Trailer Park Noir

yellin’ and screamin’ at me, or even our daughter. Then, the next minute, she’s cryin’. Real weird. I been tellin’ her to see a doctor, but she won’t do it, says there’s nothin’ wrong with her.”

Carey had stopped eating and wiped his hands on the paper towel. He was getting himself worked up. His big hands closed and opened and closed into fists as he spoke.

Reznick decided to change the subject. “What’s your little girl’s name?”

“Brandy Michelle.” Carey smiled then and his hands relaxed. “Brandy Michelle Carey, and she’s the most beautiful thing you ever did see.”

“I’m sure she is. Does she notice her mother is gone so much?”

“Oh, hell, yeah. She’s always askin’, ‘Where’s Momma? Where’s Momma?’ And I don’t even know what to tell her.”

“And you’ve confronted your wife about this?”

“Oh, yeah. And it always turns into a fight. Next time I talk to her about it, I want to be able to show her pictures, tell her I know exactly what she’s up to, and she better stop it or I’m gonna get a divorce.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Reznick said. “You don’t want to start talking divorce until you know what she’s up to. Now, let’s get those things I need, and I can get started tonight.”

Eleven

The phone inside the trailer was chirping when Anna and Kendra got back from running errands. Anna hurriedly unlocked the door and went inside, a bag of groceries in one arm. She answered the phone while still holding the bag.

While Anna talked on the phone, Kendra stayed outside and played with her new pet – a tiny pale-tan Chihuahua she had named Dexter. The little dog had fallen in love with Kendra at once when she first held him in the animal shelter. Dexter had licked her face frantically and quivered and wiggled in her arms. The dog was not unlike Conan, the main difference being his lighter color.

Anna came to the door. “That was the temp agency,” she said. “I’ve got a job this afternoon, but I have to go right away. I’m going to get dressed, okay? You gather up whatever you want to take to Aunt Rose’s.”

Kendra stomped a foot. “But Maah-meee! You said the next time you had to go out, you’d leave me to take care of myself.”

“Not this time, honey, I’m in too big a hurry, okay?” She disappeared from the doorway.

Kendra bent down and scooped Dexter up in her arms. She went inside, where Mommy was unloading the groceries into the refrigerator.

“Mommy, you said you’d seriously consider it,” Kendra said. “And this is perfect! It’s daylight. You can go straight to work instead of taking me to Aunt Rose’s. And it’ll still be light when you get home, light for a long time. If you get off at five. Will you get off at five?”

“Actually, I get off at four-thirty,” Anna said. “You’ll miss Vacation Bible School.”

“It’s okay, I can miss a day.” Kendra put Dexter down on the floor and spread her arms dramatically. “And see? Four-thirty! It’s only a little after noon now. You wouldn’t be gone long at all! Just a few hours! I can take care of myself, Mommy. Really I can. I’ll prove it to you.”

Kendra chewed on her lower lip as she thought. She put a fist on her hip and shifted her weight from foot to foot. She could tell someone to keep an eye on Kendra for her that afternoon. But who? There was Debra Connor in the trailer across the way, but – no, that wouldn’t work, Debra visited her parents in a rest home most afternoons, she was probably already gone. She could ask Mrs. Snodgrass – if she hadn’t started drinking already. That was what she would do.

“You won’t go wandering off?” Kendra said.

“No!”

“No cooking. I don’t want you using the stove while I’m gone.”

Kendra shrugged. “Too hot to cook, anyway. I’ll have cereal, or a sandwich for lunch.”

“I put the cans of dog food under the sink. You might want to go ahead and feed Dexter, because we don’t know when he ate last.”

“Okay.”

Anna sighed as she stared at Kendra.

“Whatsa matter?” Kendra said.

“I don’t know. I guess… well, I’ll worry about you.”

“Don’t worry about me, Mommy,” Kendra said with a big smile. “Dexter will take care of me. And Jesus and my guardian angel will watch over me.”

For a moment, Anna thought she was going to cry. She swallowed hard a few times until the feeling passed. “Well,” she said, “I should get cleaned up.” She turned and left the kitchen, and went down the hall to her bedroom.

Kendra picked up Dexter again. “Y’hear that, Dexter? Me’n you’ll have the whole house to ourselves this afternoon.”

The little dog seemed thrilled.

* * * *

Muriel Snodgrass came to the screen door about thirty or forty seconds after Anna rang the bell. She was a fat pasty-white woman with a big belly, but spindly legs that came like sticks out of the baggy blue shorts she wore. Her black-dyed hair – and a bad job, too – was a mess. She wore glasses with big square frames, a baggy sleeveless top speckled green and yellow and white. “Yeah?” she said. She held a glass of something on ice in her right hand. It was the kind of glass handed out at fast food chains to promote movies. This one had some kind of superhero on the side.

Anna hoped the glass did not contain liquor, not at this early hour. It looked like ice tea.

Somewhere in the house, a television played loudly.

“Hi, Mrs. Snodgrass,” she said, smiling.

“Hi. Keepin’ cool in this heat?”

“Barely. It’s miserably hot, isn’t it?”

“You got that right. What can I do for you?”

“Well,” Anna said, “you’ve met my daughter Kendra, haven’t you?”

“Sure. Real purty girl, too, she is.”

“Well, you know she’s a little slow.”

“Yeah. Shame, too.”

“I have to go to work, and I’m going to leave Kendra at home by herself for the first time this afternoon. Would you mind keeping an eye on her for me? I mean, just from a distance, you know? See if anybody shows up while I’m gone, or something.”

“You expectin’ someone?”

“No, no, I’m just… “ She chuckled a brief, breathy chuckle. “I guess I’m just a nervous, worried mother.”

“Yeah, I unnerstand. I was that way with my kids, too. I devoted my whole life to ‘em. I dropped my life for ‘em, y’know? Now, do I hear from ‘em? Do they come see me? Do they call? Or even write me a e-mail? Nope. Not them. Too busy. Or they live too far away.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Anna said, trying to conceal her need to get away from Mrs. Snodgrass as soon as possible and get to work. The workers in the office at Redding Tractor and Lawn Mower needed a hand right away, and she did not want to make them wait any longer. “I really have to run, Mrs. Snodgrass, or I’d stay and chat.”

“Don’t worry, honey, I’ll keep an eye out for your little girl.”

“Thank you so much.” Anna turned and hurried back to the trailer.

She’d called Rose to ask her to drop in on Kendra while she was gone. But she’d gotten Rose’s answering