Blood Red

He tried for an omelet; he got scrambled eggs with cheese, ham, and canned mushrooms. After that, he set the concoction on a plate, poured a cup of coffee and added the same amount of milk and sugar he’d seen Maggie add at the restaurant; it was enough sugar to put most people into a diabetic coma.

She was sitting up in his bed when he got back to the room. Maggie smiled a good morning to him and reached for the coffee gratefully as he set it down.

“Good morning.” He smiled and savored the look of her for a second before heading back into his kitchen for his plate.

“You coming back?”

“Yeah.” He did, carrying a plate identical to hers, but with five times as much sugar in the coffee.

“How are you feeling?” She sipped and looked over the lip of the mug at him.

“Better,” he shrugged. “My face doesn’t hurt that much, at least.” He sat at the foot of the bed, and set his plate down. “Thanks for staying.”

“Well, it was sort of my fault.”

“No. It wasn’t.”

“If you didn’t know me, he wouldn’t have done that.”

“He would have. He said it was nothing personal, just business.”

“Did he say why?”

“So I wouldn’t tell anyone what you do.”

She started as if he’d slapped her. “He told you?” Her voice had dropped an octave; what came from her mouth was a sultry whisper that was purely unintentional.

“No. I sort of found out when the police were questioning me about Brian Freemont.”

Maggie looked at the wall, her lower lip trembling a bit. She was angry, he could see that, but she was also humiliated and embarrassed.

“Maggie.”

She didn’t respond; she was still looking through the wall.

“Maggie. Look at me.”

The glare she fired at him would have withered steel. Normally he would have been backing away in terror. This was different.

“Maggie, it’s okay. I’m not going to tell anyone.”

“Maybe I didn’t want you to know. Did you think of that?”

“So pretend I don’t.”

“It doesn’t work that way, Ben, and you know it.”

“It does if you want it to.”

“I’m sitting here thinking I’ve finally got a friend, you know? Someone I can just be myself with, and he pulls this shit!” The mug went flying as her hands went to her face.

There are a thousand acts of courage committed every day that will never be catalogued as the actions of heroes. There are people who face the world as little as possible and for whom the act of going to the grocery store is a monumental feat. There are children who deal with their worst fears every single time they get onto a school bus and face another day where no one cares about them and the bullies are always waiting. For Ben Kirby, the very idea of touching Maggie was an act of courage. She was his ideal and she was the only one he’d let close to him in a long time.

He reached out and put his arms around her, leaning his chin into her hair. She resisted at first. She tried to push him away, but he wouldn’t let her.

Finally she relented and let herself be hugged. A few moments later she even hugged back.

“I don’t think any differently now.”

She laughed bitterly into his chest. “What? You always thought I was a whore?”

“Nope. Always thought you were quiet and nice to look at.”

“Liar.”

“It’s just a job. It gets the bills paid.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying.”

“Well, you’re right.”

She stayed there for a few more seconds and Ben closed his eyes, savoring her presence the way he always did. Perhaps he would have eventually gotten up the courage to tell her he loved her, but really, it wasn’t very likely.

Only one act of courage per day, please. We have to keep up our standards

.

VII

Kelli Entwhistle awoke in a silent house for the first time since she’d moved in with the Listers. There was no sound from the Listers’ master bedroom. Normally there would have been at least the noise of the alarm clock or the shower running.

She spent the rest of the day feeling unsettled by the experience. She still half expected Teddy to come bounding into her room to wake her, even though he’d stopped doing that around the age of eight.

When school was done, she went back to the house and cleaned it from top to bottom. She even entered the master bedroom, despite her fear that she would find a bloodied shirt, or some sign that something had happened to Michelle.

There was nothing.

Ten minutes after she’d finished cooking herself dinner, the phone rang. She answered it, fully expecting to hear her employer’s voice. It was Lori Sinclair who spoke. Lori was a nice enough woman but had all the actual brain power of a gnat. Most of her energies were focused solely on being perky.

“Hi, Kelli! It’s nice to hear from you. I was just calling to double-check on the whole Halloween Block thing. You said you could take a clutch of kids trick-or-treating and I wanted you to know I’ve got you set up with ten, plus your own, of course. I can’t talk right now, busy, busy, busy, but I’ll get hold of you in a couple of days, okay? Thanks! You’re a love, bye!”