a distressed pine table and four chairs. The appliances were chrome-fronted and spotless.
Glassed cabinets revealed neatly stacked crockery and size-ordered glassware. The dish drainer was empty; the counters, bare.
The window above the sink was a greenhouse affair filled with painted clay pots stuffed with summer flowers and herbs. A larger window to the left afforded a view of the backyard. Flagstone patIo, rectangular pool covered with blue plastic and fenced with wrought iron. Then a long, perfect strip of grass, interrupted only by a wooden play-set, that ended at a hedge of orange trees espaliered against a six-foot cinder-block wall. Beyond the wall the ubiquitous mountains hung like drapery. Maybe miles away, maybe yards. I tried to get some perspective, couldn't. The grass began looking like a runway to eternity.
She said, 'Please, have a seat.'
Setting a place mat before me, she put a tall glass of iced tea upon it. 'Just a mix-hope that's all right.' Before I could answer, she returned to the refrigerator and touched the door.
I drank and said, 'It's fine.'
She picked up a washcloth and ran it over clean counter tiles, avoiding my eyes.
I sipped a bit, waited till we finally made contact, and tried another smile.
Her return smile was quick and tight and I thought I saw some color in her cheeks. She tugged her shirt down, kept her legs pressed together as she wiped the counter some more, washed the cloth, rung it out, folded it. Held it in both hands as if unsure what to do with it.
'So,' she said.
I looked out at the mountains. 'Beautiful day.'
She nodded, snapped her face to the side, cast a downward glance, and placed the washcloth over the faucet spout. She ripped a square of paper towel from a wooden roller and began wiping the spigot. Her hands were wet. A Lady Macheth thing or Just her way of dealing with the tension?
I watched her clean some more. Then she gave another downward look and I followed it. To her chest. Nipples poking sharply through the thin black cotton of her shirt, small but erect.
When she looked up, my eyes were elsewhere.
'She should be up soon,' she said. 'She usually sleeps from about one to two.'
'Sorry for coming so early.'
'Oh, no, that's okay. I wasn't doing anything anyway.'
She dried the spigot and stowed the paper towel in a wastebasket beneath the sink.
'While we wait,' I said, 'do you have any questions about Cassie's development? Or anything else?'
'Um... not really.' She bit her lip, polished the faucet. 'I just wish I.'.. someone could tell me what's going on-not that I expect you to.
I gave a nod, but she was looking out the greenhouse window and didn't notice It.
Suddenly she leaned over the sink on tiptoe and adjusted one of the potted plants. Her back was to me and I saw her shirt ride up, revealing a couple of inches of tight waist and spine-knob. As she puttered, her long hair swayed like a horsetail. The stretch made her calves ride up and her thighs tighten. She straightened the pot, then another, stretched farther, and fumbled. One of the planters fell, hitting the rim of the sink, shattering, and showering planter's mix onto the floor.
She was down on all fours in an instant, scooping and collecting Dirt crusted her hands and streaked her shorts. I got up but before I could help her, she bounded to her feet, hurried to a utility closet and ooi retrieved a broom. Her sweeping was hard and angry. I tore a paper square off the roller and handed it to her after she put the broom away.
She was flushed now, and her eyes were wet. She took the towel without looking at me. Wiping her hands, she said, 'I'm sorry-I have to go change.
She left the kitchen through a side door. I used the time to walk around the room, opening drawers and doors and feeling like an imbecile. Nothing more ominous in the cupboards than housekee~ ing aids and convenience foods. I looked out the door through which she'd left, found a small bathroom and service porch, and checked them out too. Washer and dryer, cabinets choked with detergents and cleansers, softeners and brighteners-a treasury of things promising to make life shiny and sweet-smelling. Most of them toxic, but what did that prove?
