Low continuous growls were
heard all through her movie making her grow rigid and tense. The
hair on the back of her neck stood at attention
. It’s just a damn cat!
She felt silly
and pushed away her fear, eyes darting to the glass doors every so
often.
Vivvie shivered. It sure sounded like
an awfully big cat. A loud thump was heard and she jumped up to
check it out, peering cautiously through the slats in the
horizontal blinds. Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the
privacy fence. She saw nothing that moved or growled.
Feeling more than stupid, she sat down
to enjoy her movie. Still, the growling persisted. More thumping
noises were heard. Then it stopped for a time. She was grateful
when the central air kicked back on, drowning out the
noises.
Thinking of Dina, she frowned, looking
at the digital clock. She knew the girl had class in the morning
and work afterward. Knowing Dina; she knew her roommate would ditch
both. It was a sure sign when it went on three in the morning and
she still hadn’t come home.
Dina had no idea how lucky
she was with all her advantages. No, her roommate was the spoiled
only child of rich, successful parents who still put Hello Kitty
sheets on her bed
. Sour grapes?
Seriously?
Dina didn’t care about anything but
partying. She was on her own for the first time. Earning mediocre
grades in school; she called in sick weekly to her job. Her
soon-to-be divorced parents fought over who got to send money and
bank cards every month.
Vivvie tried not to feel envy for girls
like Dina and Rachel but it was hard. One poor choice she made and
this was her life. She shut of the TV and went to bed.
Vivvie went out on the patio the next
morning to investigate. She gasped, slapping a hand over her mouth
and nose. The sharp acidic smell of cat urine was thick in the air.
It was over ninety degrees at ten in the morning. It practically
smacked her in the face.
Vivvie jumped nearly a foot with a gasp
as she saw a grey cat scoot away from under the deck. The animal
ran under the gap in the fence line. She surveyed the deck in
anguished silence. The redwood rails of the deck railing were
stained and dripping with fresh urine. If that wasn’t the worst;
the cats used the railings as scratching posts.
Deep gouges were seen in the wood. The
cats also shredded the screen on the outside of the sliding glass
doors. The screen hung in tatters. Thinking about her lost security
deposit, Vivvie swore viciously as she saw the damage.
Dina cut school and work; no surprise.
With little guilt, she came out to join Vivvie, a look of disgust
on her face. “Oh, gross me out the door!” Dina whined, waving a
hand in front of her face. “That smell is frickin’ nasty,
Viv.”
“
Yeah, they went to town out
here, for sure,” she agreed and shook her head. “God, it
reeks!”
Vivvie knew from the few cats she grew
up with; this was the work of a tomcat marking his territory. Maybe
more than one by the looks of the destroyed screen and soaked deck
rails. Something obviously enticed the cats to their patio. Vivvie
frowned as she looked around. She stepped down to walk the fifteen
by ten perimeter of grass enclosed by the eight-foot privacy
fence.
Usually they were plagued by roaches,
palmetto bugs, or fire ants this time of year. Hey, this was
Florida. Bugs were people too. They put their garbage in the
dumpster at the end of the lot. Nothing was ever left outside to
draw critters.
Vivvie looked around to find some
reason the tom was targeting their deck. They rarely came out here,
having no patio furniture or grill. Dina preferred to sunbathe at
the small pool in the center of the circular complex.
Vivvie could recall coming out here
just once. A wooden gate in the fence gave access for the crew of
yard workers. She found the gate was locked upon inspection. The
gardeners had a master key. They were good about locking back up
when they left.
Vivvie could understand why all the
neighbors thought they had a cat. It stunk like an overused litter
box on their patio. Whoa! The smell would only ripen by midday. By
two in the afternoon it would to be tough being downwind of their
place.
Vivvie felt nauseated by a rotten
stench. Pausing, she saw what looked to be some sort of dead animal
lying by the fence. Getting closer; she saw it was the remains of a
dog covered in maggots.
Ugh!
She backed away, feeling the bile rise in the back of her
throat, eyes widening. “Oh God; it’s a dead dog!” she
exclaimed.
That sent Dina scrambling back inside
looking three shades of green.
Vivvie covered her mouth. The dog was a
pale buff color, similar in size to Mr. Trenton’s working dog
Maggie next door. The orange collar was all too familiar. She
cringed, wondering how the dog got in here. The gate was
locked.
The old blind man would
freak to know his dog was half-eaten on their patio and point
fingers. She would bag it up and throw it in the dumpster.
Poor Maggie
, she thought
wondering if the dog dropped dead of natural causes. Whatever got
the dog; it chowed down on her. The bones looked like they were
licked clean.
She went back inside and saw her
roommate looked close to hurling.
“
I don’t know what else to
do but clean it up with bleach and ammonia,” Vivvie said
thoughtfully, still coughing and covering her nose. “I need you to
run up and get me some stuff from the Dollar Tree. I’ll make a
list.”
“
Sure. No problem,” Dina
muttered in disgust. “Can we shut the doors now? That shits makin’
my eyes water!”
Dina came back from the store later
cussing up a storm, looking furious. It was obvious something
ticked her off. She slammed down the bags and swore
furiously.
“
What is it?” Vivvie asked
as her friend punched numbers into her Blackberry.
Dina slammed her phone down on the end
table when she hit voice mail.
“
Rachel drove home last
night and she must have hit something. I was passed out and don’t
remember. The whole side of my car is dented. It’s all scratched
up. No wonder she left before I woke up.”
“
Your dad will get it
fixed,” Vivvie said without sympathy as Dina gave her the bags and
her change.
“
Yeah, but then I get the
lecture,” she griped and rolled her eyes. “Maybe if I total it;
he’ll get me a Camaro this time, ya think?”
Vivvie bit back a comment and got to
work.
An hour later, Vivvie was wearing a
bandana over her mouth and nose, mopping the deck with pure Clorox
bleach. She sprayed the rails with ammonia, hoping her neighbors
forgave them for not knowing their patio became a haven for stray
cats.
She put Maggie in double garbage bags
and gagged as she carried the dead dog to the dumpster. Mrs.
Trenton was looking up and down the walk. Vivvie felt bad knowing
she was looking for the animal. Anticipating the dog’s death would
be blamed on them; she resolved to say nothing.
She tried to avoid Mrs. Trenton. The
fretful old woman stopped her. Her frail, veined hands were poised
upon her pink polyester pants. Her lavender shirt was stained in
the front with coffee. Watery blue eyes gazed up at her through
thick bifocal frames.
“
Have you seen Maggie, dear?
She got away from Bernard last night after their walk. She bolted
when she saw a cat.”
Vivvie felt her guilt creeping up. “No,
I haven’t seen her. A cat, you say? We seem to have a lot of strays
hanging around.”
“
Mrs. Hamm kept a few cats
at her place before her daughter put her in the home. They must
have left the poor things to run loose when they closed up her
place.”
Vivvie looked relieved to hear it, not
looking forward to dealing with Mrs. Donaldson today. Mrs. Trenton
gave her ammo to use against another tenant. It was nice knowing
they weren’t the only bad tenants.
Mrs. Trenton smiled as she saw the side
of her roommate’s car. “Looks like somebody got into a fender
bender, honey.”
Vivvie smiled
patiently
. Go ahead and say it,
lady!
“
Bernard said he could hear
the music when she got home this morning, is all,” the woman went
on to say. “You might want to tell her were light sleepers,
dear.”
“
I’m sorry Mrs. Trenton,”
she said in apology and started walking away. “I’ll tell her to
keep it down.”
“
Alright dear, let us know
if you see Maggie. Bernard is gonna be lost without
her.”
Vivvie felt eyes on her the minute she
got on the walk. Mr. Reever’s blind fell back into place. The old
man must have called Mrs. Donaldson about the smell. He called on
everything. Vivvie could feel the old guy’s disapproving eyes on
her every time she drove up in the lot.
Mr. Reever never came out of his
townhouse. Groceries were delivered. He kept track of everybody
else’s business in the complex. Vivvie wondered if the old guy
suffered from agoraphobia.
She knew from the support group she
once attended for her OCD that people became literally trapped in
their own homes, sometimes for years. She felt sorry for Mr.
Reever, knowing he likely couldn’t help it. She knew that feeling
only too well.
Vivvie finished cleaning up the patio.
The bleach only masked the odor. It would have to be sprayed again
to get rid of the smell. She saw Dina sprawled on the couch as she
entered through the glass doors. Vivvie removed the rubber gloves
and bandana, tossing them into the bucket at her feet.
Her roommate looked hung over and
vegetative with nothing else better to do today.
“
Tough night, I see,” Vivvie
remarked sarcastically, still bristling Dina hadn’t offered to help
her clean up the mess. “Mrs. Trenton said you guys woke up her
husband when you came home. You gotta keep it down,
Dina.”
“
That old geezer was up
anyway trying to take a piss!”
“
That old geezer could
complain to Mrs. Donaldson!” Vivvie countered frostily and paused
as she saw the half dozen bite marks displayed by Dina’s gaping
tank top. “What’s with all the bites? Are you Team Edward now?” She
chortled at her own joke. Dina was obsessed with Jacob from the
Twilight series.
Dina smiled and wore a languid
expression. “I’m on Team Dean now. We met these guys at Racine’s a
few weeks ago. They’re so hot! I mean smokin’ hot, Viv! Not like
the guys around here, either. I’m going to meet them again tonight
too. You wanna come?”
Vivvie’s first impulse was to say no.
She hadn’t dated since she and Kevin broke up six months before.
Waiting for him to come to his senses and dump the skank he was
seeing pretty much kept her home. She waited for the phone to ring
and for it to be him. It never happened.
Kevin followed her here after
graduation. Vivvie’s grandmother lived here then. When she died;
Vivvie stayed, growing to love the tiny coastal community. Kevin
worked at the Home Depot and took classes at night.
His roommate was better off than Dina
and lived on the beach. It appeared he grew out of their
relationship rather quickly after a game night in Vero at the
Hooters with his buddies.
He started avoiding her suddenly. He
received mysterious phone calls he would leave the room to take. It
was pretty obvious when he said they needed to talk something was
up. Kevin got with Lennie without missing a beat.
“
They’re buying us dinner,”
Dina said in a sing-song voice, her blue eyes luring her in. “Come
on, you know you can’t turn down free food, Viv. Rachel has to work
tonight. I can’t go alone! Say you will. Do it for the grub,
girlfriend!”
“
I don’t want Rachel’s
sloppy seconds or thirds,” Vivvie complained sourly knowing Dina’s
friend already sampled the buffet. Free food was too hard to turn
down for a struggling single girl.
“
Where are they taking us?”
Vivvie asked, still on the fence.
“
Red-frickin-Lobster, no
shit!” Dina exclaimed in an excited voice and grinned to see
Vivvie’s wistful expression. She instantly fell off the fence and
caved. Her roommate squealed and got up, jumping up and down.
“This’ll be great! We gotta be there at seven. Don’t change your
mind, Viv.”
Vivvie just used her last twenty
dollars on cleaning supplies. It was Monday and she didn’t get paid
until Wednesday. The allure of Red Lobster and a take home box did
her in.
“
Fine, I’ll go. But these
guys better not be creeps,” Vivvie said, green eyes narrowed. Dina
didn’t have the best taste in men. Looks were more important to her
than character and personality. Her shallow roommate played the
field shamelessly. These two new guys were only a few of her weekly
staples.
“
No, these dudes aren’t from
around here, Viv. They got class, trust me,” Dina insisted with a
happy smile. “They have money too.”
Her roommate’s face was very flushed
and her eyes were over-bright. Vivvie wondered at her behavior.
Dina was pretty cold-blooded when it came to guys. Now she was
acting giddy, not with her usual I’m-a-hot-blonde and I-know-it
attitude.