile to my face. I no longer had to make the weekly trips to the Wash and Spin, or when it rained, go over to Mom’s house
and freeload off her. I hated feeling like such a user. We spent many Sunday
dinners together with me doing my laundry. Too bad our kitchen was too small to
accommodate the matching compact dryer. It would’ve saved me from having to
trudge out back to hang the clothes on the line.
    I put a pot of coffee on to brew, and then went to the living
room with the intention of calling Mom, when the phone rang.
    “Hello,” I answered.
    “Hey, you’re home,” Becky said, her voice sarcastic as she
slurred her words. She sounded like someone who’d been drunk for two days. That
only meant one thing—she was back with him. First, she’d be in denial...
denying she was back with him. Then, I’d have a week or so of him dropping in
for long visits. She’d move out again only to return a couple of months later,
bags at her feet, cigarette hanging out of her mouth and elephant tears running
down her face.
    I was hot. I could tell this wasn’t going to wait. I jumped
in and said, “Why would you go off and leave your own dog locked up without
food or water and no way of getting outside? Are you crazy? Or, is it