Blood Red

Maggie went to school just like she was supposed to, but she felt sick. Her stomach churned and her heartbeat seemed to triple throughout the day. The nausea started strong and faded after a while. By the time school was finished she was feeling better and gave it no more thought.

She saw Ben in class and smiled for him. He smiled back, but neither of them spoke. They almost never did in school. It was just when they ran across each other on the street that they were friends. Here they may as well have been complete strangers. Still, she hoped he’d show up at the diner again. It was fun having someone to talk to and not having to worry about him trying to get into her pants.

Maggie found herself wondering for a few moments if Ben was homosexual and then dismissed the notion. He still looked, and he was still shy around her. It seemed that somehow she had run across a man who was actually a gentleman, and chivalrous to boot. She made a mental note to keep a fair distance from him, unless he ran across her first. It would have been too easy to let him into her world and that would be disastrous.

She didn’t want or need a man in her life. She didn’t want or need a relationship. Emotions were not a part of her plan, and she fully intended to keep any affection in check until after she graduated.

Just a shame he was cute. It would have been easier to ignore him if he at least had a big mole on his forehead or something.

After school she cased the synagogue until she saw Rabbi Lefkowitcz. He was a good-looking man in his forties; while he was harder to seduce than she’d expected, he eventually fell for her charms. They went to his office and she kept him occupied until the sun was almost down. He managed to look grateful for the experience and miserable for cheating on his wife at the same time. He even called her by the woman’s name: Elizabeth. Her picture was on his desk: she looked nothing at all like Maggie. She didn’t correct him.

Afterward, she went to the movies. John Cusack had a new comedy playing and she absolutely loved him. He was funny and sweet and managed to look sexy as hell when he was confused or pouty; kind of like Ben, despite the fact that they looked nothing alike.

She left the movie understanding the rabbi’s mentality a little better.

The plan was to be home by ten; she was on schedule and thinking about calling for a pizza. She hadn’t counted on Tom being there and waiting on her again.

But there he was, in all of his hip-hop glory. He was trying to look like a college kid again and failing. His long, oversized shorts and muscle shirt just looked stupid when she considered how cold it was getting, and no one, she didn’t care who they were or how hot they might look, ever looked good in a baseball cap turned sideways. It worked when a kid was six, not when a man was almost thirty.

“Where have you been?” His voice was harsh and demanding of answers.

“The movies,” she explained as she shook her head. One look in his eyes and she could tell he’d been sampling his own drugs again. He was normally smart enough not to, but this seemed to be one of his stupid days.

“Yeah? So why were you at a synagogue for three hours? When did you become a kike?” That was the thing about Monkey Boy: she could always count on him to be an insensitive prick, but now and then he was a smart insensitive prick.

Fortunately, she was smarter and had already come up with a proper answer in case he saw her handling her tasks for Soulis. “Hello? Student, here. I’m studying comparative religions in my sociology class.”

He rocked back on his heels for a moment, nodding too fast; a sure sign he was hopped on speed. “Really? Why don’t we ask Ben about that? I bet Ben’s just the kind of guy who will tell me the truth about what you were doing all day.”

Without any warning, Tom stepped over and pounded his fist into Ben’s front door hard enough to rattle the window off to the side.

Maggie saw movement through the darkened window and a moment later a very tired-looking Ben was opening the door, his face set in a polite expression of curiosity.

“Hi, Ben!” Tom’s voice boomed between the two apartments.

Ben winced. “Hi, Tom.” He looked over her way and nodded his head once. “Hi, Maggie. What’s up?”

“You in the same classes as Maggie, Ben?”

“A couple of them, why?”

“Oh, we were just having a discussion and I was teasing her because I saw her go into a synagogue today. I asked her when she switched from Catholicism to Judaism, and she said she was studying for a religion class.”

Ben nodded his head, never taking his eyes off Pardue. “Comparative religions, a big part of our sociology class. In fact, I have to take about half of the churches around here and she has the other half. We’re sort of lab partners.” He never even blinked while he was spewing a line of shit right in Tom’s ugly face.

“Really? Why did she get the Jews?”

“Because I have to take the Muslims. It’s easier for me, because everyone knows the Muslim faith isn’t exactly girl-friendly.”